Are all of these handmade cloth masks people are making useful?

[Proud Liberal Dem]

I know that they are nowhere near professional use quality PPE, but are they helpful at all? Or are they just better than nothing? I hear a lot of conflicting information. And some states are starting to require them (mine isn't yet) but what's that based on?

[Phoenix61]

1. From what I've read, they definitely keep

you from spreading it if you have it. Since so many are asymptomatic entirely or before becoming symptomatic this is a big deal. Depending on what it’s made of and how well it fits determines how well it protects you from someone who isn’t wearing a mask.

[SoonerPride]

2. Yes they are useful.

Not so much in protecting YOU from someone who is infected. But to protect others from YOU.

Your exhalation moisture contains tiny droplets an with so many asymptomatic people wandering around infecting others, making everyone wear masks keeps those who unknowingly are spreading the disease from spreading the disease.

[lagomorph777]

3. Yes - they reduce the spread of physical droplets.

Not so much the nanoparticles, but there's still definite value.

[Alex4Martinez]

4. Yes, when fabricated and worn properly.

And possibly better than poorly fitting N95 respirators or surgical masks.

Either way, the benefit has more to do with keeping droplets in than keeping them from coming in.

Locally, we have about 75% compliance in stores and even many people out walking for exercise wear a mask.

I don't go out without one, wear one outside and inside stores and have handy around my neck when out for a walk.

I feel naked leaving my home without these and the hand sanitizer clipped to my belt loop.

A large bottle of peroxide and washcloth live in my passenger seat for a ritual handwash before and after shopping trips.

[MissB]

5. Taiwan has very few cases right now.

And very few cases and deaths overall.

They wear masks.

[Towlie]

30. Bad logic: A is true, B is true, therefore A causes B.

[MissB]

42. Sure.

There are like 123 other reasons why Taiwan has lower numbers. That’s just one contribution.

[marble falls]

6. Yes. They may be of a limited value to the user, but they are effective for those around him/her.

I may not save myself as effectively, but I am protecting you from me.

Keep your hands off it an carry some sanitizer.

[womanofthehills]

50. A lot of info out there that they are protective for the user. It's just common sense.

The better the fit, the more protective. You can put inserts in your cloth masks to block droplets.

[marble falls]

55. I'm trying to put a coffee filter in with the six layers of quilting fabric, I think I'm about ...

as good as I can get.

[TruckFump]

7. I crochet masks. 🧶

They are lined with terry cloth. And there is a removable paper filter between the terry cloth and the mask.

Went to senior shopping this morning and people wanted the pattern.

Made a ton of them and gave them out.

[Skittles]

51. may I have the pattern?

I don't crochet but I know someone who does

[TruckFump]

57. Link to post with pattern

https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=13190381

Note: If making a mask for a man, I add 3 rows around the edges.

[Skittles]

60. thank you

I have passed it on to a crocheting friend who is eager to try it

[marble falls]

56. I want a pattern!

[TruckFump]

58. Link to the post with the pattern.

https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=13190381

Note: If making a mask for a man, I add 3 rows around the edges.

[marble falls]

59. Thanks, now I get my MiL on it!

[customerserviceguy]

8. They'll keep you

from being dragged off of a bus in Philadelphia.

[lame54]

9. When you talk it blocks the spread...

For more protection for yourself add a coffee filter

[mokawanis]

10. What is the proper way to clean a cloth mask after using it? n/t

[Marrah_Goodman]

13. Lots of hot soapy water and scrub for at least 30 seconds.

Then hang to dry for the next day.

[mokawanis]

14. Thank you n/t

[Ferryboat]

11. The person who makes our masks

Has done a great job! After the 1st group came out she incorporated a suggestion for a inner sleeve that hold a #4 melitia coffee filter.

As the wife works delivering food for meals on wheels, and I in transportation we appreciate having 5 apiece to rotate.

Starting to pass these out at work for those with health issues. Will be passing on some of the "socialist money " to her that was deposited yesterday as a show of appreciation.


So yeah they work but must not leave any gaps around the nose or sides.
N95 would be nice, but kinda hard to find.

[Marrah_Goodman]

12. The mask is not about protecting you as much as it is protecting those around you.

If everyone wears one it will cut down the spread considerably.

[womanofthehills]

52. It can protect you too

Dr. Elizabeth Tilson, North Carolina’s health director and the Chief Medical Officer for the Department of Health and Human Services.

“If you’re out in public and you’re within three to six feet of a person, then your mask can give you a layer of protection,” she says.

