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Gov. Tim Walz has proclaimed that April 18-25 is Homemade Mask Week in Minnesota. Walz is encouraging Minnesotans to make masks and donate them to local shelters, nursing homes, and congregate living facilities. MPR’s Angela Davis talks to a furloughed tailor who is now selling masks as fast as she can make them. 3M is maximizing production to try and keep up with the demand for the N95 respirator mask, which protects front line health care workers. The University of Minnesota is designing and planning to manufacture an alternative to the N95. Listen to a conversation about who’s making masks and how they are being used.

Denise Rutherford, 3M senior vice president

Helen Strike, president of Allina Health’s Regina Hospital (in Hastings) and River Falls Area Hospital, and COVID-19 Allina Health System incident commander

Beth Curtin, a furloughed tailor in Rochester who has been making masks and selling them on 

Linsey Griffin, professor in the University of Minnesota's College of Design

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In an effort to prevent the spread of the new coronavirus, lots of people are busy making masks. 3M is trying to keep up with the demand for the N95 respirator mask. The University of Minnesota is designing and planning to manufacture an alternative to the N95. And ordinary citizens are making their own homemade masks.

A primer on protective masks

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