New York Notebook

In New York, the hunt for an elusive face mask is anything but easy

Who knew that masks would become this season’s most coveted accessory? Holly Baxter certainly didn’t

Tuesday 21 April 2020 22:51 BST
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You're more likely to find buried treasure than get your hands on some protective gear
You're more likely to find buried treasure than get your hands on some protective gear (Getty)

We’ve been crossing our fingers for a few days now that New York’s strict social distancing laws have “flattened the curve”, and it finally seems like that might actually be happening. A couple of days ago, Governor Cuomo announced that the state appears to be “past the plateau”, as numbers of hospitalisations and deaths continues to fall. It’s strange when 500 deaths per day becomes your new yardstick for optimism, but here we are. City hospitals are now below max capacity, having been just above it for a while. Fewer ambulances go screaming past our window now than did a fortnight ago. (Though they still go by regularly and it’s hard not to feel your heart in your mouth when you see most of them have “emergency senior care” written on the side.)

The quarantine has worked, it seems. It’s now compulsory for everyone in New York to cover their face when going out and about: a law which was recently brought in, in an effort to flatten the curve even further. This is easier said than done, however. Medical masks are almost impossible to come by, so my fiance and I have been making do with scarves when venturing out for a jog or a trip to the grocery store. That lent us very little social kudos at all; people in paper masks that looped around their ears or those elusive dust particle-blocking N95 masks – signs of the coronavirus elite – would look at us like we were dirty, crazy or both as we wandered down the aisles with double-layered bandanas knotted over our nose and mouths.

We’ll now be the ones casting judgmental glances at the scarf-laden hoi polloi who haven’t worked out how to circumvent the system

I’m pleased to report that those days are now behind us, as we’ve made an interesting discovery. At the weekend, when browsing takeaway dinner options on Seamless (the New York-specific takeout website, akin to Just Eat in the UK), we realised another vendor had appeared next to our local Chinese and our favourite Mexican restaurant. After a browse and a little confusion, we realised it was a store (or what used to be a store) across the river in Manhattan – and it was selling a “coronavirus special” which included beers, medical face masks, hand sanitiser, and antibacterial wipes. We stared at each other like we’d just discovered an abandoned goldmine: this was how our neighbours were getting hold of PPE like it was no big deal, even as Amazon banned sales of face masks and disposable gloves to private addresses. The coronavirus special had been there all along!

At $2 (£1.60) per mask and at a time when money’s pretty tight, we decided to start with just one mask each. They arrived (with the beers) in a sealed Ziploc bag: the flimsy blue kind that would usually sell for less than 10 cents in a box of about 100. For some, it looked like very little, but for us it represented freedom. Once we had the masks on, we didn’t have to worry about the NYPD or the obvious anxiety of elderly people out for a walk. We were fully compliant, and we celebrated by spending our Sunday walking down to the waterfront to take a look at the Statue of Liberty and the quiet, abandoned skyscrapers of the Financial District.

Of course, we now need to go to our local grocery store (the kind which sells food upfront in Brooklyn, rather than the one on Seamless which stockpiles masks and sells them out of vans from somewhere in Manhattan). My cousin, who is a nurse, warned me that I shouldn’t reuse the masks because our breath will have allowed bacteria to breed on them. I asked her if she thought putting them in the freezer might extend their shelf life, and she said she thought we could probably get away with it. So back into the Ziploc bag they went, and into the freezer to shed any bacteria they might have picked up from our waterfront walk.

Tomorrow – while still staying 6ft away from everyone – we will debut our masks at the Stop & Shop. I feel like we’re stepping out in coordinated Gucci onto a catwalk for the first time. We’ll now be the ones casting judgmental glances at the scarf-laden hoi polloi who haven’t worked out how to circumvent the system. Their envious eyes will follow us throughout the aisles, wondering which connections brought us such coveted apparel.

I sent a picture of myself in the new mask to some friends as we set out for our first trip, and one replied: “It really brings out your eyes!”

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