Read more here: https://www.charlotteobserver.com/opinion/editorials/article241823106.html#storylink=cpy

[cayugafalls]

15. A homemade mask will do in a pinch.

Here is a good report on efficacy of differing mask types. It is a long read but I highlight here a particular quote;

It is also clear that home-made masks such as teacloths may still confer a significant degree of protection, albeit less strong than surgical masks or FFP2 masks. Home made masks however would not suffer from limited supplies, and would not need additional resources to provide at large scale. Home made masks, and to a lesser degree surgical masks, are unlikely to confer much protection against transmission of small particles like droplet nuclei, but as the reproduction number of influenza may not be very high [14] a small reduction in transmissibility of the virus may be sufficient for reducing the reproduction number to a value smaller than 1 and thus extinguishing the epidemic

I purchased a homemade mask off etsy that has a filter pocket. Put a certain type of merv ac filter in it and it should give me some protection.

Stay well.

[Buckeye_Democrat]

16. Seems to help countries that typically use them.

[lagomorph777]

32. That's a pretty big deal!

[Dem2]

17. IF everyone is wearing them in, say, the supermarket - yes.

Because it keeps most of people's moisture they breath out within the mask.

If made well (mine is two layers sewn together), one can feel the resistance to breathing, which means it's providing at least some filtering.

[Baclava]

18. Could help some with dust and pollen

[RobinA]

23. So...

About as useful as crawling under an elementary school desk in the event of a nuclear attack is what I’m thinking.

[Baclava]

28. Some of those desks were made from pretty solid wood, back in the day, distance is everything

[LisaL]

31. This virus is floating in a droplet.

So even cloth mask would be better than zero at preventing that droplet from getting into your nose, I would think.

[womanofthehills]

53. Agree - and you can insert filters in lots of cloth masks

[lagomorph777]

33. On its face, not encouraging. But reducing sneezes would help a lot.

So even filtering dust and pollen has value.

[Baclava]

36. Better than nothin I think is the key, as long as you dont fuss with it

Your hands/gloves are dirty, the outside of any mask is dirty, keeping hands away from face is important, wearing eye protection is important

Best not to go out often even better, welcome to the new normal, we are all germaphobes now!

[Runningdawg]

19. It depends on if you know how to wear one.

I saw a newscaster doing a segment with a mask, tied so loosely, it moved around on her face like a wild animal. In that 2-3 min segment she touched her face EIGHTEEN TIMES.
I watched a few days ago as a man waiting for curbside delivery pulled his DOWN to talk to the person who delivered the food.
I have seen people wearing masks standing shoulder to shoulder with others. Like they believe wearing a masks exempts them from all other social distancing rules.
For a few they may be helpful, but for many more I believe they are a false sense of security.

[RobinA]

24. I Am Not

a big face toucher, but the mask makes me touch my face frequently because it conflicts uncomfortably with my glasses. The one N95 I got from work makes me cough.

[DrToast]

20. They don't do a good job of protecting you from others

But they a pretty good job of protecting others from you. So it's a good idea for everyone to wear them.

[Squinch]

21. Tshirt material blocks about 50% of CV particles. So not very. Doubling or tripling

the thickness makes it better. But lots of the ones we see people wearing are pretty useless.

[DeminPennswoods]

22. The biggest thing is keeping sneezes, coughs from getting near

other people. It also keeps you from being kicked out of stores regadless of how useful/useless it might be.

[lindysalsagal]

44. That's how I see it.

Better than nothing.

[Miguelito Loveless]

25. If nothing else

They remind you to be careful, they warn other people off, and they remind you not to touch your face.

[0rganism]

26. my mask protects you (from me)

your mask protects me (from you)
until we have a vaccine, i consider masking in situations of unavoidable public interactions to be basic common decency like wearing pants or using turn signals when driving

[BamaRefugee]

29. They're as useful as "duck and cover" was back in the 60s.

Not going into a long rant about it, but I'll just say that Americans making masks out of coffee filters shows the complete failure of our system.
I saw video yesterday from Madrid, Spain, where policemen had boxes full of masks and were handing one out to EVERY SINGLE PERSON who walked by..real masks, not old t-shirts and hair ties. Here? All you'll see is policemen dragging people off of buses and out of stores for not wearing a mask, which is basically unobtainable.
I saw video where other police were basically beating up some of the absolute poorest people in the world, street people in Johannesburg, South Africa, and all of the homeless people had on REAL MASKS.

If you actually read the entire CDC instructions on making masks from t-shirts,(a very popular post here on DU) which tested out at 50% effectiveness, you'll find that you actually have to have a BRAND NEW shirt of a certain brand, AND you have to cut 4 layers of the material out and overlay each of them with the grain of the fabric going a diferent direction in each layer. And you have to sterilize the t-shirt first. Then sew the rest of it together.(as if we all have a sewing machine handy). Far more complicated than wrapping a bandana across your face.

After doing that, if you read on, it says that these masks are not viable in the workplace! And it further says that this pattern was developed to be used in Third World countries, NOT in the richest nation on Earth. And, it says people with any kind of respiratory difficulty should not wear these masks. And the part no one seems to read, ONLY ONE of the t-shirts they made was 50% effective, with a fit factor of 67 (you have to have a fit factor of 100 to be effective)while the others only achieved fit factors of 13 and 17!. And on and on, with a special warning about masks that have been made by "naive users" which I think would be most of us.

