Philly Fighting COVID seeking people with 3-D printers to make PPE

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Friday, April 17, 2020
Action News coverage of the coronavirus COVID-19 outbreak
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UNIVERSITY CITY (WPVI) -- A new group called Philly Fighting COVID is trying to enlist anyone with a 3-D printer to help make protective gear for health care workers.

The group is already making 100 to 200 face shields a day, and is working to create about a thousand a day.

And founder Andrei Doroshin, a Drexel neuroscience graduate student, says they're also designing new devices.

"This is fresh off the press," Doroshin says, holding up a drawing.

"We're actually going to be making these, which are mask-shield combos. these would help, in theory, with the current N95 mask shortage," he continues.

Doroshin says an open-source code to print shields has been posted on the Philly fighting COVID website.

He says 7 hospitals have signed up to receive the shields, with the first delivery on Friday.

The group will also be sanitizing the shields, so hospitals will be able to use them right away.

And he's gotten requests from shield makers in Pittsburgh and Baltimore to sanitize theirs as well.

If there's ever a surplus, Doroshin says they'll donate to others on the front lines, such as grocery store workers.

"We're fighting this pandemic Philly-style, with our hands," he notes.

If you have a 3-D printer and can help, CLICK HERE.