Essential Workers Get COVID-19 Aid From China, NBA, Apparel Distributors [LISTEN]

Getty Stephon Marbury in Beijing

Since the coronavirus pandemic has changed the way many go about their daily tasks, masks are needed for protection.

Hoops legend, Stephon Marbury recently sent 10 million masks to Brooklyn, New York at cost instead of a profit.

Appearing on the Scoop B Radio Podcast, Marbury, who is now the head coach of the Beijing Royal Fighters of the Chinese Basketball Association told me on the Scoop B Radio Podcast that it was necessary.

“I thought that it was important to try and help in any way that I was able to,” Marbury told the Scoop B Radio Podcast.

“And being that’s where I’m from and knowing that the virus is spreading and how it’s spreading. And that was one of the things that were needed. I thought that would be something good that the city could get.

Marbury, 43, averaged 19.3 points and 7.6 assists per game during his NBA career in stints with the Minnesota Timberwolves, New Jersey Nets, Phoenix Suns, New York Knicks and Boston Celtics.

The Coney Island native isn’t the only NBA player being productive in promoting safety during the coronavirus pandemic.

Former Philadelphia 76ers, Houston Rockets and Sacramento Kings forward, Kenny Thomas is doing his part with his new app that launches next month and gives PPE supplies for those in need. “So the whole thing with this COVID-19 situation, is being able to get an opportunity to get involved with saving lives most importantly,” Thomas told me on the Scoop B Radio Podcast.

Thomas, 42, was the Houston Rockets’ 22nd overall pick in the 1999 NBA Draft out of New Mexico. During his NBA career, he averaged 9.3 points and 6.9 rebounds per contest.

Thomas was one of only eleven players to average a double-double for the 2003–04 season, and the shortest one at 6-foot, 7-inches to do so. Now retired, his focus is community. “It’s about saving lives,” Thomas told me while making a recent appearance on the Scoop B Radio Podcast.

“We really have to keep an eye out at what we’re doing right now is using masks and the different things that are necessary. We need to keep in mind, this is valuable because this is people’s lives and we got our generation that’s coming up looking for some leadership and this is where – this is an unfortunate situation that has happened but, the thing about it is, that this right here should help us come together more to take care of our society and just please stay with the social distancing and all that stuff so, it’s a great opportunity for me to just be able to save lives man…that’s really what I’m looking into. But at the same time, it’s a business.”

Aside from the NBA, grassroutes company, CovCare is doing their part too.

The New York-city based company CovCare recently donated 1,600 masks to Rideshare Drivers United, a non-profit organization supporting Uber and Lyft Drivers rights, as volunteers distributed hundreds of masks and gloves to needy drivers in San Francisco, Oakland, San Diego, and Los Angeles.

CovCare streamlined the supply chain process by working closely with manufacturers in China.

In addition to their work with rideshare drivers, they also outfitted frontline staff members fighting COVID-19 at Montefiore Medical Center, Mount Sinai, Staten Island University Hospital, the New York State Nurses Association, Houston Methodist, the U.S. Department of Defense, Steward Health Care, Sentara Healthcare, Cheyenne Regional Medical Center, Highlands Hospital, and the Fort Lee Police Department (New Jersey) among other hospitals and organizations, CovCare has donated over $200,000 worth of PPE supplies to healthcare and essential workers across the United States.