New Jersey Students Donate 3D Printed Face Masks for Health Care Workers

The students from Warren Hill High School in New Jersey was inspired to produce more than 26,000 face shields for medical workers and first responders as the coronavirus crisis caused a shortage in surgical masks needed for COVID-19 protection.

Student Bobby Delghiaccio came up with the idea and he took home a 3D printer to make shields. As he was making them, several of his teachers figured out a way to make them faster.

3D printed face mask

According to a police statement, the Warren Hills and Mount Olive High School communities worked together with staff, school faculty, local businesses, and families in order to raise more than $40,000 and produce more than 26,500 face shields. The face shields were donated to the New Jersey State Police on April 11.

In only 48 hours, around 20 families hand-assembled 15,000 face shields. The organizers have used a lot of methods and contacts to get materials and they assembled shields from across the country. The shields were then packed in boxes and state troopers loaded them into their vehicles at the high school under the supervision of Col. Patrick Callahan.

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The police stated that Col. Callahan explained that the shields packaged in the parking lot were sent to the hands of first responders and medical professionals, who are in dire need, and that the efforts of the community were nothing short of an act of monumental humanitarianism.

The face shields were being distributed throughout Hunterdon and Warren counties. Col. Callahan personally transported shields for delivery to a Trenton-area hospital, according to the police statement.

Face mask shortage

The mask shortage in America is baffling. Masks are so difficult to find that health-care workers and first responders are reusing their masks multiple days in a row. Even grocery-store workers, who are considered at high risk of contracting the virus, have been denied masks for months. People are now making their own masks out of fabric scraps.

One reason that America ran short of masks is that a lot of them are made in China. The country slowed mask manufacturing and stopped shipping them to America when the coronavirus outbreaks started. But America was supposed to have its own supply of masks in the Strategic National Stockpile, which is a secretive stash of emergency supplies held in an undisclosed number of warehouses around the country. However, as of April 1, it was almost out.

Since the stockpile is limited, President Donald Trump asked the public to use alternatives instead and leave the N95 and surgical masks for the health workers and first responders. The CDC then suggested that the public can use cloth face coverings for protection.

The cloth face coverings should fit snugly but comfortably against the side of the face, it should be secured with ear loops or ties, it should include multiple layers of fabric, it should allow breathing without any restriction and you must be able to wash and machine dry the cloth without it losing its shape.