"That should tell you something right there,'' Pescovitz said. He said billionaire Shark Tank investor Mark Cuban offered him $600,000 for a 10% stake in the company. Pescovitz said he's not surprised by the popularity of his products, which he introduced to a national audience during an episode of the hit TV show "Shark Tank" in 2017. They range in price from $59.99 for the intubation pod to $199 for the MyPod Mega four-person pop-up tent. The products are available online on the companies website, and at select retailers, including Walmart and Dick's Sporting Goods. That includes sales of the full line of Under The Weather products being used to protect against COVID, including wearable enclosures for the upper body with clear plastic panels called the ShieldPod and WalkingPod. “We are pretty much caught up to where sales would have been during a normal year,'' Pescovitz told The Enquirer this week. "A lot of EMTs (emergency medical technicians) are using them now when they're intubating, and ambulance services as well. Sports Pod Pop Up Tent, Single Weather Pod for Sports Fishing, Outdoor Shelter Clear Rainproof Windproof Beach Tent for Wind and Rain in Chilly Weather, Lightweight and Sturdy, Easy Set Up, Foldable 4. "We’ve been selling these all over the place to hospitals and healthcare workers trying to protect themselves,'' Pescovitz said. Patients sometimes vomit or spit up saliva or other fluids while being intubated. The tube is typically connected to a machine called a ventilator, which pumps in air with extra oxygen. Intubation is used on COVID patients when they can't breathe on their own, and involves a doctor inserting a tube down the patient's throat and into their windpipe to make it easier to get air into and out of their lungs. The pods – which provide a fully enclosable barrier against aerosol spray from COVID patients – are designed to cover a patient's head and torso during intubation. The line includes the $59.99 IntubationPod now used widely in hospitals and named one of Time magazine's "Best Inventions of 2020.'' In fact, Pescovitz's company, which was founded in 2010 and has 10 full-time employees, launched a whole new line of foldable, pop-up protective pods for healthcare workers. "All of a sudden, we're watching these COVID test sites on TV, and it's pouring down rain,'' he said. "People weren’t outside watching games in the spring, which is typically our busiest time of the year.''īut just when business had hit rock bottom, Pescovitz said he had an epiphany while watching TV news coverage of healthcare workers administering COVID tests at different sites across the country. "Our business was down substantially because just about every sporting event was cancelled because of COVID,'' Pescovitz said. The owners of Linwood-based Under The Weather – which specializes in protective pop-up shelters for camping and sporting events – said sales plummeted more than 70% soon after the COVID-19 crisis was declared. COVID-19 has been a blessing and a curse for Rick Pescovitz and his wife Kelly Mahan.
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