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Making money from face masks

By Adetokunbo Abiola

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Last year, the Minister of Health, Osagie Ehanire, advised Nigerians to wear a face-mask, including improvised ones, while at public places, in order to protect themselves and others from contracting COVID-19.
Ehanire said the use of face-masks is an additional way to protect oneself against the virus.
”An additional way thought to protect against corona infection, is the use of face-masks, and it includes improvised and homemade face masks or face covering with handkerchiefs or scarves.
“A layered cotton fabric over the mouth and nose guards against particle emission during laughter, exclamation or loud talk and may offer mutual protection to wearers, especially where social distancing may not be achieved, or where close contact may not be avoided with certainty, such as markets,” Mr Ehanire said.
He also said persons without the N95 or surgical masks could make use of home-made face-masks, handkerchiefs or scarves.
He, however, appealed that the local masks must be properly washed every evening.
However, this might be because of the global shortage of medical face-masks, as several countries are turning to alternatives to medical face-masks for the general public.
A cloth face-mask, made out of everyday fabric is said to act as a barrier to respiratory droplets but cannot completely protect people from COVID-19.
According to the National Center for Disease Control (NCDC) cloth face-masks are only a convenient substitute to medical face-masks for the current global situation, but they should NOT be worn by individuals who are at a high risk for complications due to COVID-19.
Outside the country, Frontline National Health Service staff were at risk of dying from COVID-19 after the protective gear requirements for health workers treating those infected were downgraded .
This reporter learned full PPE, comprising an FFP3 masks (which offer high levels of respiratory protection), visors, surgical gowns and two pairs of gloves each are good for protection. But when only a standard surgical face-mask, short gloves and a plastic apron were advised, staff dismissed this as “totally inadequate” protection. FFP3 masks and visors appear to be in particularly short supply.
Questions were raised about doctors and nurses treating patients with symptoms strongly suggestive of Covid-19 now walking around with just a standard surgical mask and plastic apron for protection – in other words, no protection at all.
The reporter learned questions were asked about face-masks that expired in 2016 but purported to be useable until next year. Pulse, a website for GPs, disclosed that stickers on batches of masks saying “best before 2016” had been covered over with new stickers reading “2021”.
Here in Nigeria, it is a moot point whether cloth nose- masks are suitable to prevent COVID-19, especially as controversy exists about their use, since various personalities have been providing the nose masks that people , some of them road-side tailors.
In Ondo State, women and girls can be found around bank premises, hospitals, roadsides and other places selling nose-masks.
From observation, it is clear these face-masks don’t follow guidelines governing their production in other countries, raising fears whether they can actually prevent COVID-19.
Some tailors in Ilorin, the Kwara capital, quoted by the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recently, have declared that they shifted attention to production of nose- masks due to high demand by the residents to guard against coronavirus.
They said that they use local fabrics like Ankara and adire (batik) to make the nose-masks.
One of the tailors, Romoke Babajide, said she decided to switch from mending clothes to sewing nose-masks.
“I have switched to sewing nose-masks and I am making enough money as customers are rushing in to buy them,” she said.
Another tailor, Aishat Aliyu, said she produced like hundred pieces per day and sold almost everything, adding that she made over N1,000 daily from the sale of the masks.
“I dedicated my time to producing nose-masks and I observed there were high demands.
“Last Friday, I made enough sales; I sold over 95 pieces at the Unity Junction area in Ilorin.
“I sold it just for N200 per one. I am using elastic rope and soft new clothes to make it comfortable for users,” he said
Another respondent, Ronke Oyewole, said she had not been feeling the negative impacts of the current lockdown as she had concentrated on the making and selling of masks.
“Since people are no longer bringing their clothes for me to sew again due to the lockdown, what I do now is to sew face-masks; and I am making my cool money by selling them.
“I usually advertise the locally made face-masks on my WhatsApp status and do home delivery for my customers at the rate of N120 per one,” she said.
Meanwhile, some users, according to NAN, said that they had to patronise locally made masks because they are relatively affordable compared with the factory-made ones.
Oluwasegun Olaniyi, who was wearing a locallymade mask, said he resorted to the locally made ones when the prices of the factory-made ones jumped up.
He said he is more comfortable with the durability and the price of the locally made mask.
“The amount I would have used in buying one factory-made mask is what I am using in buying three locally-made ones,” he said.
Yinka Ibirogba, another resident, said the factory-made masks, which now sell for N300 per one, initially were being sold at N50 for two pieces.
Whether these masks are good in the wake of the second wave of (COVID) is another matter altogether.

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