Haiti is making masks to fight the coronavirus and save jobs
In a bid to try to keep its textile industry afloat amid the coronavirus economic shutdown, the Haitian government has authorized the reopening of seven factories that will be making protective medical gear.
Three of the factories already make washable hospital scrubs for the U.S. market, and Haiti is seeking a percentage of the garments for the country’s own use. The other four factories will switch from sewing cotton T-shirts for the U.S. export market to making face masks for Haitians.
Made from cotton and reusable, the masks are not the medical-grade, snugfitting N95 disposable face masks that hospitals are so desperately seeking for healthcare workers. Rather, they are a reusable cloth design inspired by a California T-shirt maker, and part of a budding effort in Haiti by individual designers, nonprofits, and the Boy and Girl Scouts to offer Haitians some level of protection in the fight against the spread of the flu-like virus.
“We have hundreds of tailors, seamstresses and volunteers who are willing to work to get masks to the general public, and more importantly to people in need through this ‘10 Million Masks 4 Haiti’ challenge,” said Alex Georges, coordinator of the Coronavirus Crisis Cell for the Scouts of Haiti, which on March 7 also launched a challenge to get handwashing stations around the country. “We really want to have masks, not disposable masks, but washable masks.”
On Monday, Haiti’s health minister said the country had confirmed 15 confirmed cases of the coronavirus and 445 people in quarantine. Haiti has one of the weakest health systems in the region, and Haitians are increasingly worried about the country’s ability to fight the pandemic, which continues to claim lives even in nations with stronger health systems. There is also growing concern about the virus’ impact on an already fragile economy.
In a March 20 letter sent to Haitian authorities, Superior Group of Companies, a U.S. firm that employs over 2,000 Haitian workers, argued that the government’s decision to shut down all factories in Haiti was not helping the fight to combat COVID-19, but hurting it.
In the letter, obtained by the Miami Herald, the company said the majority of its healthcare and protective apparel is manufactured in Haiti, putting the country on the front lines of “helping healthcare providers, governments and other private industries fight the Covid-19 virus that is now ravaging the entire world.”
It implored officials to allow its Superior Sourcing factories in the CODEVI Industrial Park on the Haitian-Dominican border in the city of Ouanaminthe and two other vendor part
ners in Port-au-Prince to function.
“During this time of worldwide pandemic, we implore you to allow the factories making these key products for this battle to remain open, continuing to manufacture the healthcare and protective apparel, which is in short supply worldwide,” said Charles Sheppard, senior vice president of global sourcing and distribution. “It is imperative that front line healthcare providers have access to protective apparel as they fight to contain this virus.”
Following a meeting over the weekend with the Association of Haitian Industries and the American Chamber of Commerce in Haiti, as well as factory owners, Haiti’s government agreed to let the factories operate — with conditions.
“The conversation with them now is what percentage [of the scrubs] we can keep in Haiti, providing we pay for them,” Georges Sassine, president of the Association of Haitian Industries, said about Superior Group of Companies, which did not respond to a request for comment from the Herald.
Sassine said 55,000 factory workers were put out of work when Haitian President Jovenel Moïse announced on March 19 that all factories and schools would be closed the following day. In the meeting with Moïse’s prime minister, Joseph Jouthe, on Saturday, the conversations centered around allowing some factories to reopen on the condition their primary purpose would be to save jobs while protecting workers and helping fight the coronavirus by making much needed protective gear for the local market.
“The biggest threat over our heads is the U.S. economy itself,” Sassine said. “What is to tell me that GAP or whoever in two months’ time won’t tell me, ‘Look guys, I’m not selling anything so don’t sell anything to me?’ “
Under the deal struck, 1 million masks will be produced locally and donated to the government, using the companies’ own fabrics. The association, which represents the textile manufacturers, is also trying to see if United Nations agencies would be willing to purchase one million additional masks.
Clifford Apaid, the vice president for Group Apaid and backer of the plan, said some local distributors have also expressed interests in purchasing masks, which will be sold for under $1. But the immediate priority, Apaid said, is to produce 25,000 masks for workers in his four factories that will be operating.
Apaid said the design of the mask came from within his factories. The idea of approaching the government with a socially responsible concept, he said, was inspired by the efforts of AST Sportswear/Bayside Apparel out of Los Angeles. Facing closure, the T-shirt manufacturer decided to make reusable, washable masks using three layers of the same cotton fabric used to make T-shirts. The company’s efforts were later noticed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which placed an order to give masks to medical personnel, Apaid said.
“It’s a quick way to reduce the exposure. We’re not eliminating it, but we are reducing it,” he said, speaking from his Cleveland Manufacturing SA factory in Port-au-Prince, while wearing one of his masks.
In the meeting with Haitian government officials, Apaid said his company argued that conditions at work were much better than workers’ housing environment and that people were not staying home, despite the government’s directive. So it set protocols with the Haitian government on how the factories would function.
Each worker, he said, will be provided at least four masks, both to work in the factories and to wear to and from home on public transportation. Second, every worker will get a temperature check before entering the factory. Hand washing is mandatory and stations with a special chlorine solution have been set up throughout the factory. Finally, door mats have been drenched with a chlorine solution so workers won’t track germs in.
Since the decision, other companies have sought authorization to reopen and have expressed a willingness to make masks. Magalie Noel Dresse, whose Caribbean Craft factory in Port-au-Prince is among those affected by the shutdown, said rather than reopen she wants to increase confinement as much as possible.
She has teamed up with the Scouts of Haiti, as well as the Smallholder Farmers Alliance and Timberland in Haiti to create “a grassroots sewing army to help Haiti fight a virus.”
The masks they are working on, Dresse said, will also be reusable and she is currently awaiting doctors with Boston-based Partners In Health to provide feedback on a reusable, cotton mask. Partners In Health and its Haitian partner Zanmi Lasante run the University Hospital in Mirebalais, one of the few hospitals with beds and ventilators for COVID-19 patients.
Dresse and Georges say they are also reaching out to the Haitian diaspora and companies, while Smallholder Farmers Alliance representative Hugh Locke is contacting U..S. firms to see if they are willing to donate fabric they may have in Haiti.
“We are building partnerships and also sourcing every single person at home, who has a machine and needs to work,”
Dresse said. “It’s one thing to say stay home, but it’s another thing when you cannot find anything to eat. This is what we are addressing: How to stay home, earn a living and include every single workshop in the country who can help people protect themselves and do something to put food on the table.”
Jacqueline Charles: 305-376-2616, @jacquiecharles