As the coronavirus pandemic spreads across the globe, so does the concept of boogie-ꦡfever face masks.
At Wednesday night’s opening party for the Brooklyn Museum’s “” exhibit, a number of partygoers sported flashy COVID-19-themed face coverings. Attendees Allison Eden and Gary Goldenstein, who wore matching disco-ball masks to the gala, told paparazzi their coordinated glitterati garb was inspired by the potentially deadly virus.
“It took me a day and a half to make each one,” Eden, 50, tells The Post of her and her husband’s masks. “I feel if you have to wear a face mask now, why not make it fabulous? Why not make disco balls?”
Eden, who runs a Bushwick-based handcrafted , is among the growing ranks of pizzazz-minded health warriors making and sporting bedazzled face coverings: Celebrities from , 18, to 63, have donned tricked-out face masks as the trend spreads from the streets of New York to partiers, influencers and models on runways around the world.
Jordanian designer Samia Alzakleh is taking the growing glitter trend a step further — by encouraging global citizens to stay safe and stop the spread ofജ corona by donnin🅘g masks covered in Swarovski crystals.
By turning the current crisis into a fashion statement, Alzakleh hopes she’ll help her fellow Jordanians party the plague away and catch boogie fever instead.
“My goal in creating these masks was to encourage people to wear [protective] face masks,” Alzakleh tells Reuters of her corona-chic safety gear.
Only one Jordanian has so far tested positive for the virus, but as of March 10 the nation has closed its border crossings with Israel and the West Bank, its seaports with Egypt and has barred overland passenger traffic from Iraq, the kingdom’s health minister says, according to a Reuters report.
Each custom mask takes Alzaklꦑeh more than three hours to make and features hundreds of colorful jewel🥃s.
She has gifted her lifesaving accessories to influencers and celebrities, including Lebanese makeup artist , Jordanian cook , Lebanese actress and Dubai-based photographer . “Be safe in style,” Elnajjar captions a post of himself in the to-die-for mouth covering.
When she’s not bedazzling items that are cute enough for quarantine, Alzakleh adds sparkle to , and , selling them through her online store Sandraz Shop. However, the designer did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for comment about when the masks would be available to the general public.
Beware: Although they look contagiously good, these fun face masks won’t actually help disco lovers stay alive during the pandemic.
“We don’t have great evidence in their effectiveness,” Dr. Vanessa Raabe, assistant professor of pediatric infectious diseases at NYU Langone, tells The Post. She points out that most store-bought masks don’t have a “firm seal” around the🦄 nose and mouth, s⛎o “you can still potentially breathe in infectious particles around the sides of the mask.”
Map of coronavirus in the US
As of Friday there were more than 1000 confirmed 𒐪cases of coronavirus in the United States and more than 30 death🔯s.
While face masks offer little protective impact against the spread of COVID-19, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends using hand sanitizers with at least 60% alcohol, ensuring the correct amount of gel is applied. However, 20 seconds of washing with “soap and water are more effective than hand sanitizers at removing certain kinds of germs,” the agen𒅌cy reports.