My main point really is: After Pearl Harbor we were building freaking HUGE battleships, tanks, airplanes *within months*, but now after months we cannot manufacture MASKS??????? EPIC FAIL.

Koch Industries make BILLIONS of dollars making all kinds of paper products, I DARE the so-called president to invoke his wartime powers and tell them to make some fucking masks. But I won't hold my t-shirt filtered breath waiting for it to happen.

[lagomorph777]

34. To be fair, we also need to manufacture Q-tips for testing.

And that's really HAAAARRRRD. Much harder than battleships and tanks.

[BamaRefugee]

35. I blame the liberal universities for taking away the Q-Tip PhD programs!!!

It takes a LOT of years to learn how to make a Q-Tip!

[Runningdawg]

41. Exactly! Another comparison is asking a man to boil water while his wife is in labor.

It does nothing but keep him occupied and out of the way. I do worry that it gives people a false sense of security. I have seen far too many wearing mask but ignoring other social distancing guidelines.
For now, on the rare occasion I must go out, I wrap a shemagh around my face and carry my XLG clear bubble umbrella.

[Jirel]

37. No, and here's why.

Aside from technical issues with fit and materials, most people don’t wear them in any reasonably correct way. They just contaminate themselves and others while having the illusion of safety. Some examples from the grocery store yesterday:

- The woman in mask and gloves taking her son in mask and gloves into the bathroom, where they relieve themselves then don’t wash up (‘cuz gloves!). The kid then starts rubbing his eyes. Off they go shopping as the kid goes touching every chip bag in the aisle.

- Then there was the bozo wearing mask and gloves who the minute she walked out of the store partially undid her mask with dirty gloves, then hung the dirty mask right under her chin where it was rubbing everything into her face.

- The winner of the stupid-in-PPE contest of the day was the genius who had to sneeze (it’s hay fever season here, and it’s a doozy), so she pulled the mask down to her chin, sneezed into her gloves twice, pulled up the mask, then kept right on shopping with her sneezed-into gloves.

Bottom line: PPE is only as useful if it’s the right type and the person wearing it isn’t screwing up. With no PPE, people are wary and take precautions. Covidiots, however, act like PPE is magic, and engage in stupid behaviors that they wouldn’t, if they didn’t feel bulletproof.

Some articles about this problem:

https://www.latimes.com/science/story/2020-02-05/how-to-prevent-coronavirus-wash-your-hands

https://www.cbc.ca/news/indigenous/coronavirus-homemade-masks-doctor-1.5510998

https://www.sacbee.com/news/nation-world/national/article240780786.html

https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/02/health/surgeon-general-coronavirus-masks-risk-trnd/index.html

https://newatlas.com/health-wellbeing/coronavirus-face-mask-should-people-wear-who-recommendation/

[Demsrule86]

39. I disagree and never leave the house without masks and gloves...no on in our family does...and

none of us have the virus. I was exposed while wearing my masks and gloves in a shop and still didn't get it.

[pnwmom]

40. That's like saying that hand washing isn't useful if you don't do it correctly.

Last edited Thu Apr 16, 2020, 04:02 PM - Edit history (1)

We learned to wash our hands and we can learn to use facemasks.

The articles you posted are out of date. Too bad the surgeon general helped spread the misinformation before he reversed course.

Here he is now, demonstrating how to make a cloth face mask in less than a minute.

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100213297981

[LisaL]

43. Yes, it is really too bad were given such bad information regarding masks originally.

[lindysalsagal]

45. As a country, we are too stupid and lazy to survive this.

Americans are ignorant, spoiled and stubborn.

We are here now because this is what we deserve.

[Raine]

54. There are plenty of smart people that aren't lazy in this country

and because of their efforts will pull the others thru and survive the whole thing.

[Demsrule86]

38. Yes, it offers some protection and is all that most can get.

The reason masks are starting to be required is test show it can remain alive airborne for quite a while.

[Cha]

46. I've read it helps to put a sheet or two of paper towel

between the layers of folded cloth. That was reportedly from the Chinese.

Which I was just reminded to do by your OP as I go out to Costco today!

Thank you!

[GulfCoast66]

47. Yes. If used correctly.

Wake Forest University did a quick study.

They can catch about 60% of large particles if made correctly. Not near as good as N-95s but those are respirators. Nor as class 3 surgical masks.

But better than nothing.

[HotTeaBag]

48. Yes.

Wear a bra over your head if you have to, but wear something.

[Mossfern]

49. Ya know ...

I did consider cannibalizing a lined bra to make a face mask - comes with elastic straps that can be used too!
Times are desperate!