VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. - A few months ago, News 3 first introduced you to Premium-PPE, a Virginia Beach-based company making masks in Hampton Roads for people all around the country.
At the time, they were making 1 to 2 million masks a month with one machine. Since then, they've added 10 more machines, and are now making 8 to 10 million masks a month and continuing to grow.
“This is still really exciting for us,” Premium-PPE CEO Vitali Servutas told News 3. “If there is a second wave, we're ready.”
2020 marked the birth of the company.
“It was clearly a product that was in extreme need,” Premium-PPE Commercial Director Brent Dillie said. “We felt like it was the right time to bring that manufacturing back into the country, and sort of prove that you still can mass produce products in the U.S.”
In June, News 3 got an exclusive, behind-the-scenes look of the company.
“We've gone from about 7 people to over 100 right now,” Servutas said.
The company has created dozens of jobs and millions of masks amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
“For America, by America,” Servutas said. “Everybody's in this with the same message, 'Hey, we can help people stay protected.”
The company is only looking ahead.
“We're now working on getting our full scale FDA approval, which will allow us to freely support any hospital or healthcare provider in the country,” Dillie told News 3. “That's a big jump for us to be able to sell face masks. To be able to sell true surgical masks that can be worn by people in operating rooms, in the ERs and hospitals.”
It’s a product, born and bred in Hampton Roads spreading nationwide to fight COVID-19, and not stopping anytime soon.
“If there's another crisis coming in, we're here,” Servutas said. “We can turn on the machines 24 hours a day, and help as many people as we can.”
