Let's talk masks again. Masks are in our future. We need lots of masks.
I'm part of an organization for whom cosplay is a way of life, so everyone I know owns at least one sewing machine. (Our household has three.) I'm seeing articles here and there about people making masks at home. Some of those articles are "how to" pieces for making a personal mask. Others are about people who have volunteered there time to make lots of masks to be donated. One friend of ours, who makes her living making costumes, has actually shifted to commercial production of masks. By "commercial production", I don't mean a factory. I mean she spends her day at a sewing machine, sewing masks.
I would love to see the President actually encourage that sort of thing. Give a shout out to volunteers or independent "small businesses", like my friend who sews masks all day. I don't know if it's conceivable to buy fabric and give it to people, or if there is some way to compensate people, but even if it is just, "Please make masks for yourself, or your family and friends. Here's some instructions....." that would help with a mask shortage.
Some people might have issues with the quality of home produced masks. However, some people actually have the ability to produce face shields at home, or perhaps in an idle business machine shop, or a school workshop. Those might be more effective. They are certainly easier to inspect and verify that they are made correctly.
We'll never see anything like that, though. It's not Trump's style. For all his populist style, he really only deals with businesses. Moreover, he never, ever, asks for sacrifice. He's more into giveaways.
