Friday, April 10, 2020 – Making Masks

Health care professionals and regular citizens are facing shortages of masks. Here’s a link to the Centers for Disease Control website page about wearing and making masks:

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/prevent-getting-sick/diy-cloth-face-coverings.html

I have been making masks for my church, Lovers Lane United Methodist Church, to distribute to those in need. They are in the photo to the right. Got a kit from the church and completed 12 out of 24 masks! However, discovered I have not been making them correctly. Reread the instructions, and now see I should have an extra pleat on both sides of each mask. So, will have to add those extra pleats before I turn them into the church. Aaargh!

People across the country have been pitching in to make masks. According to today.com, one group in New York, The Masked Warriors Project, grew to more than 1,400 members, pulling together to help two Rockland County hospitals with mask shortages. The group has already sewn hundreds of masks, ranging from people making 10 per day to some who make 100 and one member who is able to sew 250 masks in one day.

According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, as the nation shut down in response to the coronavirus, members of Philadelphia’s Asian American community were troubled not just by the deadly virus, which originated in China, but also by reports of Asian Americans being harassed and scapegoated for the pandemic.

So, they began looking to combat the misperceptions and bigotry — and help the larger community. By early April, the Korean American Association of Greater Philadelphia had come up with a way: making masks for nursing homes, retirement communities, and hospitals.

For the Make a Mask Campaign, the association joined forces with the Korean American Dry Cleaners Association, the Korean American Senior Citizens of Greater Philadelphia, Korean Traditional Music of Philadelphia and the Montgomery County Korean Senior Association.

About 70 people from the organizations, many owners of dry cleaners closed by the virus shutdown, have been making masks by hand in their homes and stores, using fabric they bought or been saving for years, or which has been donated. To date, nearly 5,000 masks have been delivered, and a donation of up to 10,000 is being planned, said Sharon Hartz, the association’s president.

Here’s a local story about making masks story from Channel 5 NBC:

Tina Washington started making face masks for her family. It's turned into a new product line for the DeSoto seamstress, who donates some of them to people on the front lines. She's made more than 500 face masks. Some of them she sells for a small price so that she can donate a portion of the masks to non-medical people on the front lines of the COVID-19 fight.

"Everyone's helping the hospitals," Washington said. "But no one's helping the places behind the scenes like shelters, transitional housing."

Washington recently donated 50 masks to workers at a homeless shelter in Killeen.

And another story from Fox 4 News:

There's a new pattern to the day for Ruben Caceres. When his career as a special education teacher for DISD went online, his wheels started spinning and stopped on inspiration.

“I wanted to make the masks for my kids,” he said. “I wanted to give them something that they would be able to wear. So that if they wanted to take them outside, they would still be protected.”

Not exactly flush with cash, Caceres’ $1,200 stimulus check came just in time.

“Mostly, it’s going to go toward making these masks,” he said.

One way to help locally is by donating to Woven Health Clinic, https://www.wovenhealth.org/. Located in Farmers Branch, it is a 501(c)(3) community health care clinic that helps uninsured and under-insured adults build healthier, happier and more productive lives. Its executive director, Lisa Rigby, is asking for homemade masks for its staff and patients. Contact her at Lrigby@wovenhealth.org or call the office at 972-755-4656.

Also, Children’s Health, https://www.childrens.com/, is taking donations of masks, goggles and gloves. All items must be latex free. Items must be new and in sanitary condition. Email covidresponse@childrens.com for more information.

The link to the CDC at the top of this post gives instructions on how to make three different kinds of masks, including a no-sew one.

Here are FAQs on cloth face coverings from Dallas County: https://addisontexas.net/sites/default/files/fileattachments/development_services/page/16874/faq_-_cloth_coverings.pdf