
By Emma Stark
Baltimore Watchdog Staff Writer
In the small town of Frostburg, high in the mountains of Western Maryland,16-year-old Avery Jacobs pushed aside boredom during the Stay-at-home orders of the governor and started making masks.
Afterall, Jacobs was tired of sitting around and since she already knew how to sew, she figured she might as well give making masks a go. The resourceful teen looked up a pattern online and made slight adjustments to better cover the wearer’s nose.
Jacobs’ first customer was her grandmother. When she posted a picture of the mask on Snapchat, people began asking if she could make them one too. Jacobs quickly went to work making masks for people and planned to continue supplying the covering to organizations that don’t have any.
“I just hope that the masks I have made help loved ones and workers stay safe and healthy,” said Jacobs who is donating the masks at no cost.
Jacobs isn’t the only citizen to make masks. An Allegany County woman who asked to remain anonymous, made masks for the Iron Rail Diner in Mt. Savage. She said the masks are free to anyone who needs one, but takers are encouraged to donate to the Kids’ Lunch Box program, which provides food to children in need.
Nearly two and a half hours away in Pikesville, another high school student is making a different kind of mask. Sam Suchin, a junior at Pikesville High School, is creating 3D printed masks for doctors at Sinai Hospital caring for patients with COVID-19, according to JMore, Baltimore Jewish Living publication.
Face masks initially were not considered essential when the coronavirus began to strike areas of the United States. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for months said that the only people who needed to wear face masks were ill or those who were treating them. Health officials first stressed that the basic medical masks do little to protect wearers. The thought was the masks prevented sick people from spewing infectious droplets from their noses and mouths. The World Health Organization supported the idea that limited supplies of masks needed to be prioritized for frontline health workers.
Now face masks have become an essential attire for nearly every American since early April when President Donald Trump announced that the CDC now recommends that people use cloth face covering in crowded places. First wearing the masks was voluntary, now some states and cities are mandating their use.
Officials in Prince George’s and Montgomery counties and in Washington, D.C. have signed orders requiring everyone shopping in grocery stores or other large shops to wear masks. The Baltimore City Council on Monday unanimously passed a resolution calling for Mayor Bernard C. “Jack” Young to issue an executive order mandating everyone in the city wear either a mask or another kind of facial covering when they leave their homes.
However, the supply of face masks is limited. The medical-grade facemasks, like the N95, are hard to get. The shortage is so extreme that health care workers have been using the same masks for entire shifts. Before COVID-19, nurses and other health care workers would change masks between every patient.
So, if getting access to medical-grade facemasks is so challenging then what is the everyday-citizen supposed to do? Jacobs, Suchin and other creative Americans have stepped up to the challenge. Jacobs’ homemade masks are made from fabrics such as cotton with elastics to attach the masks around the ears. Suchin uses a 3D printer, a process also known as additive manufacturing that creates three-dimensional, solid objects from a digital file. His materials, plastic, were donated by Mike Adelstein, president and CEO of Baltimore-based Potomac Photonics, said JMore.
And, masks can be made with coffee filters.
Emily Edwards, a worker at Health Matters Urgent Care in Cumberland, said she wears a homemade cloth mask, a gift from her mother, with a coffee filter inside for extra protection due to the lack of medical grade masks available.
According to the FDA, the mask shortage is in the millions, but with a new sterilization technique, they hope to combat these numbers. Previously there was no way to sterilize the used mask, but as of Monday, a sterilizing technique via hydrogen peroxide gas plasma was announced. The process should take 30-60 minutes per batch of masks up to 480 times a day, officials speculated.
“At times working in the health field can be scary and intimidating, especially in trying times like right now,” said Edwards. “But with the proper hand hygiene and right attitude, I believe this is something we can get through.”