Engineers Made a DIY Face Shield. Now It's Helping Doctors

Medical professionals are facing mass shortages of personal protective equipment amid the coronavirus pandemic, so people with 3D printers are helping to produce alternatives. In New York, one company is using a GoFundMe campaign to help fund the production, while the founder of a Czech 3D-printer company developed one of the most downloaded designs for the transparent disposable full-face masks.

A group of three women Alaskan women banded together on Facebook to rally sewers across the state to sew masks for Alaska's front-line workers during COVID-19. Their Facebook group includes tutorials, outreach, and customer service. They have about 300 volunteers from places all over the state and have filled the requests of 56 different organizations (about 37,668). At least 14 communities across Alaska have benefitted from this. Another response is underway in Anchorage where scientists are experimenting with 3D printing N95 masks.

In the UK, universities are playing a role in containing the coronavirus and helping communities cope by creating innovative solutions and using of technology to expand access. From converting shipping containers into vertical farms that provide food to those experiencing homelessness to teaching businesses how to move their work online, "universities are using their research and resources to improve people’s lives."

People in Jackson, Wyoming with access to 3D printers are teaming up and building face shields for the local hospital to help protect the frontline workers from contracting Covid-19. Although the shields aren't the same as medically-graded N-95 masks, hospital personnel say they are still helpful for protecting healthcare workers and help to guard medical equipment.

Personal protective equipment has been in short supply as the pandemic caught the United States off guard. In an effort to fill the gap, a company in Louisiana called Action Specialties has been manufacturing disposable masks for healthcare workers using the blue sterilization wrap that was used to package medical instruments. There is a large supply of the wrap because demand has been down during the pandemic, so they have been working full time to produce 8,000 disposable masks each week. The masks produced will then go be distributed to hospital workers at Lafayette General Health Hospital.

A tension fabric structures manufacturing company in Maine has repurposed their facility and transformed their local workforce to create grade-one medical masks for the local hospital during the Covid-19 pandemic. Because the company uses only U.S.-made materials, they have been able to avoid supply chain interruptions and now plans to continue making masks as part of their standard business model even after the pandemic passes.

After learning that the U.S. would likely face a shortage of ventilators during the coronavirus pandemic, a group of "scientists, engineers, entrepreneurs, physicians and regulatory experts" collaborated to design an automatic resuscitator that can be used to help "less critically ill patients." The streamlined creation comes with an affordable price tag, making it more scalable for use in rural areas or less developed regions, and has also been approved by the F.D.A. for use in hospitals.

Altavian, a Gainesville, Florida based engineering company has figured out how to mass produce reusable N95 masks for healthcare workers using 3D printing technology. The mask – crucial in protecting healthcare workers against COVID-19 – is made from a common material, and with funding from donations, the company is able to produce close to 1,000 each day.

An informal awareness campaign led by Chinese Hospital in San Francisco's Chinatown has played a prominent role in helping to keep the spread of COVID-19 cases to a minimal in the community. Working with local health officials and using the city’s Chinese-language media, the hospital and community leaders implemented proactive protocols that included widespread mask-wearing and business closures. Although tourism and business revenue has significantly decreased, the community has been able to avoid outbreaks.

Battelle labs in rural Ohio is decontaminating n95 masks for health care workers as personal protective equipment remains in short supply amidst COVID-19. Granted emergency authorization from the Food and Drug Administration, the lab runs a separate tent station for their decontamination efforts, which follow tight structures and protocol.