A Guilford-based medical swab producer announced this week that it will lay off 272 employees.
Officials at Puritan Medical Products say the layoffs came in response to a drop in demand for medical swabs in the wake of the pandemic.
The announcement comes just four months after the company furloughed roughly 250 employees in Pittsfield. The current layoffs will include the release of employees that were on furlough. The company will also reduce administrative staff and close its facility in Tennessee.
"Yesterday was a very difficult day for Puritan," says Bob Schultz, president and chief financial officer at Puritan. "Layoffs aren't just minor changes to people's lives, they are major disruptions to the livelihood of employees, and the families and communities and where we live and work. And we are fully cognizant of that."
Puritan expanded operations in 2020 to meet the demand for medical swabs used in COVID-19 tests. At one point the company was producing more than 20 million testing swabs a month.
