How to Make Cloth Face Masks at Home, According to the CDC

The use of masks to protect against the COVID-19 pandemic has been controversial, to say the least. On one hand, the World Health Organization insists that healthy people don't need them, and on the other, several local authorities are already recommending homemade options, seeking to relieve pressure on certified designs that healthcare professionals must use. Instead of staying trapped in the 'yes or no' doubt, today we're sharing a guide from the US CDC to make cloth masks at home, with three variants that adapt well to our available resources.

The surgical masks or those with special certification have become a bitter point of conflict. Initial orders from authorities were met with panic buying, healthcare professionals on the front lines are the first to suffer shortages, contradictory recommendations are the order of the day, and then there are disturbing reports of modern piracy with speculative buyers paying triple for shipments of masks, and on the asphalt bribes to divert flights.

Faced with so much confusion, the logical thing would be to get information from reliable sources, but each day we see that even those sources can't agree. Therefore, our intention is to prioritize the direct usefulness of that information. If you feel you need to use a mask, or local authorities already recommend adopting them in spaces where social distancing is difficult to maintain, then here's a tutorial for making cloth masks at home, published by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, much better known by its original acronym, CDC.

How to make cloth face masks at home

The general recommendations for any DIY mask are five:

• Fit well on the sides of the face, but without sacrificing comfort
• Be tied with ribbons or cords
• Use multiple layers of fabric
• Allow breathing without major restrictions
• Allow washing and drying without damage or shape change

The CDC advises using cloth masks to slow the spread of the virus and help prevent people who might have it and not know it from transmitting the virus to others, while keeping in mind that it is an additional voluntary public health measure. At the same time, it does NOT recommend cloth masks for children under two years old, nor for people with breathing problems, unconscious or incapacitated.

The models available in the guide are three: The first one suggests a sewing machine and uses two rectangles of cotton fabric as a base. Being a text aimed at the American public, all measurements are in inches, but a simple conversion (1 inch = 2.54 centimeters) lets us continue without problems. The second version is even simpler and requires no sewing. In fact, all we need is an old cotton t-shirt that can be cut, and scissors. Finally, the third design combines a bandana (or similar cotton scarf) and a coffee filter.

Now, following this tutorial does not give DIY masks any kind of advanced certification (say, N95 or P100), but they have the advantage of being reusable, and a cycle in the washing machine (or alternatively, an intense hand wash) should be enough for disinfection. Finally, we can’t forget that any mask will be useless if we don’t know how to use it properly. It is mandatory to wash our hands with soap before placing the mask and after removing it, always avoiding touching eyes, nose, and mouth.

Original article (in Spanish): Click here

Original article (in English): Click here