C19 Masks!

shopping at Winco April 6 2020

Sewing masks has become the thing to do as they are desperately needed around the country for medical use and for the public. I've seen a myriad of ways to make them and a myriad of opinions on how to make them effective. There have even been naysayers who claim masks won't do you a bit of good. That may be true if you wear them thinking they will protect you enough to resume your normal social and work life--that would be a mistake.  However, anything, even a scarf, is going to be helpful even to a small degree.

Though the one pictured above wouldn't pass muster for a medical worker, it's superior to most of the masks I see in public (but am glad anything is being worn). The pattern came from a sewing website. I used good quality cotton fabric. Both the front and the lining have a layer of iron-on interfacing. In between is a layer of heavy non-woven interfacing. Along the nose is a piece of 16-gauge wire so that the wearer can shape the mask to nose and upper face, thereby creating a snug fit. The stiffness of this mask creates a space in front of the nose so that the mask does not become damp from breathing, as does a pleated cotton mask (I wore a pleated one for 45 minutes in the store once, and it quickly became damp, then too warm). The above mask is the cadillac version.

Without venturing to the fabric store to buy a single supply, I made masks for all family members with items from my stash. There was enough fabric, elastic, interfacing, and metal for everyone. It was fun to customize by picking fabric I thought each person would like.

here's some grands with their masks:

other family members wearing my home-sewn masks; the one below got his in the mail just in time for New York's governor to declare masks had to be worn in public (I made some for his roommates also)

An assortment of 2 types of masks. I tried using ties on two of them but didn't like the non-bias ties on the blue mask. The orange ties on the butterfly mask are on the bias and work well, due to their stretchiness.

My favorites, made for the Flynns.

What materials make the most protective face mask?
Here is one local effort to produce masks for local health workers

Hard Times Bring Out the Best in People

'Let me shop for you': Trader Joe's employee helps woman overwhelmed with fear over her husband's health

With shoppers lined up around the NE Portland Trader Joe's, Karla Hudson couldn't risk catching and spreading COVID-19 to her immunocompromised husband.

Author: Katherine Cook

Published: 10:35 PM PDT April 9, 2020

Updated: 11:16 PM PDT April 9, 2020

PORTLAND, Ore. — Fear of catching and spreading COVID-19 to her husband almost led a Portland woman to leave a busy grocery store empty-handed. Instead, her concerns opened the door to an act of great kindness.

     To know Karla Hudson, is to know her husband Stu.

     “We've been married for 25 years now,” said Hudson with pride.

     The Hudsons, who have three sons, were college sweethearts and remain best friends. They leaned on each other during Stu's two kidney transplants and a recent battle with stage 4 skin cancer.      Fortunately, Stu's been in remission since August, but when they learned about COVID-19 they knew they had to be careful.

     “We just really want to keep him safe and healthy,” said Hudson. “The virus could take away everything.”

     And yet, life goes on. Like on Sunday, April 5, when the family ran out of milk.

     “I thought I could just hop down to the grocery store and grab a couple of things and everything would be fine,” said Hudson.

     She drove to Trader Joe’s in NE Portland’s Hollywood District. The line of shoppers wrapped around the building.

     “I started to go get in that line and felt really overwhelmed,” said Hudson.

     She thought of Stu, who’d been in quarantine for over a month. She thought of the virus and milk and then… tears. She couldn't stop them as she explained her situation to a store employee. She hadn’t expected to get emotional.

     “It was embarrassing at that moment I found myself having a meltdown in front of Trader Joe’s," said Hudson. “As I was standing there, this sweet young man approached me and said, ‘Let me shop for you.’”

     That young man was Trader Joe’s associate, Ashwin Patankar. Hudson said she appreciated his offer but didn’t want to impose or get special treatment.

     “He insisted,” said Hudson. “He said, ‘No, this isn't worth taking a risk for you. Let me do your shopping.’”

     “Hudson waited in her car as Patankar picked up milk, yogurt and bananas. He texted with Hudson as he selected a few other items to make sure he got them right. When he was done shopping, he paid for Hudson’s groceries so she didn't have to worry about coming into the store at that moment. Hudson later paid him back.

     “He brought my groceries out to my car, asked how my family was and how we were doing,” recalled Hudson. “He just took one of those moments where you find yourself feeling so overwhelmed and so vulnerable and he turned it into something that was just sweet and generous.”

     As she drove home, Hudson figured her story was just one of countless others like it unfolding during these challenging times. Still, there can never be too many of those.

     “My mom said, ‘You know, we need more Ashwins in the world,’” shared Hudson. “Maybe be this will inspire people to be more like Ashwin.”

     In a message to KGW, Patankar wrote, "I feel like we're all doing our best."

     He pointed to Mister Rogers' famous advice to kids dealing with scary times: “Look for the helpers, you will always find people who are helping.”

     Patankar added, "Hopefully this brings out the best in all of us."

     It did for Hudson, who on Sunday was left clutching onto a grocery list and hope for humanity.

     “I was just so grateful for him in that moment,” she said.

[Trader Joes employee shops for overwhelmed customer]

Did I Ever Think I Would . . .?

