Texas Turns To Inmate Work To Help Cover Coronavirus Mask Shortage

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Is the US Ready to fight the coronavirus? 2:36

(CNN) - Texas inmates are making cotton facial masks to be given free to first responders to alleviate the shortage of medical supplies during the coronavirus pandemic, said State Senator John Whitmire.

Inmates in a unit at the Gatesville Correctional Center, a women's prison located about 200 kilometers south of Dallas, have been producing the masks for about a week and will continue for at least the next week, Whitmire said, adding that they hope to produce around 25,000 masks.

The masks are made from locally grown cotton, rather than synthetic material, so they are not of the highest standards, he said.

"They're not what you want in an emergency room, but it's better than nothing," Whitmire said.

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The prison labor effort comes as senior health care officials say there are not enough stored medical protective equipment, such as masks, gowns, and gloves, to meet the anticipated need for the nation's health care system as they battle the coronavirus.

The United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said health care facilities may need to consider steps to ration facial masks during the pandemic, even if those strategies "are not proportional to the standards of care for U.S". During the shortage, the agency says healthcare providers should consider wearing masks beyond their designated lifespan and reusing them among multiple patients.

As a last resort, the agency said health care providers may consider using "homemade masks," such as scarves or scarves, to care for patients with coronavirus, ideally in combination with a face shield.

Medical workers across the country have been sharing on social media their difficulties in obtaining appropriate medical equipment using the hashtag #GetMePPE, initials for Personal Protective Equipment.

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Whitmire said the idea of ​​using prison labor to make masks came from the director of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.

"(It was) good vision on his part and that of the prison administrators," he said. "Many of our prisons are self-sufficient. They make their own sheets and clothes. They had the system to do it, the cotton and the labor. ”

Whitmire said Texas could look to produce dresses and is looking for a prototype.

Texas is one of three states that does not pay prisoners for their work, according to the Prison Policy Initiative, a nonprofit organization that advocates against mass incarceration.

Texas is not the first state to use prison labor to combat the coronavirus. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said two weeks ago that inmates were producing hand sanitizer for the state's use.

There are more than 30,000 confirmed cases of new coronaviruses in the United States, and 376 people have died, according to a CNN case count. Texas has 304 confirmed cases and five deaths, according to the latest count by the state.

- CNN's Arman Azad and Michael Nedelman contributed to this report.

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