Business switching to face mask production
When the higher-ups at the Denver Mattress Co. heard about the mass shortages in face masks for medical professionals fighting the novel coronavirus, they looked inward.
Turns out, the same material used in face masks already was being used in the mattress industry.
As Colorado and states across the country grapple with a severe shortage in personal protection equipment during the COVID-19 crisis, the Denver mattress giant is shifting production from personal comfort to personal safety.
The move comes as companies across the country, from automakers to apparel companies and even liquor distilleries, are retooling their businesses to confront the public health emergency.
“In showing the medical community (our prototypes), they’re very excited to get these to put on patients coming in until they can get diagnosed,” Bob Rensink, the company’s general manager for manufacturing, told The Denver Post.
Denver Mattress on Wednesday produced 1,200 face masks at its Denver factory, with plans to ramp up to 3,000 to 5,000 per day moving forward. The company has also offered to make ICU beds for additional patients as the outbreak worsens. The company is still making mattresses for orders and delivery, he added.
The masks are non-rated — meaning they don’t rise to the same safety level as the standard N95 masks, which prevent nearly all pathogens from getting through, Rensink said. While the outer material of the mattress masks — non-woven polypropylene — is roughly the same as an N95 mask, they do not have the same inner barrier material.
“It’s offering some protection, but it’s obviously a non-rated face mask,” Rensink said.
Still, he said organizations and major hospital groups have indicated they would welcome these masks. The company has been in talks with the local Veterans Administration medical center, and plans to supply their needs first, before opening up their products to other local facilities.
Cara Welch, spokeswoman for the Colorado Hospital Association, said the organization is grateful for companies that want to help, but that it was her understanding hospitals may not be accepting masks that aren’t N95-rated, and some may not be accepting any homemade masks.