Equipped with sewing machines, elastic and 100 percent cotton fabric, armies of crafters across Alabama came together to sew homemade face masks to help those who are on the front lines of fighting the coronavirus pandemic.

On Monday, Alabama’s chief health official Dr. Scott Harris recommended against medical professionals using those hand-sewn masks in an effort to protect themselves against coronavirus. Harris said healthcare providers need N95 masks and hospitals are working to source more of those as shortages related to the coronavirus grow. Directions for making homemade masks have circulated online in recent days.

“There is no evidence that those are effective,” Dr. Scott Harris said during a Monday press conference when asked about homemade masks. “We would not recommend people use them.”

From Madison to Mobile, groups led by professional seamstresses and small businesses owners sprouted on Facebook over the past two weeks as the number of cases of coronavirus continues to increase.

The Huntsville Hospital Foundation, which started an emergency fund for the facility, told Al.com Friday that officials are finalizing a plan to connect with people who are making homemade face masks for hospital workers.

“The health system has approved the wearing of clean, homemade masks in hospital environments that do not require personal protective equipment, and the Foundation will serve as the hub for these gifts,” Communications Director Katie Coppens said. “Details will be shared early next week with specific instructions on how these masks can be made and how they can be donated through the Foundation to serve our staff and patients.”

During a briefing at Huntsville City Hall on Monday, Huntsville Hospital Health Systems CEO David Spillers said there are certain criteria homemade masks have to meet. But he said anything is better than nothing during a tremendous shortage according to the CDC.

“I have seen people walking around the hospital today with colorful masks on. We’re not going to tell them to take them off,” Spillers said. “If you want to go home, sew a mask and put it on, everyone can do that. So, no harm. No foul.”

Megan Eheman has made many things in her crafting career – cloth dolls, rosaries and has her own monogramming business called Sewing by M.E. She quickly saw the need to expand her experience to homemade face masks and created the Facebook group Madison Mask Makers. Over 200 members joined the group in two days.

Request for orders went from 60 on Sunday morning to 100 by Sunday afternoon. She said they are following guidelines given to the group by healthcare workers.

“This came to me as a way that I could be the hands and feet of God,” Eheman said. “I am super proud and excited to get a chance to know these people while helping others out.”

Most requests are for masks with pockets so healthcare workers can slip a filter into the masks. The medical workers are also stressing the importance of using two different types of fabric so they can tell which side is outside and inside. She said she hopes medical professionals will be able to use the masks on top of their CDC-recommended N95 respirators to prolong the life of the N95s.

“Any mask is better than no mask at all,” Eheman said. “We are simply trying to prevent our medical workers and professionals from being without any PPE.”

East Alabama Medical Center in Opelika repeated Harris’ comment in a COVID19 update on Wednesday, but marketing director John Atkinson says citizens can collaborate with the East Alabama Mask Makers Facebook group if they want to make masks for COVID19 patients.

“(Harris) stated that these masks were not suitable for healthcare providers as personal protective equipment, nor are they able to protect individuals from contracting the virus,” Atkinson said in the media update. “They can, however, be used by individuals who have confirmed or suspected COVID-19, as a way to prevent spreading the virus to those around them when they cough, etc.”

Since COVID-19 spreads through droplets expressed when an infected person coughs or sneezes, face masks are in high demand in medical settings across the nation. The Centers of Disease Control and Prevention said major distributors are reporting a shortage of personal protective equipment such as face masks, N95 respirators and gowns. The CDC allows healthcare professionals to use homemade masks, such as scarves or bandanas if nothing else is available.

Starting Friday, the Jefferson County Department of Health will be accepting homemade face masks and gowns at the Christian Service Mission’s warehouse located at 3600 Third Avenue South in Birmingham. These items can be dropped off at the warehouse Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. until noon. Former U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Alabama Joyce Vance is coordinating this effort with the community.

Those who are at least an advanced beginner at sewing who also have access to a sewing machine or a serger can send their contact information to Birminghamppe@gmail.com to be added to the announcements lists for the Birmingham area.

UAB Hospital Spokesperson Tyler Greer said employees caring for COVID19 patients are properly equipped with personal protection equipment, also known as PPE. While the hospital doesn’t recommend the use of homemade masks, employees who are not taking care of coronavirus patients can wear the masks if they feel like the level of protection helps them. Greer said Wednesday the homemade masks must be washed and dried daily.

Kathy Green and Christine McLean have been busy managing the Facebook group Facebook Mask Sewing for Birmingham, Al healthcare, which is more than 2,300 members strong. Green said she started the group after she saw an article about Deaconess Hospital’s request to its community to sew masks. The Indiana hospital even made a tutorial on how to make the masks.

“I was thinking like, ‘Wow if there is a need in Indiana, then there will be a need in the Birmingham community.’”

So Green and her friend McLean, who has her own drapery business, asked a couple of friends who work in the medical field about whether there was an immediate need for masks.

“They said, ‘Yes. Maybe,’” Green said. “And a ‘Yes. Maybe.’ was good enough for me to think, ‘Well, there may not be a need today, but it may be a need in the very, very near future.’”

Green and McLean said they have a plan to keep the masks sanitized by keeping them in bags. When the masks are delivered at one of their five drop off points, they will mark with the date the masks are collected. Then the medical workers will decide when they want to open the bags and use the mask.

Members of the Birmingham group stayed busy by offering different patterns and offering their surplus of supply. McLean said those who don’t know how to sew want to volunteer to pick up masks at drop off locations. They created a google document in the group where people from different facilities can order different types of masks.

McLean said the effort to help healthcare workers showed the heart of the community.

“We have a wonderful community that is willing to come together and accept the charge to do whatever they can to help,” McLean said.

This story was updated Friday with comments from a few Alabama hospitals that have decided to allow some of their employees to wear homemade masks.