There’s no question—critically ill COVID-19 patients are facing deadly consequences, and the front-line workers managing patient healthcare are the most exposed as many hospitals are dangerously low in supplies of personal protective equipment (PPE).
There are more than 750,000 confirmed patients globally and counting, up from last week’s 300,000. With this rate of infection, solutions to the PPE shortages cannot come fast enough.
A grassroots movement of makers, engineers and others are creating backup plans for the backup plan for COVID-19. Make: Community and Engineering.com have joined forces for this wave with the launch of a platform supporting the people, projects and plans for fighting the coronavirus through MakeProjects.
We at engineering.com strongly believe engineers and makers alike can create effective and immediate solutions to help cope with the impact of COVID-19. Hospitals are running low on ventilators and PPE and so far, engineers have stepped up, suggesting opening old factories for ventilators, using 3D printers to make masks and major vehicle factories are donating their supplies of masks.
Two Current Alternatives:
In the works, there are two plans for the COVID-19 outbreak.
Plan A: The Federal government promptly using its emergency power and requesting factories to produce equipment and PPE. For example, President Trump’s Defense Production Act, and there are some concerns that on its own, this may not address all the upcoming capacity needs.
Plan B: To focus on America’s private industries. America’s largest companies, such as GM and Tesla have declared interest, and have offered their support. As an example, as a result of Federal government invoking its powers, GM will be making ventilators in its Ohio Plant. Also, Ford will be working with 3M and GE Healthcare to increase production of ventilators.
Also, there is a Plan C! Highlighted in this article from Make: Community, one direction for a Plan C is to use an “Open Makers Platform” to help provide innovative, flexible and standardised engineering solutions for producing the most necessary equipment. Collaborative platforms can improve the process of chronicling, sharing and advancing projects online, and the Maker Space platform can be accessed and used anywhere in the world by individuals and groups, companies and makerspaces, as well as schools, colleges and universities.
Many grassroot groups have also sprung up online and makers are connecting nationally, internationally and mobilizing locally using Facebook and other social media platforms.
Designs in Open Collaborations
When one enters a collaborative online maker space, there is a feeling of excitement that comes with seeing people using innovation and technology to design solutions for tackling challenges associated with the issues of COVID-19.
For example, the ingenuity of ten-year-told Clarence Graansma, developed a DIY pandemic ventilator. In another case, MIT mechanical engineering students developed a project for a portable “bag-valve mask (BVM)” ventilators to be used in ambulances. Colin Keogh, an engineering PhD candidate at Dublin University in Ireland, and two others created the Open Source Ventilator (OSV) Ireland.
In a project intended for countries like Thailand, a bioengineering student at Rice University’s Oshman Engineering Design Kitchen (OEDK), Natalie Dickman, and the “Take a Breather” team develop specifications for a bag-valve mask, which was shared on the Slack group, Helpful Engineering.
Meanwhile, Josef Prusa of Prusa Research, a 3D printing company in Prague, is replicating untested designs for protective face shield masks.
Robot builder, Gui Cavalcanti, is running one of the biggest open source COVID-19 groups for ventilators, as robotics and ventilators can apply similar systems designs. They have now branched into incorporating other solutions for the PPE shortage.
Helpful Engineering has 3,000 registered volunteers, including engineers, doctors and scientists, and are working through proposals with volunteer peer reviews done by subject matter experts.
The list of ongoing projects is massive and can be overwhelming, but that is why we have Make:
Look to Make: for ongoing updates on the people, projects and groups of the Plan C response.