COVID-19: Make your Own Face Mask – How to do it

After five days of lockdown people want to venture out to the supermarket and want to know how to make your own face mask.

WHO says No

We care a bit confused about the face mask issue – the World Health Organisation says you shouldn’t wear a face mask and the Centre for Disease Control (CDC) says you should.

“There is no specific evidence to suggest that the wearing of masks by the mass population has any potential benefit. In fact, there’s some evidence to suggest the opposite in the misuse of wearing a mask properly or fitting it properly,” Dr. Mike Ryan, executive director of the WHO health emergencies program, said at a media briefing in Geneva, Switzerland, on Monday.

“We need to be clear,” Van Kerkhove, an infectious disease epidemiologist with the WHO,  said last week. “The world is facing a significant shortage of PPE for our frontline workers — including masks and gloves and gowns and face shields — and protecting our health care workers must be the top priority for use of this PPE.”

Some Other Scientists say Yes

“It’s really a perfectly good public health intervention that’s not used,” argues KK Cheng, a public health expert at the University of Birmingham, says in Science.  “It’s not to protect yourself. It’s to protect people against the droplets coming out of your respiratory tract.”

Cheng and others stress that however masks are used, people must practice social distancing and stay at home as much as possible to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus. When people do venture out and interact, they’re likely to spew some saliva. “I don’t want to frighten you, but when people speak and breathe and sing—you don’t have to sneeze or cough—these droplets are coming out,” he says.

CDC says Make your Own Face Mask

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) may start urging Americans to cover their faces to slow the spread of the coronavirus outbreak, according to The Washington Post. If the advice is updated, the CDC will stress that surgical masks are for medical professionals only, and that people should make their own masks, The Post reported.

I want to Wear a Face Mask in Public

My view: well, I don’t sew so I’ll have to scrounge up some cloth and ask my housemate to make me a mask. I don’t know how much it will help, but as I’m just intending to pop into the supermarket for a few minutes and I have my squirty bottle of hand sanitiser with me. I won’t be very exposed.

I want to wear a face mask just in case.

So I’ve Googled and watched YouTube videos and looked on Instagram and have selected a few options to make your search easier.

Get your Fu Face Mask Pattern here

Great posts from Instagram

 

View this post on Instagram

 

I know many people are busy mask making right now. In case you are stuck at home and wanted to make one, here’s an easy one I found online. These step by step photos should make it self explanatory to make, but let me know if you have questions. I left the side slot open because I was going to use it to slide in a filter to add extra protection to this two-ply, 100% cotton mask. I’ve read online that hepa vacuums bags can be cut up and used as mask filter. It’s hardcore DIY time folks! I used the small size to make this one and it fit my son, who is 5’9”, comfortably. It fit me too and I’m 5’3”. Link to the Fu Face Mask pdf pattern is in my bio. Note: These cloth masks are not intended to replace surgical masks or N95 masks. Any hospital that has requested homemade masks has no intention of using them to fight covid 19. They are put to use in other parts of the hospital. Since so many of us could be infected, asymptotic spreaders or carriers it’s so important that we all wear a mask when we go outside. . . . . . #masks #fufacemask #quarantine #covid-19 #coronavirus #makemasks #millionmaskmarch #facemask #masks4all

A post shared by Juliana Sohn (@juliana_sohn) on Mar 21, 2020 at 2:53pm PDT

 

View this post on Instagram

 

Like so many others, we are rallying to sew masks for our local healthcare providers. Our seamstress Amanda has been meeting with ER nurses at the local hospital and worked together to design a mask that works for them. These are just made out of fabric (ideally cotton jersey or a cotton woven) along with some thin elastic for straps, and can be easily sewn on home sewing machines. They are not medical grade but are better than no protection at all – which sadly is what many hospitals are now facing. We whipped up a pattern and have it available for download on our website. I will link to it here in our profile. Please feel free to print these out, follow directions, and sew as many masks as you can for your local Hospitals. Starting Monday we will also have bags of scraps and supplies available outside our studio. Follow the link to read all the details and please feel free to share. 💪🏼⚡️ thank you @tincup and AK for making this happen so quickly. 🌈 we set up a link on the page where you can donate if you wish. All proceeds go directly to our seamstresses who would love the extra work right now. ❤️

A post shared by STATE the label (@statethelabel) on Mar 21, 2020 at 1:36pm PDT

 

Here are three videos