In the United States, the shortage of face masks is opening to doors to people such as Seattle crafters, who are making DIY masks and face shields to help fight coronavirus.
As hospitals run out of masks, gowns and other PPE (personal protectant equipment) to keep medical workers safe, local creatives - many fresh out of gigs - are pitching in from behind their sewing machines, flooding social media with photos of homemade masks dotted with flowers and cute patters. Groups across the nation have started virtual sewing circles to create masks and protective gowns, forming an army of volunteers responding to the medical community's calls for help.
For now, hospitals are relying on dwindling stockpiles, some shipments, as well as much-needed donations of PPE (such as gloves and N95 masks) from dental offices, nonemergency medical facilities, veterinary organizations, the building trades and individuals who may have stores supplies.
There's also debate on how helpful fabric masks are. Experts say DIY masks can provide a false sense of security, resulting in lapses in other protective measures (like washing hands). One study found that due to moisture retention, reuse, and poor filtration, cloth masks had significantly higher rates of infection than medical masks. Another study, by the Society for Disaster Medicine and Public Health, found that while "both masks significantly reduce the number of microorganisms expelled by volunteers...the surgical mask was three times more effective in blocking transmission than the homemade mask".
"When we need them, cloth masks and gowns are better than nothing," says Dr. Lindquist, and I personally agree.
What do you think about the shortage and community coming together?
https://crosscut.com/2020/03/seattle-crafters-are-making-diy-masks-and-face-shields-help-fight-coronavirus
This is getting out of hand with the whole virus and masks. This virus has really took over our life's. Hopefully in a couple of days we are able to go back outside and meet with our friends. I think it is a great idea how people are beginning to make their own masks now to protect themselves and others. They are using their creativity in these hard times to get their minds off things. Since the hospitals are unable to provide people with masks now everyone is doing different things to be able to survive in this crisis. But I am also not sure how helpful these fabric masks help or even like regular masks how do they left you to not get the virus because doesn't the mask have bacteria in it to and every-time you breath you can be getting that bacteria. I just think that what people are doing is smart but how do they know that it will really protect them.
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