Though fabric masks provide only minimal protection against the spread of COVID-19 and other viruses, the Centers for Illness Management and Prevention (CDC) now suggest that everyone use them when leaving the house. The hope is that this low-risk, relatively simple intervention can make a dent in the spread of COVID-19 by people with no symptoms or extraordinarily delicate ones.
However masks aren’t exactly easy to come by: Medical-grade ones are already in short provide for healthcare workers who want them, so healthy individuals shouldn’t even try to purchase them. And within the wake of the CDC’s new suggestions, even non-medical cloth masks are sold out or backordered in many online stores. When you’re attempting to figure out if and the way you need to cover your face on your subsequent essential journey out of the house—for a stroll on an uncrowded road or to buy vital groceries, for example—here’s a guide to all your options.
Things to look for and avoid when shopping for a cloth mask
A lot of crafters and makers, as well as companies that usually sell different fabric products, are now providing non-medical masks for sale. However not all of these masks are created equal. If you happen to’re ordering protective equipment on-line, here’s what to look for:
Don’t purchase medical-grade, filtering masks unless you are immunocompromised or are caring for someone sick with COVID-19. Hospitals are experiencing excessive shortages of those masks, and they aren’t shown to provide significant protection for healthy individuals.
Your mask ought to cover your nostril and mouth and may have fastenings that maintain it firmly in place while you discuss, move, and breathe. If you need to contact your face to adjust your mask, you risk exposing your nose or mouth to germs.
Ideally, the masks should have some sort of adjustable band to minimize gaps between your nostril and your cheeks.
The most effective fabrics are water resistant and tightly-woven—not stretchy or sheer. A tightly-woven cotton is the following greatest thing, and your masks ought to have no less than two layers of it.
Your mask ought to be easy to sanitize by boiling or throwing within the washing machine. Meaning it shouldn’t have cloth glues, delicate supplies, or funky decorations (other than prints on the fabric). Gildings like sequins (yes, there are people selling sequined masks proper now) provide surfaces that viral particles can linger on for days.
If you purchase a fashionable cover to go over your mask—some stores are selling glittery cloth covers and chainmail overlays, for example—remember that this outer layer is being uncovered to viral particles. You need to remove it and sanitize it just such as you would with the masks itself.
What about a balaclava or scarf?
Rachel Noble, a public health microbiologist at UNC at Chapel Hill, tells PopSci that balaclavas and other warm-climate gear designed to cover your nose and mouth are unlikely to be suitable for stopping the spread of COVID-19. Because they’re designed to be as easy to breath via as doable, they tend to be made of loose fabrics.
“You need to choose a really, really tightly woven material,” Noble says. “We’re speaking about something that’s approximately the density of the weave of a bandana, or a really high-quality bedsheet.”
Jersey materials, towels, and any textiles that stretch whenever you pull them are doubtless too loose, she says, as are most sweaters and other knit yarns. So should you really can’t sew or put collectively a masks with hair ties as described below, covering your nose and mouth with a bandana tied around your face is probably slightly more effective and simpler to sanitize than a balaclava or wound-up scarf. But all of those workarounds are mostly only useful in that they remind you to not touch your face and shield bystanders from the worst of your coughing and sneezing. If you happen to’re coughing and sneezing, you should really be staying inside.
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