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Please don't pressure craftspeople to give away their already undervalued work for free, during a rare time when it's in high demand. Especially if it's their primary source of income. It's great if you can donate masks, but not everyone can.
Hospitals aren't treating the virus for free. The shortage of medical masks was caused by overwhelming demand, not an inability to pay for them. It's absurd to expect poor working class people to fill the gap at their own expense; let them make a living meeting a need.
Making masks takes time, materials, and skill. Sewing -- a skill that people are constantly expected to perform for free because it is viewed as a cutesy little hobby or "women's work". The work has a cost and it's valid to want to make money at your job.
If you have the extra resources to give away masks for free, that's a wonderful and incredibly generous thing. Consider giving them to the poorest or most vulnerable people in your community who genuinely could not afford/access them.
