How millions of bags of crucial IV fluids were saved from Milton’s wrath

A Florida factory that produces IV fluids critical to hospitals nationwide will restart on Friday morning after shutting down due to Hurricane Milton. The B. Braun Medical manufacturing site and distribution center in Daytona Beach were not seriously impacted by the hurricane. No injuries to employees were reported, and the company had moved over 60 truckloads of IV solutions inventory north of Florida before the storm with the help of the federal government. The inventory will be returned to the distribution site. The factory is a key source of sterile intravenous fluid supplies, which had grown tight after Hurricane Helene hit Florida and other states last month. Hurricane Helene had forced Baxter International to shut down a North Carolina factory that makes about 60% of the country's IV fluid supply, leading to limited customer orders and conservation efforts by health systems. Baxter is increasing production at other locations and easing some limits on customer orders, and is working with the federal government to temporarily import products. The company aims to restart production at its North Carolina plant in phases by the end of the year and possibly end limits for certain IV solutions by then. B. Braun's Daytona Beach site is a key part of its plan to address the shutdown of Baxter's North Carolina location, and the company is also increasing production at a factory in Irvine, California.