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Nov. 6 (UPI) -- Manufacturer 3M said it's increasing production of N95 respirator masks as the United States experiences a shortage amid a surge of COVID-19 cases. The Minnesota-based company said it installed two new production lines at its Aberdeen, S.D., factory to cope with the increase in demand. 3M said it's using Defense Department grants to add 120,000 square feet of production space, according to the Argus Leader.
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N95 respirators are among the most effective face masks, filtering out at least 95% of small particles. They're largely used by doctors, nurses and other medical professionals.
Hospitals, nursing homes and other health facilities have experienced shortages of the respirators since the very beginning of the pandemic in the United States, and while production ramped up as the months went on, there is still an insufficient supply.
"U.S. and global demand for [personal protective equipment] continues to far exceed supply for the entire industry," 3M told CBS.
The company said that in addition to a 20-fold increase in demand from the medical community, it's receiving requests from new customers that've never used them before now.
3M predicts it will have increased its monthly production of N95 respirators in the United States to 95 million by the end of 2020, up from 22 million in 2019. It expects to produce 2 billion globally by the end of the year.
The company's increase in production comes as the United States reports a surge in daily coronavirus cases. On Thursday, there were a record 121,054 new cases and 1,210 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University.
Since the start of the pandemic, the United States has confirmed 9.7 million cases and 235,000 deaths.
Individual states are also experiencing record-high cases, including Minnesota, which reported 5,454 new cases for Thursday, the first time it has passed the 5,000 threshold. Thirty-six people died that day.
All told, the state has had 170,307 cases and 2,591 deaths, according to the Minnesota Department of Health.
State Health Commissioner Jan Malcolm on Friday blamed the surge in cases on informal social gatherings where asymptomatic people spread the virus.
"Our behavior is driving this ... literally thousands and thousands of small decisions happening around Minnesota that are the issue here," she said.
In Illinois, Gov. JB Pritzker went into self isolation for the third time after he was notified he spent time with someone infected with the virus.
The state reported 10,376 new cases and 49 deaths for Thursday. All told, Illinois has had 465,000 cases and 10,000 deaths.
Pritzker said Friday he won't rule out the possibility of issuing another stay-at-home order to curb the spread.
"Across the country, we are already seeing states and cities affected by this growing crisis, and they're responding by rolling back their reopenings. And over in Europe, France, England and Germany are rising so quickly that they're resorting to much more significant restrictions on all non-essential activities as they, too, face case numbers and hospitalizations rising in at a tragic rate," he said.
"Remember that Europe fared much better than the United States over the last five months, so when they impose those severe mitigations, it's an indication that the virus is raging out of control there, and we are heading in a similar direction."
A Texas court on Friday ruled that a shutdown order issued in El Paso County can remain in place. A group of 10 El Paso restaurant operators and the Texas attorney general challenged the order, asking a judge to declare it illegal.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott also announced that the U.S. Defense Department deployed three U.S. Air Force medical teams to El Paso to support three hospitals in their fight against COVID-19.
Texas reported 7,221 new cases and 136 deaths Friday, with 942,000 confirmed cases and 18,500 deaths since the start of the pandemic. There have been nearly 60,000 cases in El Paso County and 683 deaths.
In Denver, a new order goes into effect Sunday shuttering all non-essential businesses between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m. each day.
"We're on a dangerous path," Denver Mayor Michael Hancock said. "Most of the country is seeing the virus come back with a vengeance with the cold season."
