Hold On to Your Masks

Sales of face coverings have surged as the Delta variant spreads, and some designers see masks as permanent fixtures in our wardrobes.

When Elizabeth Schreiber, a registered nurse and mask seller in Boca Raton, Fla., saw mask sales on her Etsy shop surge in the last two weeks of July, she knew something was wrong. “Throughout the time I’ve been selling masks, I could always tell when there was going to be an increase in Covid cases because I would all of a sudden start to get a lot of orders,” Ms. Schreiber said. Since mid-July, her sales have nearly doubled from the beginning of the month. She sold 40 masks in the first half of July and 82 over the second. While coronavirus case numbers are rising across the United States (and in much of the world), Florida in particular has seen one of the biggest upticks, with a seven-day average of 15,818 cases at the end of July compared to 1,694 on July 1, according to data compiled by The New York Times.