Approximately 500,000 testing swabs and supplies were flown by Air Mobility Command on March 19-20 from Aviano Air Base, Italy, to the FedEx hub in Memphis, Tennessee, to be distributed to medical facilities across the U.S.
The mission follows the first Air Mobility Command-directed mission on March 16-17, which also transported 500,000 testing swabs in support of a U.S. Department of Health & Human Services-led effort to back-fill supply needs for components necessary to conduct coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) diagnostic testing.
The swabs are produced by the Italian company Copan Diagnostics, Inc. According to officials, the company is producing sufficient quantity to satisfy Italian and global requirements.
