UP TO THE MASK TASK
Kaeli Decelles and others are working hard at home sewing fabric masks in response to the COVID-19 pandemic but are running into shortages of elastic for ear loops.
Sewing skills are in high demand as pandemic fears spark a mask-making frenzy in Saskatchewan.
Some say they can’t keep up with surging demand, with work piling up and elastic shortages forcing them to decide who gets a mask and who doesn’t.
“It’s hard to decide, right? Who’s more essential than who. What friends deserve it more?” wondered Kaeli Decelles.
“I don’t want to make that call.” Decelles teaches sewing in Regina. She, her friends and her students were making dozens of masks about two weeks ago. Decelles has kept sewing for family and friends in the days since. She keeps getting tagged on Facebook with requests for more masks.
“It’s an incredible demand,” she said. “Like there’s so much demand for it right now, and it’s a lot of work.”
But the work is grinding to a halt as Decelles faces difficulty tracking down supplies. She has built up a stockpile of elastics over the years. But now it’s all gone, and she can’t find more.
“You just can’t get elastic in the city,” said Decelles. “Amazon is like three to six weeks backed up, and Fabricland is closed right now.”
Jana Ham was on her way to pick up a big shipment of elastics on Tuesday for her own mask-making project. “I ordered everything in stock left in Michaels,” she said. She’s noticed the same shortage as Decelles.
“That’s actually put a hold on our production right now in getting them out to people,” Ham said.
“There’s a bit of a supply and demand imbalance.”
Ham set up what she described as a “social enterprise” company called Sask Masks just two days ago. At first, there was a core team of four people. Now the skyrocketing demand has pushed her to boost the workforce to 10. It’s still not enough. Ham is now offering $3 per mask to anyone who can join.
Sask Masks took more than 170 orders for masks in just the first 24 hours, according to Ham. She’s been working 15-hour days since the project began.
“We can’t make masks fast enough,” she said.
Sask Masks is selling its masks for $20 per mask, with all proceeds net of supplies and $3-per-mask labour costs going to Carmichael Outreach, the YWCA and the Regina Food Bank, according to Ham.
The efficacy of homemade masks has been a subject of debate in public and in the medical community. But Canadian health officials, including federal chief public health officer Dr. Theresa Tam, have slowly endorsed the view that they can help reduce infection from asymptomatic or pre-symptomatic mask wearers to others.
Tam said on Monday that masks can help stop the spread of COVID-19, though they do not replace social distancing efforts. She has long been hesitant to publicly share that view.
Ham believes the reversal is helping to drive up demand still further. She agrees with Tam that masks can never be a reason to loosen up social distancing efforts. But some trips are unavoidable, and it may be difficult to avoid close run-ins in certain cases.
“Social distancing is the best way to slow the spread,” she said. “But in the event that you have to make those trips, the masks can help.”
Saskatchewan’s chief medical health officer, Dr. Saqib Shahab, has remained skeptical about homemade masks. He declined to explicitly recommend them when asked on Monday.
“I think it’s for each individual and family to look at,” said Shahab. “Is this something they want to do and can they do it in a safe manner?”
He warned that masks are only safe if used properly.
“Having said all that, if people want to look at what’s on various websites about how to design and use a mask, that’s fine,” said Shahab,
“but it has to be done understanding how you can use it safely and properly, and it should not change any of the other essential practices that are so important and that have demonstrated to have an impact.”
Decelles said she has received online vitriol from some who question the need for masks, though she believes it may have related to a mistaken assumption she was making them for the Saskatchewan Health Authority, which is not accepting homemade masks.
“I got people saying like, ‘what’s wrong with you, you moron?’” she said.
Like Shahab, she believes it is up to everyone to make their own decisions about how to protect themselves and their families. She has made hers.
“I frankly think if you’re wearing a mask, you’re smart. You should be wearing masks. We should have been wearing these weeks ago, honestly,” she said. “You don’t have to explain to anyone why you’re wearing a mask.”