Welcome Find in Cathedral's Crypt: 5K Respirator Masks

They're being donated to 2 area hospitals
By Kate Seamons,  Newser Staff
Posted Mar 25, 2020 1:10 PM CDT
Welcome Find in Cathedral's Crypt: 5K Respirator Masks
An unexpected find in the crypt.   (Getty Images)

Key medical equipment that's in short supply amid the coronavirus pandemic is being funneled to hospitals from all sorts of unexpected places these days. The AP reports veterinary hospitals are donating their own supplies, with the North Carolina State University College of Veterinary Medicine in Raleigh sending two full-service ventilators, 500 protective suits, and 950 masks to area hospitals, for instance. But the Washington Post flags an even less expected source: The crypt of the Washington National Cathedral.

The church says a stonemason working on the crypt level came across boxes holding some 5,000 respirator masks. They had apparently been obtained during an unspecified health scare in 2006 and subsequently forgotten about, and the CDC and mask manufacturer verified they were still usable. The church says the masks will go to Georgetown University Hospital and Children’s National Hospital. Reads a Facebook post from the cathedral: "As Dean Randy Hollerith likes to say, grace abounds, even in the darkness." (More coronavirus stories.)

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