https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/03/26/coronavirus-bay-area-sewers-are-making-thousands-of-homemade-masks-but-will-hospitals-take-them/

Driven by a massive gap in protective equipment for healthcare workers — and the desire to do something, anything to help fight the spreading coronavirus while stuck at home — hundreds of civic-minded sewers across the Bay Area and the country are coming together over a simple, if anachronistic, fix: Homemade masks.

As news of the nationwide mask and equipment shortage has bounced around the internet, Facebook groups like “Coronavirus Mask Makers” quickly ballooned to about 1,600 members. They trade sewing patterns, contact lists and how-to videos, likening their efforts to the at-home manufacturing of ammunition and supplies during World War II.