5,000 Respirator Masks Discovered in Washington National Cathedral, Donated to Hospitals
About 5,000 respirator masks that had spent the past 14 years deep in the crypt of the Washington National Cathedral have been shared with Washington, D.C.-area hospitals.
In a news release on its website, the cathedral said the masks were purchased during a previous health scare.
The masks were found by Joe Alonso, head mason of the cathedral, who recently recalled seeing boxes of the masks in the cathedral’s crypt, according to The Washington Post.
The masks had been purchased around 2006.
Alonso went exploring into the crypt and found the masks:
Seek and ye shall find, apparently.
Today @WNCathedral sent 3000 N95 masks to @MedStarGUH and 2000 to @ChildrensNatl after a stonemason found a forgotten stash in the Cathedral crypt. Certified by manufacturer as still good. pic.twitter.com/UNAvhOPssx
— Washington National Cathedral (@WNCathedral) March 25, 2020
The cathedral then checked with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the manufacturer to make sure the masks were still usable, cathedral spokesman Tony Franquiz told The Post.
The masks had been obtained so that clergy could continue to minister to others, he said.
We acquired them after the 2006 bird flu scare, and got them to protect our staff and thousands of visitors if we ever needed them in a future pandemic.
That future is now.
— Washington National Cathedral (@WNCathedral) March 26, 2020
Although the cathedral will keep a few of the masks, most of them were given away.
Dean Randolph Marshall Hollerith and other cathedral staff shipped them off on Wednesday, with 13 boxes holding 3,000 masks going to Georgetown University Hospital.
Nine boxes holding 2,000 masks went to Children’s National Hospital.
Awesome work! As the parent of a @NatCathedralSch student who gets oncology treatments at @ChildrensNatl, I really appreciate this. We need to try our best to protect all of the dedicated and selfless frontline health care workers who sacrifice for us all. ??
— Brian O’Fahey (@BrianOFahey1) March 25, 2020
The community in action! Today, the @WNCathedral donated 3,000 N95 masks to our hospital. Your support is so important, and deeply appreciated. #ThankYou
Photo Credit: Danielle E. Thomas/WNC pic.twitter.com/wOZZylaOe2
— MedStar Georgetown (@MedStarGUH) March 25, 2020
“In these difficult and trying times, the Cathedral community is doing everything we can to help protect the most vulnerable among us from the effects of the coronavirus pandemic,” Hollerith said in a statement.
“We have made significant adjustments to our worship programs and made church services available for streaming online, and now we’re prepared to take this additional, proactive step to ensure thousands have access to protection that otherwise may never have been available to them,” he said.
The cathedral was set to partner Friday with the American Red Cross to hold a blood drive to benefit local blood collection sites.
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