Cherokee Nation Offers Inside Look At New PPE Manufacturing Facility

Cherokee Nation leaders gave News On 6 an inside look at their new manufacturing plant in Stilwell, expected to help in the fight against COVID-19.

The Cherokee Nation said they’re close to opening this factory off of Highway 100 in Stilwell, giving tribal citizens the chance to help be on the front lines of fighting COVID-19.

This is one of two Cherokee Nation factories where workers will make protective masks, including N-95 and N-99. The other facility is in Hulbert. Both PPE facilities will have 12 mask-making machines, and can make up to 100,000 masks a shift.

They’re still waiting on some fabric they need to begin the process, but Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. and other Cherokee Nation and Stilwell leaders toured the plant today.

They say about 30 employees will work between the two buildings. They say they’re excited to help put more Cherokees to work while battling the pandemic.

"We also know there’s a need for masks everywhere, and we know the government of the United States is at its best when there’s domestic production, and what better place to produce masks than Stilwell Oklahoma by the Cherokee people for the Cherokee people and for the whole country,” Hoskin said.

They expect to begin work on the PPE here in the next few weeks.