R&R Partners has launched #HeroesWearMasks, a national movement to promote the importance of wearing a face covering to help stop the spread of the COVID-19 virus and to normalize the use of face coverings in American society.
The national movement began as a simple idea to transform company T-shirts into homemade face coverings, and the agency is encouraging others to join in.
The T-shirts, gifted to employees, display the company’s social distancing and work-from-home rallying cry, #weRRfamily, and includes a fully functional template for employees to cut out their own face mask on the back.
“Our reputation is rooted in our longstanding commitment to supporting our communities, our teams and our families. This initiative was originally designed to protect our employees when leaving their homes for essential goods, but grew into a much larger movement to slow the spread of this devastating virus by encouraging anyone with a T-shirt in their closet to make their own face covering, leaving medical-grade face masks for the medical professionals and first responders,” said Pete Ernaut, chief government relations officer for R&R Partners.
The agency is providing a printable PDF template and 3D face mask models for those with access to 3D printers, available to the public at heroeswearmasks.us, a website R&R launched to house instructional videos, valuable resources and information on how to properly wear a face mask in public areas.
The CDC released recommendations advising that all people, whether feeling ill or not, use cloth face coverings in public settings, such as grocery stores and pharmacies, to slow the spread of the virus and help people who may have the virus and do not know it from transmitting it to others.
“Wearing a face covering is a small, but incredibly important act of heroism to help flatten the curve,” said Brian Hoar, chief marketing officer for R&R Partners. “This is more than a campaign, this is a movement, this is a national call to arms to help save lives.”
Cloth face coverings are different from surgical masks and N-95 respirators, which are critical supplies that must continue to be reserved for health care workers and other medical first responders, as recommended by current CDC guidance.
The templates featured on the website empower people to create their own masks using simple items at home, such as T-shirts, so they can help slow the spread of the virus while leaving medical masks to health care workers on the front lines.
People are encouraged to share photos of their finished cloth masks on social media using the hashtag #HeroesWearMasks to show they are doing their part to help stop the spread of COVID-19.
Additional resources regarding the COVID-19 pandemic can be found at cdc.gov.
