Massachusetts governor Charlie Baker found himself in need of an assist to help the state fight the coronavirus pandemic.
He called on the New England Patriots.
The team’s private plane was on schedule to return to Boston from China on Thursday evening carrying more than one million masks critical to health care providers fighting to control the spread of the virus.
Baker secured the N95 masks from Chinese manufacturers but had no way of getting them to the US. He reached out to Patriots team owner Robert Kraft, who loaned the Boeing 767 painted in the team’s colors and logo that is usually used to carry the team to and from NFL games.