Community members making face masks to help fight COVID-19

As the COVID-19 virus continues to impact the world, and Alaska, many people are doing their part to mitigate its spread. People are working from home, self-isolating, and social distancing. A recent health alert by the state of Alaska recommends that people begin wearing face masks when in public, as well.

"Scientific evidence available to date indicates that asymptomatic and presymptomatic shedding of the virus that causes COVID-19 is occurring," the April 3 health alert reads. "This means that people who have no symptoms whatsoever may be infected with the virus and capable of transmitting the virus to others when interacting in close proximity-for example, speaking, coughing, or sneezing."

Of course, with the pandemic, face masks are hard to come by in many communities. Medical personnel need N95 face masks for their jobs. Stores are facing limited or nonexistent supplies of any kind of masks. Fortunately, in Wrangell, many community members are putting their crafting skills to good use and making homemade masks.

Jenni Jackson is Wrangell's local administrator for Southeast Alaska Mask Makers, a Facebook group for people across the region who are making face masks. She said she has about 20 volunteers in Wrangell making masks. Personally, Jackson said she has made a few dozen masks. Most recently she said she sent a care package of 21 masks down to Oregon. Jackson highlighted some recent donations to help the mask makers. Joann Fabric recently donated about 30 yards of fabric to Wrangell mask makers, she said, and Buness Electric donated wire for nose pieces. All in all, she said that they are aiming to make about 250 masks.

"I'm bored," she said. "I have the hair salon downtown and we got shut down ... What better way to use all of this old fabric?"

More about the mask makers group can be found on Facebook under "Southeast Alaska Mask Makers." Jackson said that people can message her to learn more, or to learn about the forms needed to fill out to request masks or volunteer for the group.

Wrangell resident and pastor Jeanette Covalt has been making masks for about three weeks, she said in an email to the Sentinel, and has put together around 80 so far. She said that she was feeling helpless because of the virus, and wanted to do something to help out. As a quilter, she said she had a lot of the necessary supplies on hand. Making masks not only gives her something to pass the time with, she is also happy to know she is doing her small part to help others. She is giving away her masks to anyone in need, she said.

"I am using two layers of cotton fabric with a layer of flannel inside," Covalt said. "The major important part of making them is to make sure they are washable and all the seams are sewn well.

Another community member making masks is Lisa Torgramsen, a clerk at Wrangell Medical Center. She has spent the past month sewing masks in her free time, she said, and has put together close to 100. She is making her masks with a double layer, she said, where a medical procedure mask can be inserted for an extra layer of safety. She does not want to overstate the effectiveness of these face masks, however. Face masks are not meant to protect someone from contracting COVID-19. However, it is a precaution to help limit its spread to others.

"To have something is better than nothing," she said. "I hope we can get enough masks out while they're needed."

Torgramsen has been sewing her own clothes since she was a teenager, she said, and she also quilts. She has been supplying her masks to people within the Wrangell Medical Center initially, she said, but has started making them available to the wider public. She is running low on supplies, she added, so she can only make so many masks.

There are many other members of the community who are making these masks. City officials have also gotten involved by setting up a new email address, masks@wrangell.com, where people can put in a request if they need a face mask. They can also call the Irene Ingle Public Library at (907) 874-3535 to request a mask. Once the request is put in, the city will work to distribute the request to the crafters around town. Once the request is filled, the masks will be made available for pickup at the library.