As a reaction to the COVID-19 crisis and national face mask shortage, hospitals throughout the country have issued pleas for home sewers to donate masks made from fabric. A local organization requesting help was the Minneapolis Veterans Administration (VA) Medical Center, where the Lake Minnetonka DAR Chapter has already been donating hand-knitted/crocheted scarves for veterans.
Several of our members immediately responded to the VA request, turned to their fabric stashes and began sewing masks.
Below are photos of the first face mask shipments mailed off to the VA Medical Center.
According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC), fabric masks are a crisis response option. Ideally the masks are used by health care professionals in combination with a face shield or by hospital staff not directly involved with patient care. However the shortage may grow so severe that a fabric mask is the only protection between medical personnel and patients tested positive for the virus.
CDC guidelines now state Americans should consider wearing face masks to prevent the spread of the virus, not necessarily to protect the wearer but to prevent transmission from infected people who still are not showing symptoms.
A variety of face mask patterns are available online. The one pictured here was the type specified by the VA: tightly-woven cotton rectangles, backed in flannel, with thin elastic straps to circle the ears. An unfortunate result of all the DIY masks being sewn was a skyrocketing demand for elastic, which quickly came to be in short supply. Sewers responded by creating masks with long ties.
Local DAR members have joined Daughters across the country to “put the pedal to the metal” on their sewing machines and donate thousands of face masks. Thank you to all who’ve participated!
We continue to be deeply grateful to all medical personnel and first-responders who are risking their health to serve the public during the coronavirus epidemic. We pray the homemade face masks will make a difference.
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