These NC doctors have given away thousands of masks to those who need it the most

Updated Aug. 10 with information on a new study about the efficacy of different kinds of masks. See story here.

Ever since the coronavirus pandemic began, the images of people wearing masks have been ever-present.

Now, many places require face coverings before people enter them, from grocery stores and pharmacies to public transportation and other essential businesses.

Some states like New York and New Jersey have made them mandatory, and Durham County has, too in some public locations. North Carolina health officials strongly encourage them, especially as the state loosens stay-at-home restrictions for residents and businesses.

Three Triangle doctors and an army of volunteers are doing their part to meet the demand by supplying residents with free cloth masks through an effort called Covering the Triangle. The effort is now known as Cover Durham.

Their mission is to get masks to underserved populations that need them the most, distributing thousands and thousands of them to nursing homes, jails and prisons and bus riders. The doctors try to reach professions and populations where social distancing isn’t possible: grocery workers, farm workers, bus drivers, sex workers and the homeless population. Dr. Eric Westman, one of the organizers, said bus drivers are especially receptive to wearing the masks.

As of May 10, they’ve distributed nearly 40,000 masks, and they’re still going.

Evidence shows masks protect both workers wearing them and customers, even if the customers aren’t wearing them. State health officials continue to recommend frequent hand washing and safe social distancing, in conjunction with the face coverings, to curb the spread of COVID-19.

“Evidence shows if you wear a mask, then there’s a lot less of the asymptomatic spread,” said Dr. Larry Greenblatt, another leader of Covering the Triangle.

The doctors pushed Durham Mayor Steve Schewel to make it mandatory to wear masks in public in the city and county of Durham. Schewel and Durham Board of County Commissioners Chair Wendy Jacobs updated their stay-at-home order April 17 to require the masks, though there is no penalty if people don’t wear them.

As of May 13, there are more than 16,000 confirmed cases of the coronavirus in North Carolina and more than 600 deaths.

Mobilizing volunteers

Westman and Greenblatt have known each other for 15 years. They’re both general internists with Duke Health System, serving as primary care providers for adults, and they both teach medical students. Westman, director of the Duke Lifestyle Medicine Clinic, also has training in obesity medicine.

They’ve been assisted by Dr. Wickham Simonds, an obesity specialist. Simonds’ marketing consultant created their Covering the Triangle website for free.

The masks aren’t medical grade, such as N95 masks or respirators worn in hospitals. They’re cloth masks sewn locally.

Westman got the ball rolling on the project, looking for Facebook groups that were offering masks. He saw that the Carolina Ballet, out of work with all productions postponed, was looking for projects.

Westman started hiring these costume designers and sewers, used to producing intricate costumes, about the time the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention started recommending all Americans wear masks in public on April 3.

Initially, Westman used his own money to pay for these masks, made out of leftover fabrics from the ballet.

“But it was a great fit,” Westman said.

The doctors then got in touch with the Original Mattress Factory and added their production to the effort. The company had been shifting some of its workers to make the face coverings and could produce a greater volume of masks. The store’s polypropylene was a great fit, Westman said.

The group also has added a small army of 100 volunteer sewers through Durham activist Audrey Green, who in five weeks have made and donated more than 3,000 cotton masks.

The doctors and some philanthropists initially put up $20,000 for the project. Since then, the doctors have set up a GoFundMe page to pay for the production of the masks. As of May 13, the fundraiser had raised more than $28,000.

But more is needed, and the group has requested an additional $60,000 in funding from various Durham or Duke groups and is waiting for a response.

As the need for masks continued, Westman asked the Duke physics department if it could test various types of masks and face coverings for him, The News & Observer reported Aug. 10.

The results, published Aug. 7 in the journal Science Advances, not only helped the nonprofit Cover Durham choose the right masks, Westman said, they also show that testing the effectiveness of face coverings is not all that difficult.

The study also found that some face coverings are less effective than wearing no mask at all.

‘A matter of health justice’

After a few weeks of providing masks to the public, Westman and Greenblatt started hearing through their Facebook page from Isaac Henrion of Durham Mutual Aid, who was trying to establish who in Durham had masks and other personal protective equipment.

Henrion asked so many questions about their masks that they brought him on to help organize the project.

“These things are essential for communities to protect themselves and stop the spread of the virus,” Henrion said. “But many of the most vulnerable and marginalized people in our area have no way to obtain one.

“Speaking personally, it’s a matter of health justice,” Henrion said. “The people dying from COVID-19 are mostly the people who have been and still are excluded, denied and unheard. It’s totally unjust.”

Westman said the decision to bring on Henrion has been a good one. “It has been a joy to work with Isaac,” Westman said, “who has been spectacular as an organizer, thinker, and communicator both verbally and in writing. He has been a great asset to our project and to many in the community.”

Greenblatt said it’s important to wear some type of mask now, even it’s not perfect. Surgeon General Jerome Adams can be seen on YouTube making a mask out of a cut-up old T-shirt and two rubber bands. A bandanna and two rubber bands can also be used to make a mask.

You can start with what you can manage at first, Greenblatt said, and improve as time goes on.

Widespread use of masks on the statewide level, Greenblatt said, could help the state open up society earlier than without masks.

“I hope we can influence state policy in North Carolina as well eventually,” he said.

Details

Covering the Triangle is now known as Cover Durham. For information, go to coverdurham.com.

This story was originally published May 7, 2020 at 6:15 AM with the headline "These NC doctors have given away thousands of masks to those who need it the most."