43 Pennsylvania workers voluntarily lived in a factory for 28 days to mass produce PPE materials

Dozens of Pennsylvania workers are finally returning home after four weeks of critical coronavirus-fighting work.

On March 23, 43 workers stepped into the Braskem petrochemical plant with nothing but a 28-day shift ahead of them. They ate, slept, and worked 12-hour shifts in the factory, and emerged Sunday with millions of pounds of raw PPE material to show for it, Philadephia's ABC affiliate WPVI reports.

No one at the factory was told to stay and work nonstop, Braskem America CEO Mark Nikolich told The Washington Post. All of the workers volunteered to go without seeing their families, save for an occasional drive-by wave, to mass produce polypropylene. Demand for material has skyrocketed, as it's used for personal protective equipment such as masks and gowns essential for keeping health care workers safe as they treat COVID-19 patients.

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"We were just happy to be able to help," said Joe Boyce, an operations supervisor at the factory. He went on to describe how the workers are now emerging into a totally changed world, telling WPVI "we've almost been the lucky ones, I'll say for the last 28 days because I haven't had to stand six feet from somebody. I haven't had to put a mask on."

The marathon workers will now get a week off and a pay increase before returning for regular shifts. Read more at WPVI.