Written and published on 25 February 2020

Dear Ones,

I was wondering whether it would be good to stock up on disposable face masks and gloves because of the Coronavirus. I heard from a person in a food store that face masks with filters can be purchased from Home Depot; he says he likes his. I thought he might be referring to something like the M 8511 respirator with a filter.

From prior research I did on face masks to wear to prevent smoke inhalation during forest fires, I thought maybe disposable face masks specifying ‘NIOSH approved: N95’ might be good.

The bottom line, though, is that I was unable to find these available in a timely fashion and/or way too expensive. Even the three-fold medical face masks with the ear loops were unavailable.

For face masks, all I could do was get some of what Amazon.com did offer, and…