UNMASKED

US fashion brands having to make medical masks expose a failure of the health system

Across the U.S., clothing companies and legions of home sewers are churning out face masks as fast as they can to meet the critical shortage of masks available to American medical workers. It’s a heartening and admirable effort by both companies and individuals to assist in a moment of national need. There’s just one problem: Many of these masks are apparently being made from regular cloth textiles such as cotton, which research says offers little protection against infectious diseases such as the new coronavirus. The situation isn’t the fault of those trying to help. Rather, it’s a sign of how unprepared the U.S. health system was for an outbreak like COVID-19, both in the number of masks it had available and its ability to make more in an emergency. Read more at Quartz.