The COVID-19 pandemic caused shortages for certified personal protective equipment needed by healthcare workers, and hospitals communicated their need for homemade masks that could be used in non-critical areas of operations for inpatients.

The Windsor-Essex Sewing Force, a community volunteer network, implemented a testing and quality control program to optimize production of high-quality homemade masks for donation to Windsor-Essex health care institutions.

Professor Ken Drouillard of the Great Lakes Institute for Environmental Research and School of the Environment is the lead researcher on the project, funded by the University of Windsor’s Office of Research and Innovation and the WE-Spark Health Institute.

Dr. Drouillard will share an update on the effectiveness of these cloth masks on Wednesday, Oct. 6, at 7 p.m. Click here to register.