I made the weekly trip into town for supplies and the post office today. Little has changed since last week, except peoples’ masks
There were fewer purchased ones, probably because individuals had used up their reserves and couldn’t buy more. The news is filled with stories of problems with getting medical-grade ones from China.
Mine are not particularly protective, as I discovered a couple weeks ago. The box doesn’t indicate its raw materials. It just says it has no natural rubber latex and carries a stamp of the Sustainable Forest Initiative. The company website says the masks don’t repel liquids.
The box says the masks are a "product of USA, further processed in Mexico." That means the paper is made in this country, and shipped to Mexico. That border has been closed to non-essential travel since March 21. [1] People commuting from Del Rio, Texas, to Acuña could still pass, and goods could still be imported, if they could get passed federal agents looking for medical supplies.
The company’s headquarters are in Fulton County, the county with the highest number of coronavirus cases in Georgia. [2] The city with its headquarters closed essential businesses on April 2. [3] Even if these masks were at all useful, the barriers to producing more are high.
When masks ran out, the government began suggesting people make their own. This uncovered a different problem in the supply chain, what could be called a loss of institutional knowledge. It may explain why I saw more older people with homemade masks today than younger ones. Fewer young people know how to sew.
When I was a child in Michigan in the 1950s, we were required to take home economics in junior high. Half were assigned to the sewing room, and have to the cooking one. Half of all the girls in my hometown had been taught to sew by the time they graduated.
My mother had a sewing machine, and I was in 4-H where I took sewing classes. While it seemed everyone I knew had a sewing machine, I realize now that the mothers of most of my friends did not. There already was a certain stigma to homemade, and people wanted store bought goods. This snobbery is always highest among people raised in poor areas who want proof they’ve succeeded.
Now, telling people to make their own masks is as useful as telling them to fly. Most people probably have scissors, and everyone has old clothes that can be recycled. That’s actually all that’s needed to make a crude bandana that ties in back.
Many may not have thread or needles. If they don’t they probably don’t know much about using a needle. I’m sure there are YouTube videos on this, but who thinks of going there?
Needles and thread can be bought almost anywhere, or could. What is harder to find is the elastic, or a substitute like hem tape (if one even knows such a thing exists), to make the ear loops.
This would be an ideal opportunity for someone who could sew to make masks to sell at a roadside stand. However, I doubt those exist. (I haven’t been out on a weekend when they’re most common, but I haven’t seen any at the usual places during the week.)
As an aside, I first bought my masks at a local drug store. They were all that was offered. Better quality ones didn’t exist there before the outbreak of coronavirus.
Sources:
1. Vanessa Romo. "U.S. And Mexico Extend Coronavirus Border Restrictions For Another Month." National Public Radio website. 20 April 2020.
2. "Georgia Coronavirus Map and Case Count." The New York Times website. 25 April 2020. Fulton County has 2,509 cases, with a ratio of 246 positive tests per 100,000 people.
3. Charles Woodman. "Coronavirus In Alpharetta/Milton: Latest Updates, Closures." Patch website. 2 April 2020.
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