While staying home and social distancing is still our best defense against Covid-19, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is considering changing its official guidelines to encourage people to take measures to cover their faces when they are out doing grocery shopping and drugstore runs.
The early fear among health experts was that if people stockpiled masks, the masks would be in desperately short supply, and our dedicated healthcare workers would be at even more risk than they already are. That has unfortunately come to fruition. Shortages of protective gear, due to chaotic pandemic coordination by the Trump administration, have left our healthcare workers in a dire situation.
A CDC official said the new guidance would still include telling the public they should not use medical masks —surgical and N95 masks must be saved for health-care workers.
But with the rapid advancement of the virus throughout the country, the CDC is now considering suggesting the public make their own masks. These do-it-yourself cloth face masks are the ones you’ve no doubt seen circulating on social media.
One health expert pointed out that people walking down the street are at low risk of infection. But, “Mask-wearing also serves as a reminder to all that we are in a crisis situation and are trying to be good citizens by covering our mouths.”
So, let’s cover up. Not only to protect ourselves and our children, but also in solidarity with all Americans who take Covid-19 as a deadly serious threat to everyone.
DIY Face Masks
What material you should use to make face masks?
The coronavirus is extremely tiny and won’t be trapped by most fabrics that allow air to flow through them. The CDC recommends “two layers of tightly woven 100 percent cotton fabric, such as quilter’s material or bedsheets with a high thread count”
Know a quilter? Quilters tend to use high-quality, high-thread count cotton. A study performed at the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine in Winston-Salem, N.C., showed good results for homemade masks using quilting fabric. The study found that the best homemade masks were as good as surgical masks or slightly better, testing in the range of 70 to 79 percent filtration. Homemade masks that used flimsier fabric tested as low as 1 percent filtration (see graph below).
3 production protocol steps:
- Begin by washing hands and sanitizing the workspace and all equipment – sewing machines, scissors, tables, etc.
- Prewash new fabric in hot water with unscented detergent (if possible).
- Do not try on the masks if they are for someone other than you.
This is the simplest, easiest mask tutorial. No cutting or sewing required!
3 sewing patterns:
- Duckbill shaped fabric mask. Please choose version with nose wire, elastic, and filter pocket.
- This video is for a pattern of a rectangular pleated mask with filter pocket and adjustable wire.
- This no elastic mask is designed by a nurse to fit directly on the face or over an N95 filter.
More face mask patterns HERE
Show us your masks HERE
