Like magic, professional magician's equipment prints 3D-masks in coronavirus fight

Coover said production is time-consuming and he's tending to it around the clock

Like many Americans, Joe Coover s work as a professional magician dried up when governments across the country urged residents not to gather in groups in a bid to slow down the spread of coronavirus. Observing social distancing in the tiny house that he built himself, the 35-year-old Oklahoma City native decided not to let his time go to waste.

When Coover heard reports about the shortage of protective masks earlier this week, he configured his 3-D printer-- up to now used to make magic props-- to make personal protective masks. Coover said production is time-consuming and he s tending to it around the clock, but he wants to help where he can.

"I m doing what I can. It takes about 3-and-a-half hours right now to print one mask. So my machine has been printing non-stop for the last week and I don t see it stopping anytime soon. I have to baby-sit it so you know, making sure that everything is going right, and I get up in the middle of the night to pop one-off and start the next batch but you know, I think it s it s worth it," he said.

So far, he has made a few dozen masks and sent them to friends, including some who live in New York, which has been the epicenter of the U.S. outbreak. Coover has refused to charge for the masks but said he is accepting donations of plastic supplies to make more.

For now, making masks is keeping him busy but Coover is currently researching whether or not he can help make plastic pieces that could help hospitals use ventilators for more than one patient. "I know this is this is what people are asking for right now, but as people s illnesses progress, our ventilator shortage is going to become more acute," he said. "If we use ventilators, splitters.. none of this is a perfect fix, but it will, in the short-term, give us four times the amount of processing."

Earlier this week, the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA), which regulates medical device manufacturers, gave emergency authorization allowing ventilators to be modified using a splitter tube to serve multiple COVID-19 patients, though manufacturers still must share safety information with the regulator.

Some medical associations oppose the unproven method but at least one New York hospital has begun putting two patients on a single ventilator machine, an experimental crisis-mode protocol some doctors worry is too risky but others deemed necessary as the coronavirus outbreak strains medical resources. In the meantime, Coover continues to make masks while supplementing his income by giving magic classes and performances online.