Getty Image
In a bit of good news, Washington National Cathedral is donating 5,000 respirator masks to two hospitals in Washington, D.C. – Georgetown University Hospital and Children’s National Hospital.
In a bit of weird news, they found them just sitting down in their crypt.
Wait, what?
According to a press release…
The masks were purchased more than a decade ago following a previous health scare. They were meant to allow clergy to provide pastoral care without putting their own health at risk. Forgotten about in the ensuing years, the masks were discovered recently during routine work in a storage area on the Cathedral’s crypt level. Seeing an opportunity to donate them to local hospitals in need of these kinds of masks, Cathedral officials immediately reached out to the manufacturer and the CDC to confirm they were still safe to use.
On Wednesday, 13 boxes containing 3,000 masks will be delivered to Georgetown University Hospital, and nine boxes containing 2,000 masks will be delivered to Children’s National.
“In these difficult and trying times, the Cathedral community is doing everything we can to help protect the most vulnerable among us from the effects of the coronavirus pandemic,” said the Very Rev. Randolph Marshall Hollerith, dean of Washington National Cathedral. “We have made significant adjustments to our worship programs and made church services available for streaming online, and now we’re prepared to take this additional, proactive step to ensure thousands have access to protection that otherwise may never have been available to them.”
The cathedral has been conducting services via webcast as it is in the midst of the longest preplanned closure in the church’s history.
But no one wanted to talk about that, or the 5,000 respiratory masks they are donating. All people cared about was the casual mention of finding them located in the cathedral’s crypt.
Can we back up to the existence of a crypt? https://t.co/Xk38R5Ak78
— Daniel W. Drezner (@dandrezner) March 25, 2020
who was the first person in D.C. to be like "you know where there might be some extra masks?"
— find tyler huckabee on bluesky (@TylerHuckabee) March 25, 2020
Because of course you keep 5,000 respirator masks in a crypt. The people interred there might need them in an emergency!
Remember to put your respirator on your OWN corpse before you help any corpses seated near you.
— Jedi Ghost 🏳️⚧️🏳️🌈🇺🇦 🇺🇸 (@JediCounselor) March 25, 2020
Nicolas Cage in National Treasure 3: Unmasking Washington
— Nicholas Dertinger (@nickdertinger) March 25, 2020
Definitely seems like the most logical place to keep surplus medical supplies.
— Raevlyn Rhue (@raevlyn_rhue) March 25, 2020
Okay... so... who... how... WTH ... ??? So ... someone comes into the office and just announces: "Hey, look what I found."
— Brent O (@OnlineDetective) March 25, 2020
BREAKING: New National Mandatory Order, everyone in the U.S. is so ordered to check their crypts for respirator masks. This must be done immediately. Sorry, my crypt is empty.
— Majestic (@MajesticResists) March 25, 2020
Everybody...check your crypt!
— PlanoJeff (@PlanoJeff) March 25, 2020
https://twitter.com/Rogu3Band1t/status/1242839988632457217
Of note: former U.S. President Woodrow Wilson, Helen Keller and her teacher Anne Sullivan, and Navy Adm. George Dewey are among the around 200 people interred in the cathedral’s crypt.
[protected-iframe id=”a811b297c28f29f2aab10e7844b9e018-97886205-92827192″ info=”https://giphy.com/embed/tANpI4H9zlv1u” width=”640″ height=”444″ frameborder=”0″ class=”giphy-embed” allowfullscreen=””]