THE THREE MASK-ETEERS

Hello, we are the Three Masketeers. Like most other children, we had been sitting at home, a little bored because our respective schools were shut down due to COVID-19.

 

We were even more unhappy to hear that the the 2020 Texas Science and Engineering Fair in which we had been selected to participate, was canceled due to the lockdown from the virus.

Amar's mother is a pediatric intensivist, working as a front line provider in these difficult times. One day he overheard her talking about the possibility of running out of masks and other PPEs if the number of hospitalized patients overwhelmed the available supplies. She mentioned how afraid some doctors and nurses were in Seattle and New York, who were having to take care of these patients with rationed supplies. Some of them were unable to come home as they were afraid of infecting their families. Also, there were patients in Houston and elsewhere that were at high risk of getting sick from COVID-19, but did not have the ability to protect themselves.

 

Our research indicated that high risk people were trying to protect themselves either with cloth coverings, or with 3D printed face-shields. We felt that this was not enough protection for vulnerable people against this dangerous virus. Hence, we came up with the idea to 3-D print a prototype resembling the N95 masks, the highest quality of masks meant to protect high-risk people at risk of getting COVID-19.