Day 8

Today I finally got a COVID-19 mask that works really well and is easy to print and doesn’t require a lot of assembly. It still needs some kind of rubber gasket around the edges so that it will make an airtight seal and some kind of filter system, but I’m very happy with the way it turned out. I spent a large chunk of the day trying to figure out what I can adapt for a gasket and I think I’ve been able to find a rubber hose at the hardware store that I can cut and glue on. As for filters, the Internet is recommending two layers of cotton t-shirt material will capture about 60% of any kind of viruses which, while not as good as an N-95 mask which captures 90% is still better than nothing. This will even be better than the regular elastic masks that many people seem to be making and using.

After this one turned out so well, I started trying to make one for Maya, which requires that I scale it down a little since she has a smaller face. She wanted a blue one so I got out some old filament and started to try it. I started having all of the same old problems that I had early on with 3D printing, mainly the build not sticking to the bed for the entire build. I finally got it working to a point where I think it will come out okay, but we’ll see in the morning when it’s done. These things take about 6-7 hours to print. Tomorrow I plan on finding some rubber hoses of the right width and seeing if I can fashion a gasket around the edges.

The weather today was much improved over what it’s been for the last week. It has warmed up and didn’t rain. Hopefully we can dry out a little so that I can start working on some of my outside projects. Because the weather was so nice we decided to go on a long walk around the neighborhood, so did everyone else. We ran into more people on our walk than I have come across in a week of driving to various stores. So much for the Stay-at-Home Order that Columbia has instituted.

Because of that order, the CPS has extended our time off until April 27th. While it’s the right call, I was almost ready to start getting ready to go back. I’m beginning to feel like we won’t be going back at all. Kids are starting to settle into the online learning and the District is figuring out how to manage things like getting food and fixing tech issues for students so we may be out for the duration. At the national level, the President is pushing for everyone to go back in a week or two but all of the health scientists are saying that would be a huge mistake and that we need to stick it out for another 4-6 weeks at least.

Finally, I put together a list of kids that I think may want to try online board gaming since I didn’t get much of a response so far. I sent them all an email so we’ll wait and see what kind of response I get. I’m hoping that its just because they are actually taking a Spring Break from school and not checking on anything that this is why I haven’t gotten a bigger response.