With diving gear and plumbing supplies, California labs fashion Covid-19 masks and ventilators

LOS ANGELES — In early March, Stanford bioengineer Manu Prakash was attending a conference in southern France and becoming increasingly concerned about the coronavirus outbreak, which was then already sweeping through Europe. “I’d seen what was happening in Italy. Coming back to the U.S., it dawned on me that we were not ready,” he said. Once home, Prakash developed Covid-19 symptoms severe enough that he spent a day in the emergency room. (He was not tested and has since recovered.)

Out of caution, Prakash isolated himself away from his family for 20 days, taking up residence in a room where he stores diving gear. It was a good choice. He took one look at his full-face snorkel mask and immediately thought it might be a good candidate to trick out into an alternative for the face shields and N-95 masks that are in such short supply for health workers.

In a state known for innovation — from creating automatic gene sequencing machines to inventing the internet and iPhone — Prakash is one of many scientists and engineers here who have pivoted their labs to help patients