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Mask material demand drops off at Monroe County company

The company makes material needed for surgical masks, the same masks many have been wearing throughout the coronavirus pandemic.

The machines at Monadnock Non-Woven Media near Mount Pocono are running at normal capacity once again because supply has caught up.

The company makes material needed for surgical masks, the same masks many have been wearing throughout the coronavirus pandemic.

"It's busier than it was three years ago because some people are still buying at real business, but the chaos that was to two years ago has gone, and the market is flooded with media," said Keith Hayward, the managing director at the company in Coolbaugh Township.

We spoke to Hayward two years ago before the coronavirus hit our area when demand was at an all-time high.

RELATED: Coronavirus overwhelms medical mask manufacturers

He says the company went from making 150 tons a month back to the usual 20 to 30 tons because other manufacturers began producing the same material.

"People like Chrysler, General Motors, Procter & Gamble, all the big companies just basically installed these machines, and we started servicing them locally, rather than shipping stuff air freight to all over the world. As you can imagine, there was a ramping up, and where we get to now, nearly all those machines have been stopped," Hayward said.

The CDC recommends that people wear N95s. Hayward says they don't make the material needed for these masks just yet.

"We've just bought some equipment that we're going to be using to try and make that standard next because that is the demand," Hayward said. "That is the next market if you'd like."

Hayward says he hopes to have the machines up and running as soon as they come in. 

Watch more stories about the coronavirus pandemic on WNEP’s YouTube page.

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