“What do you want?”

“PPE.”

“When do you need it?”

“Now.”

They’re in desperate need of more PPE, also known as

personal protective equipment.

Stocks of the critical gear are

disappearing during the coronavirus pandemic.

Doctors say they are rationing gloves, reusing masks

and raiding hardware stores.

The C.D.C. has even said that scarves or bandannas

can be used as protection as a last resort.

“I’ve met the doctors, and talked with them every day.

I think there’s an interesting challenge

here in that, currently, there’s

such a need that if they had anything,

they would deploy it.”

The cries for help are mobilizing a wide range

of innovators, some of them even joining forces

through online messaging platforms like Slack.

These are engineers, doctors and even high school students

from around the world.

They come from all walks of life,

but say their goal is the same.

“It’s amazing because no one’s asking

which country are you from?

They’re just like, how can I help?

What do you need?”

They’re pitching in by crowdsourcing designs

for masks, face shields and even ventilators

that could be reproduced around the world.

This is Nick Moser.

He’s an active player in one of the maker groups.

His day job is at a design studio.

Now, he’s designing replicable face masks.

“We’re focused on three products: a face shield,

a cloth mask and an alternative to N95-rated respirators.

The face shield is the first line of defense

for medical workers.

It protects against droplets.

If a patient coughs, it’ll hit the face shield

rather than them.”

Some designs are produced using

3-D printers or laser cutters.

“There you go.”

Then, the prototypes are field-tested

by health care workers.

Even some university labs are experimenting

with DIY techniques.

A group at Georgia Tech is working

with open-source designs from the internet

to develop products.

“My lab works in the area of frugal science,

and we build low-cost tools for resource-limited areas.

And now, we’ve realized that I don’t have to go that far.

It’s in our backyard, right?

We need it now.

So this is a plastic sheet I have —

not too different from what you

would get out from a 2-liter Coke or a soda bottle.

I actually bought this from an art store.

It’s just sheets of PET, so we can cut these out.

We are calling this an origami face shield,

and it’s the Level 1 protection.

This is one idea.

There are multiple different prototypes.”

“This headband can be reused, and a doctor or nurse

could just basically tear this off and

basically snap another one on.

We’re hearing that, in some cases,

that they go through close to 2,000 of these a day.”

Because the need is growing so rapidly,

the makers are also thinking about how

to increase their production.

“So how do we get from this one

that someone made at home on a laser cutter or a 3-D printer,

and then get it in the hands of thousands of doctors

and front-line workers?”

They’re working with mass manufacturers that

can take their tested designs, and replicate them

at a larger scale.

“We’ve been on the phone talking

to a number of suppliers, material suppliers.

So I think one of the neat things that we’ve done

is not only the design, proving that you can make it rapidly,

but then also trying to secure the entire supply chains.”

This is Dr. Susan Gunn, whose hospital system

in New Orleans has even started its own initiative

to 3-D print equipment.

“So it starts with an idea.

We put the idea into place.

And then we make sure that it’s professional-grade first.

Infection control is looking at it,

and we’re making sure that we’re

using the correct materials that

would be approved by the C.D.C. and the

World Health Organization.”

Dr. Gunn says the gear is a safe alternative

for those who might otherwise face a shortage.

“We’re creating face shields and we’re

creating these different PPEs, and we’re putting them

in the hands where people felt like they needed them.”

Another critical piece of equipment is the N95 mask,

and the supply is dwindling fast.

Nick and his team are designing

a robust alternative for this mask

that can hold any filter material,

and be mass produced.

“It is easily printable.

This one is used in medical situations

where there’s an actively infectious patient.

So nursing homes or obviously I.C.U. units

would be the target to receive these.”

“These are really hard objects to manufacture because you’re

going to give it to a nurse, and then

I want to be really confident that it will not

let a virus through, right?”

This equipment is not approved by federal agencies,

but the designers are testing their respirator prototypes

for safety.

“That was basically the first, almost the first question

that was asked.

Can we do anything that’s actually going

to be safe and helpful?”

Some makers are pursuing even more ambitious projects.

An engineer named Stephen Robinson

in New Haven, Conn., is working

on designing ventilators to help patients breathe.

Countries are facing a dire shortage of

the lifesaving machines.

Right now, these DIY ventilators

are still prototypes.

“So really, this should be thought

of as the seed of an idea that could potentially

be grown with, and absolutely requiring, the medical

and the tech communities.”

But they could become key if critical supplies run out.

“We’re in very uncertain times,

and I see explorations and projects

as kind of an insurance policy that could potentially

be leaned on if there was extreme circumstances.”

Health care workers are hopeful that these efforts

could prevent an even worse outcome.

“We don’t want anybody — let’s be clear — to use a bandanna

to protect themselves.

I hope it never gets to the point

where we have to wear a bandanna.

And I don’t think, with this initiative

that we will get there.”

For innovators like Saad, the challenge is personal.

“I just can’t stop.

I have to do stuff.

And then I’m currently at a hospital.

That’s why I have this uplifting little flower portrait.

We’re expecting a baby boy, and what do we

tell him when he grows up about what we

did when society needed us?”