F*CK COVID-19: Why I’m sewing masks during quarantine time
Hey all,
Ruth here.
I hope everyone is safe, healthy and managing as best they can during the quarantine.
Robin and I are lucky enough to be able to WFH. It’s been a bit of an adventure juggling everything with Baby Lee but we have a pretty good process in place.
With some of the extra quarantine time, I started sewing masks in the house and bought the domain name USASewnMasks.com.
I was super inspired by what’s going on in the Czech Republic, which was able to flatten the curve in part by going from 10% mask-wearing compliance to 100% mask-wearing compliance (over a ten-day span).
It’s becoming more clear by the day that — in addition to hand washing and social distancing — everyone can help combat COVID-19 by wearing masks.
The CDC has finally come around to the merits of covering your face in public (lagging far behind the likes @balajis, organizations like Masks4All and countries successfully flattening the curve ⇩).
With the mask shortage and COVID-related supply chain disruptions in the US, domestic manufacturing can help make up the shortfall from overseas manufacturing — a rare occurance at a time when >90% of the clothes sold in America are made overseas (American Apparel & Footwear Association).
And we have the labor available in America to do it too: in the USA nearly 1 in 5 people have become unemployed or underemployed due to COVID-19.
And only 1 in 3 workers can work from home. Many, though, have sewing machines and the know-how to make much-needed masks.
With USA Sewn Masks, our goal is to f*ck COVID 19 in 5 steps:
Step 1: Wash your hands and practice social distancing
Step 2: Cover your face when out in public
Step 3: Save medical-grade masks for our frontline health workers
Step 4: Buy a cotton mask to protect yourself and support an American textile worker stitching from their home
Step 5: Profits go to Flexport.org, a nonprofit that is focused on getting supplies to frontline health care workers combating COVID-19
If you would like to buy a mask and support our healthcare workers, please go to our website.
To be clear, cotton masks are not a replacement for medical-grade masks but are a significant improvement over nothing and — with the aforementioned shortage in PPE for our frontline healthcare workers — cotton masks can substitute for everyday use in the meantime.
Save the medical-grade masks for our beloved healthcare workers and stay home!
Stay safe all,
Ruth
#masks4all (for real, masks f*cking work)
