Avengers Actor Paul Bettany, La Borinquena Join Forces To Bring Medical Supplies to Coronavirus Frontlines

La Borinqueña creator and award-winning comics writer Edgardo Miranda-Rodriguez, who recently released a free-to-download coloring book featuring art by numerous big-name comics artists, is teaming with Masks For America to get badly-needed medical supplies to professionals on the front lines of the novel coronavirus pandemic. The effort is being joined by, among others, Marvel’s The Avengers and WandaVision star Paul Bettany, who tweeted his support for the program (and an image of La Borinqueña) this morning. Miranda-Rodriguez previously brought the character of La Borinqueña to charity work with a 2018 graphic novel made to support post-disaster rebuilding in Puerto Rico, in which she teamed up with various DC Comics heroes.

Bettany called medical workers “the real superheroes” and encouraged fans to contribute $2 to Masks For America, who have a GoFundMe set up hoping to raise revenue to provide masks to emergency workers around the country. In the wake of public panic over the COVID-19, health workers around the country are reporting shortages of equipment, and masks are at the top of the list. As cheap and easy to make as they are, many of them were bought up by disaster profiteers who marked the prices up significantly on platforms like eBay and Amazon. In other cases, they were just bought out by panicking individuals who thought they would need them as the health crisis worsened.

Production facilities are increasing their capacity to produce the disposable, reusable masks as concerns rise that hospitals in many urban centers will be overworked, with more patients needing care than they have the capacity to effectively manage. While some hospitals have encouraged individuals to sew reusable masks for healthcare workers, many are only allowed to use specific, FDA- or organizationally-approved gear.

You can see Bettany’s tweet below.

“Doctors, nurses, and other frontline medical workers across the U.S. and Puerto Rico are being forced to ration N95 masks or turn to inadequate bandanas, paper, and cloth masks — leaving them vulnerable to infection as they interact with COVID-19 patients,” explains the Masks for American campaign. “There are already reports of health care workers getting sick and dying as a result of a lack of proper protective gear.

“We have found and partnered with an FDA-certified manufacturer selling N95 equivalent masks at only $2/mask — a fraction of what hospitals and governments have been paying for N95 masks. Every dollar donated will go directly to mailing masks to health care facilities who request them.”

You can find more details and contribute at Masks4America.org.