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Spouse runs a nursing home in CA. Everyone is safe, no positive tests. But since nursing homes are hotspots, we've been preparing with extra caution. 3 weeks ago, I started leisurely sewing homemade masks for the staff, anticipating the day PPE would be routed to ICU's and ER's.
When I started, I was fighting with people on the internet because they said it was pointless, and I said, do you know the labor that happens in nursing homes? It's worth it just for CNA's to have a barrier against feces.
Now of course we know our government was lying and everyone is scrambling to make homemade masks. There is a run on sewing supplies and elastic is now as hot a commodity as toilet paper.
Over the weekend, along with saying everyone should wear masks outside, the CDC said that ALL frontline medical staff need to be wearing masks at all times. But of course, there are no masks. If there were masks available, we wouldn't be in this mess.
Our nursing home will be OK because I've already been sewing for three weeks. (The masks are labor intensive to make high quality enough for regular repeated use.)
But what about everyone who doesn't have a craft designer wife at home? What exactly are they supposed to do? Where are these non-existent masks supposed to come from?
I am so furious at our government I have to keep taking breaks from work to get my hands to stop shaking.
In short, please check in on your nursing homes and if you are sewing masks for your family, sew some more for them. Quality is more important than quantity. Elastic is best for industrial washing machines. If you have to use ties, T-shirt strips are most comfortable.
Sew, sew, sew like the wind!
Here's the pattern I'm using. High quality with less fuss. This is not a time for bias tape. (It's a time for whatever you've got on hand. But don't go making bias tape for this.)