In my wildest dream or worst nightmare, did I ever envision that I would:

wear a mask to get groceries

wait in line to enter a grocery store

be counted when entering a grocery store (limited number of shoppers allowed in at one time}

see social distancing rules posted in said store, tape on the floor indicating which direction to move and where to stand safely apart in line

wait in line in the parking lot of Costmore at 7:30 a.m. for "senior hour," 8-9 a.m.

wait in line in the Costmore parking lot at 7:30 a.m. in a line that wrapped around the parking lot, the end of which was indicated by a line monitor raising an orange flag on a pole

wait in above line to hear the line monitor bark out that today Costmore had TP in stock--two kinds!!, so you actually have a choice! Did HE ever think that he would be standing in the parking lot barking out what they had in stock today, him being normally an auditory specialist  in the hearing aid department. . . [I kidded him about being repurposed]

dodge scores or hundreds of people as I ride my bike out on the local trails (it's a great thing that people are out)

cut and sew a bunch of pleated face masks for family members

cut and sew a bunch of higher-end fitted masks for family members, complete w/ a metal nose piece for a custom fit around the face . . .

find that 1/4" elastic is sold out in the entire country! add twill tape and non-woven interfacing to the list

not be in control of some aspects of the future (for instance, we have a trip to Europe planned for the entire month of June . . .)

be walking w/ friends, not together on sidewalks, but spread out in the street

talk to the cashier or clerk through a plexiglass barrier or heavy visqueen hanging from the ceiling

send my grandson to Home Depot for bark-dust, garden seeds and other items, because it is safer for a person my age to minimize public exposure

laugh like heck at the Covid-19 memes on my computer, then get tears in my eyes when I think too deep about the tragic situation


Some of those memes:

Travel plans this week: 

To the window,

To the wall.

Then I might go down the hall.

Just be careful of the DUI checkpoint in the hall

"Your grandparents were called to war. You’re being called to sit on your couch. You can do this."

I finished Netflix today

And a non-C19 meme that makes me smile:

"So... Moroni loses his trumpet and just like that, he's bumped off the logo."

 (This one will make sense to Utahans and members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. On top of the Salt Lake Temple in Salt Lake City is a statue of the prophet Moroni sounding a trumpet, heralding the good news of the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ. A couple of weeks ago Utah had a 5.5 earthquake, which caused the trumpet to break off. Then on April 5 the Church announced a newly created symbol featuring The Christus, thereby replacing Moroni as our long-standing icon. )

C19 Update

Update April 2 2020: Gosh, I was heartily heartened this morning when I checked the two sources that I've been following to track the C19 spread. In the past 12 hours the US cases hadn't increased at a tremendous rate, as they had been for days. Disappointing to check this afternoon and see a 25K rise in American cases. Oregon has held in the 700s for several days though, and that was after being in the 600s for almost a week. All that said, we know the number of cases being posted daily is rising due to higher rates of testing. Many more people are sick with C19 than know it because of the until-now dearth of tests.

Which brings up a thought: It seems to me that Oregon's cases have not skyrocketed as some states have. Could it be that the social distancing that we have been practicing for weeks has squelched some of this bug? Just today (or yesterday?) the governor of Georgia announced that he just found out that asymptomatic people can spread this thing, and therefore Georgians need to stay home. Seriously. Is it possible he's been up to his elbows at his hog farm or something, and didn't come up for air until today? So Georgia is bursting with cases because neither the gov nor his staff knew what we've all known for at least a month?? Sheesh.

I made a run to Costmore early this morning during the "senior hour." Now there's one advantage to having gray hair. Let's hear it for Costmore though--they have this thing down to a science, and what a difference since my last visit a month ago. A line monitor (formerly their auditory specialist--I kidded him about being repurposed) held up a neon yellow flag denoting the end of the line. My friend L and I were there 15 minutes before opening by which time the line was beginning to wrap around the lot. By the time we got into the store it had tripled in length. Of course, we're all distancing which stretched it like an elongated slinky. 

Exuberant Mr. Line Monitor let us line-ees know that today they have TP--two kinds! L and I raced around knocking off our list, and found the checkout lines not very long. The checker (protected by a plexiglass barrier) never touched our membership cards and those who had their own bags were asked to bag their own items. The door monitor who marks receipts was seated inside a plexiglass cubicle and never touched our receipts.

I hope that a year or two from now, or five or 10, the blurbs below will sound ridiculously absurd. The next generation will not believe there was a time when TP made the headlines. Put into today's context, it's just one more sign that we have a unique situation here, hopefully to fade into the distance soon.

FoxNews 2 Apr 2020: Police in California took a wipe out of crime Tuesday after pulling over a stolen SUV and finding 192 rolls of toilet paper -- a sought-after commodity as people hoard supplies amid the coronavirus pandemic. . .Earlier this week, a tractor-trailer carrying a load of toilet paper rolled over and burst into flames on a Texas highway. Neither the driver nor his dog was hurt. But countless rolls of toilet paper were scorched or strewn across the roadway.

www.thedailyworld.com 1 Apr 2020: A 39-year old Ocean Shores man is in custody for burglary after allegedly entering a vacant home and stealing several items, including cleaning supplies and toilet paper.

https://www.heraldnet.com/life/with-a-bidet-tp-shortages-no-longer-scare-the-crap-out-of-us/ Discusses the question: TP or bidet? Bidet of course!

Here are the two C19 trackers that give information in two varied ways:
Worldometers
New York Times