News + Politics

Hospitals Scramble for DIY Fixes to Critical Mask Shortages

Homemade or hand-sewn, creatively made and sourced masks could prove a critical ingredient in America's fight against the coronavirus.

As the coronavirus pandemic strains America's health care system, hospitals, doctors and ordinary citizens are scrambling to find creative fixes for a shortage of the most basic protective gear: masks.

Last week, the University of Nebraska Medical Center began trying to sterilize used masks using ultraviolet light, so doctors and nurses could wear them again. Deaconess Hospital in Evansville, Indiana, has requested citizens to sew surgical masks, even putting out advice on how to do so in compliance with Centers for Disease Control and Prevention norms. Mark Lewis, a hematologist and oncologist at Intermountain Healthcare in Utah, put out a step-by-step tutorial last week on using at-home materials to stitch masks. So have others, such as nursing professionals at St. Luke’s Hospital in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

Citizen-led initiatives — such as GetusPPE.org, DonatePPE.org, Mask Match and PPE Link — are emerging too, seeking to crowdsource masks. A volunteer group called Mask Crusaders connects those with extra masks to hospitals that need them. The state of Texas, much like New York has done with sanitizer, is working with prisoners to make masks. And the Henry Ford Health System, a major medical services provider in Detroit, is creating homemade face masks and eye protection using everyday things, like cloth, elastic and bleach. It hopes to produce 500-1,000 of these masks every day to help meet the shortages it faces at its facilities.

News + Politics

It’s Our Fault Young People Refuse to Stay Home

We've raised a generation to distrust government. Of course they're partying away the pandemic.

It’s no surprise young people are defying social distancing guidelines. I teach social justice education to college students, and I understand why this is happening. It’s not their selfishness or entitlement. It’s us.

Recent news pieces have begun to focus on the noncompliance of young people — particularly millennials — with social distancing policies meant to curb the spread of coronavirus. These stories have a kind of Charlton Heston cold dead hands vibe to them; and it doesn’t take too much imagination to recognize the similarities between millennials’ stubborn insistence on invoking their right to party in spite of a pandemic outbreak and gun rights enthusiasts’ insistence on bearing arms in spite of what might rightly be called a gun violence pandemic. The point is, they have learned from example.