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The COVID19 crisis has caused a severe shortage of personal protective equipment (PPE) for healthcare workers. Masks, face shields, respirators, and other supplies help keep the people who care for COVID19 patients from getting sick themselves.

There’s been a huge outpouring of effort to fix this shortage, by manufacturers, makers, donors, and volunteers. But as of yet, I haven’t seen anything approaching a comprehensive list of who is active in this space.

This is my best attempt at aggregating all the open-source designs for personal protective equipment (PPE), manufacturers and DIY maker groups currently scaling up their production of PPE, and coordination/distribution efforts to get PPE to the health care workers who need it.

I am not a hardware engineer or experienced maker, so I have made no attempt to evaluate these designs myself. I do NOT vouch for the quality of any of these designs. I do mention when a design has already been in use in hospitals, been tested by medical professionals, been certified by a governing body, etc. The only designs I’m putting in the “Bad Ideas” section are those that I’ve seen specific criticism of (e.g. from the Helpful Engineering team.)

Just because I have not listed a design under “Bad Ideas” does not mean it is a good idea! If you are considering manufacturing PPE, use your own critical judgment to choose a design!

Likewise, I have not vetted the charities on this list. I make no claims about their competence or integrity.

Open Source Designs

Surgical/Cloth Face Masks

Face Shields

Nonwoven Polypropylene Face Masks

These may provide a better seal and more filter protection than cloth masks, though not as much as an N95.

N95-Equivalent Masks

  • Intermountain3D printed mask – passed N95 filter & fit test at St. Alphonsus Hospital, ID; uses polypropylene surgical wrap (which is widely available)

Filtration Masks (Note: these do not include the filters, which are in short supply)

PAPR

Noninvasive Ventilator Masks

  • Isinnova: a full-face snorkel mask + 3d-printed valve, used as a CPAP mask in Italian hospitals

Other Mask Types

Bad Ideas

DIY Manufacturing Groups

  • 3D Printed PPE: an online directory of maker groups around the world 3d printing PPE
  • e-NABLE: network of volunteers using 3d printers to make prosthetics and now COVID19 supplies
  • Inksmith: Canadian educational 3d printing company, manufactures & donates face shields to hospitals
  • Operation Shields Up is a volunteer maker group in the Sacramento Valley (CA) manufacturing and donating Prusa face shields.
  • MakeTheMask: coordinates makers to 3d print the Montana Mask
  • MaskForce: a 2000+ member FB group, making DIY cloth face masks and plastic face shields
  • Mask Maker Volunteers: a 3000+ member FB group making DIY cloth face masks
  • Sewing4Lives: volunteer seamstresses have delivered over 32,000 cloth face masks
  • Shield48; EU based, makes face shields; 2620 produced, 15700 requests

Commercial Manufacturers

  • 10 cycling companies have switched to making cloth face masks.
  • 38 fashion designers are pivoting to producing masks and gowns for healthcare workers; Eddie Bauer is even making N95s.
  • 3Diligent is working with manufacturers to test the viability of new PPE designs, and providing a streamlined procurement process to hospitals.
  • 3M plans to double their production of N95 masks over the next year, up to 2 billion globally.
  • Airwolf 3D, in California, has pledged to use their 3d printers for respirator valves.
  • Bauer, the hockey mask manufacturer, is shifting to making face shields
  • BCN3D, a Barcelona-based 3D printer company, has pledged its 63 printers for COVID19 projects
  • BYD, a Chinese auto company, is producing 5 million N95 masks per day.
  • Disney is donating 100,000 N95 masks.
  • Cole-Tac, a firearms accessories manufacturer, is sewing gowns and masks
  • Ford Motors is making PAPRs, 100,000 face shields a week, and donating N95 masks.
  • Honeywell is adding US manufacturing of N95 masks.
  • MakerGear, a 3D printer company, is manufacturing and donating face shields.
  • Mitsui Chemicals, a Japanese company, has expanded their capacity to make melt-blown fabrics by 50%.
  • ProtoLabs, an on-demand manufacturer, is waiving expedite fees for PPE supplies.
  • RadiciGroup (based in Bergamo, Italy) is producing PPE
  • Resonance, which has a garment factory in the Dominican Republic, is making PPE to distribute there.
  • Sinopec, a Chinese company, has built a new factory to produce melt-blown nonwoven fabric for N95 masks.
  • Stratasys is manufacturing 5000 face shields per week.
  • The Factory NYC is fabricating temporary facilities and medical supplies for COVID19
  • Voodoo Manufacturing, based in Brooklyn, has repurposed its factory to produce face shields, which are for sale at $100 each.

Distribution, Donation, & Coordination

I’m not including here all the organizations that are donating PPE or money for the COVID19 effort, only orgs that a potential donor (like you!) could use to get PPE where it needs to go.

There has been a lot of corporate and individual philanthropy and it’s not worth tabulating everyone who has donated to date.

  • COVID SOS, an Australian group, connects suppliers of PPE with hospitals
  • DameRousky is a Czech group connecting cloth mask sewers with people who need masks
  • DonatePPE connects donors with hospitals that need PPE
  • HelpPNWCovid19 is a Pacific Northwest based group for connecting makers to hospitals in need of PPE
  • Flexport.org offers discount shipping for COVID19 medical supplies.
  • FormLabs is connecting people who have 3D printers to people who need 3D printed parts.
  • GetMePPE Bay Area coordinates donations of PPE and volunteers for the San Francisco Bay Area.
  • GetUsPPE coordinates donors, healthcare workers, and makers
  • Grace Farms Relief Fund for Connecticut collects donations for food and medical supplies for Connecticut
  • MakerHub connects makers of PPE to hospitals that need them
  • Mask Match connects mask donors to healthcare workers who need masks
  • Masksfordocs accepts donations of money and PPE and distributes to hospitals
  • Masks4Medicine donates masks to hospitals in NYC.
  • Medical Teams International, based in the Pacific Northwest, has a fleet of vans supporting drive-thru testing and packs and ships PPE to hospitals. They are seeking donations.
  • NYCEDC is connecting PPE suppliers & manufacturers to New York City hospitals, and accepting donations.
  • Operation Masks connects PPE suppliers to hospitals who need PPE
  • PPELink connects labs that can donate PPE to hospitals who need it.
  • Project N95 connects suppliers, users, and distributors of PPE
  • Providence (a hospital network spanning several states) is fundraising to buy and distribute PPE.
  • REFORM alliance is donating 100,000 masks to prisons.
  • Repurposing Project coordinates Ohio manufacturers and hospitals to help retool factories to produce PPE.
  • Seattle Mask Brigade solicits donations of PPE in Seattle.
  • SWIMA coordinates PPE manufacturers in Southwest Idaho to respond to COVID19 with hospitals requesting donations.
  • The Valley Medical Center Foundation in Santa Clara County, CA is collecting and distributing PPE donations.

State & Local Governments: US

Other Governments

  • Canada
    • Ottawa is accepting PPE donations

Information

  • Covid Tracking – a project from The Atlantic to aggregate data on US COVID19 testing results.
  • FindTheMasks – a website with a map of hospital locations currently accepting mask donations and their instructions/requirements to donors.
  • Manufacturer Info Spreadsheet on face shield manufacturers and how many face shields they’re ready to ship