COVID-19: Mexican creates masks to protect healthcare workers

“You’re helping us save our lives so that we can save more,” this was the message a nurse sent to Alex Garza , who is a 27-year-old entrepreneur manufacturing “ life masks ” for the protection of doctors and nurses that are in the front line of combat against COVID-19.

Alex Garza is originally from Monterrey, Nuevo León and has a group of companies called Grupo Crece . He studied business administration at the Autonomous University of Nuevo León but he is getting out of money; he will only be able to produce a maximum of 10,000 masks to donate them to different hospitals in the country; he received over 100,000 requests .

Recommended: COVID-19: Myths vs Facts

Last Monday, he published an initiative to elaborate the masks and donate them to different hospitals in Mexico but requests from nurses and doctors immediately overflowed.

“I cannot cover those 100,000; I’m thinking of giving away between 7,000 and 10,000 , depending on the costs of the materials, and we cannot cope; our social network is so saturated that Facebook doesn’t allow us to send messages,” he adds.

It must be stressed that this mask is a secondary clinic product used by doctors and nurses. The primary elements used for this biological threat are googles and masks . The use of a face mask is an extra recommendation.

COVID-19: Mexican creates masks to protect healthcare workers

“The Project of the face masks was born approximately three weeks ago because part of my family are doctors in different parts of the country and they told us there were not many protection supplies for the pandemic and they, with true numbers, made us worry with what was going on. I saw an initiative in Italy and Spain that were creating this kind of face masks and so, in order to protect my loved ones, I decided to create a prototype along with my design team .”

Recommended: COVID-19 FAQs

It was until last Friday when they were able to design the final prototype . They made some tests with doctors and launched it last Monday.

“I was thinking of making a donation and give away a thousand pieces we made, but since the post I made, now we have a waiting list of over 100,000 doctors and health staff all over Mexico who are requesting one. Hence, we are not being able to cope , but we’re trying to give our best,” he says.

He mentions that he is in charge of all the expenses involving the supplies to create the face masks and that over a thousand have already been made and sent to Michoacán and Tamaulipas , as well as Chihuahua , Coahuila , Sinaloa , and Sonora . He is also planning to send face masks to the State of Mexico and Mexico City .

Alex Garza plans to make 100 face masks for every medical unit in the country but his economic resources and time are not enough.

“The cost of production of the face mask is of MXN $37 per unit and that only includes the raw materials,” he explains.

Recommended: COVID-19: How to take care of your mental health during the coronavirus outbreak

Now, he has published a call for all citizens, entrepreneurs, and the government itself to be “ hospital godparents ” and donate resources.

“We want to make a call for the community because there are many support messages and solidarity asking us how they can give economic support. We want to publish a post to find ‘hospital godparents,’ that is, a person, an entrepreneur from anywhere, who can make a donation of these face masks to their chosen hospital on their community. We’re are expecting a donation of MXN $4,000 per person that would comprise 100 face masks of MXN $37 each and the MXN $300 of the delivery,” he explains.

Recommended: COVID-19: Isolation pods created in Coahuila for Mexican ICU patients

mp