Thurs 4/23: Making masks for your friends and family! Nylons to the rescue, once again.

Action update on making your homemade masks more effective.

In the 1940’s, American women took to drawing lines up the back of their legs to mimic the look of nylons, as the real product was rationed to produce nylon parachutes, flak jackets, cords and rope.

Nylons are once again being called to the front, the front of our faces, that is. “Researchers at Northeastern University have found that adding an outer layer made from nylon stockings to a homemade face covering can boost its ability to filter out small particles in the air by creating a tighter seal between the mask and the wearer’s face. In some cases, that extra nylon layer helped homemade cloth masks match or exceed the filtering capability of medical-grade surgical masks.” (npr)

Details:

Create a nylon stocking overlayer made by cutting an 8-10″ tall ring of from one leg on a pair of pantyhose. “Queen-size” stockings recommended as being more comfortable.
Tights should also work, as long as they offer a snug fit, says the researcher, who plans to include tights in future testing.
The wearer puts the ring over their head like a headband, then pulls it down on top of the cloth mask, creating a tight fit to the face. This forces particles that might have otherwise gone around the loose edges of the mask and been inhaled to instead go through the mask, which can filter them out

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Mon 4/6: Update: Now you need a mask too!

Don’t panic! You can do this!

On 3/20, we wrote a post on mask-making in general.
On 3/23, we wrote a post on making a specific type of mask for our hospitals’ front line workers.
And today, we’re writing about making cloth masks for yourself and your family, because the CDC now recommends wearing them in public settings where other social distancing measures are difficult to maintain (e.g., grocery stores and pharmacies), especially in areas of significant community-based transmission.

Masks for you, your friends and family – some caveats first.

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Fri 3/20: Making masks and volunteering in a quarantine. Two actions.

Action #1 – How to make masks.

Update 3/23/2020: Ventura County needs masks!: Go here for their specifications.

Update 3/25/2020: Ventura’s mask-making volunteers have made the New York Times! Check out the bottom paragraphs of this article! Also – check out this video of the project from KEYT. Local high school students are also using 3D-printing to create face shields for medical workers. Ventura County is full of awesome people!