We extend our heartfelt gratitude to the staff members and resident volunteers who have embraced the Cotton Facemask Project! The team worked tirelessly to order supplies, prepare kits, hand-craft masks and tackle the distribution. Hundreds of masks have been produced at Deerfield. Each mask has two layers of tightly-woven cotton fabric sandwiching a layer of (fiberglass-free) HEPA filter material. The internal filter layer significantly increases the efficiency of the mask’s filtration of external particles (improving the mask’s efficacy in protecting the wearer from others’ respiratory droplets).
All Independent Living residents as well as employees have a cloth facemask and more are available if needed. Residents are strongly encouraged to wear a cotton facemask at all times when outside of their homes, including when in common spaces or outdoors on campus. Of course, we do recognize and respect that a small percentage of residents may be unable to tolerate mask use due to an underlying medical condition.