Question: Coronavirus & home sewn masks?

Here's another question: are the surgical masks treated with something? If yes, then, obviously we don't have that ingredient at home. But if they are just made of a special material, then perhaps they can be resurrected. Of course, as Dr Edwards mentioned earlier, the issue of efficacy comes to the forefront: does the material degrade.

 

Another study into mask materials.

https://phys.org/news/2020-04-mater...BNf23RS6kgPIibg4T5qHqZyHM1zV8yhuMNMg9CpdSzq9U

So although they suggest cotton layers, they suggest adding a silk or chiffon layer (materials that hold a static charge) as well. Interesting stuff.

However, the biggest problem they highlight seems not about the materials but about the gaps around the mask. They say only a 1% gap (not sure exactly what that means... 1% of air volume?) can reduce mask efficiency by 50%!

That would suggest that some simple square type masks (dare I say it the blue surgical ones) are really missing out on their full potential. Cloth masks need to fit well to be useful.

 

Very interesting. I made a mask that goes right to the ear and that way there is no gap whatsoever. There are also the masks that go around to the back of the head. I always found surgical masks 'floopy and airy.'

 

I am a bit sceptical about this conclusion from a study using a fan to spread aerosols.

My impression from looking at the videos is that during talking and coughing it is not that droplets are carried out with the airflow of breathing. They are fired from the glottis and pharynx at a much higher speed than the breath. They are therefore likely to hit mask even if most of your breath goes out round the sides.

 

I read about using a section of a nylon stocking to go over a cloth mask, it makes it tighter to the face so there's less leakage around it. I thought I read it here. If I didn't I haven't a clue where to search for it. Guess section of nylon tights would work too. Though don't know how you'd cope with the stuff laddering!

Interesting over use of silk. Initially they seemed to say that silk didn't work well. I assumed due to gaps between the threads. But silk scarves I inherited from my Grandmother look to me as if they are tighter woven than most cotton is. So with the combination of that and the electrostatic stuff maybe some silk is better than it appeared to be initially?

 

I can’t see all of this, but it seems there is a push in Ireland for folk to wear masks outside. (First bit of article is available without subscription.)

Face masks are key to halting coronavirus and helping us leave lockdown

https://www.independent.ie/opinion/...s-and-helping-us-leave-lockdown-39157415.html

 

Luke O'Neil is an intelligent and imaginative immunologist.
It may be more important to wear a mask if you have kissed the Blarney Stone of course, but I doubt the evidence he is mentioning is restricted to the likes of Dave Allen.

 

April 28, 2020 / 1:34 PM / Updated 27 minutes ago
Scotland's Sturgeon recommends wearing face masks in enclosed public spaces

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-...masks-in-enclosed-public-spaces-idUSKCN22A1Y8

 

I bought a homemade mask off Ebay, which was very well made but did allow a lot of breathe through the top.



So I bought a pack of aluminium nose bridges off Ebay, that stick on to the front of masks.



I wasn't sure how well they would stay on, but they stick very well and greatly improve the fit of the mask.

 

As it looks like face coverings - cloth masks - will be used in the future, so I’ll bump this thread again.

This meme however seemed to me to be VERY pertinent, and because it is delivered with humour, I imagine it will also help folk to get their head around mask use.

Enjoy!!!

 

Here's a design I hadn't seen before, it's a free pattern.


https://www.orangedotquilts.com/simplemask

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UaZBm_V8Flg

 

I actually made one yesterday. It's not very good, but usually I use a silk scarf, doubled over my face, and it would never had stayed on in yesterday's wind, so needs must. I'm regarding it as a trial run, and hope the next one I make will be a bit more professional-looking. But it did stay on in the wind, which was the main thing.

 

I improvised with a flattened out paper clip and electrical tape.

 

@Keela Too , does the fibre direction make a difference?
Would one layer cut on bias improve performance ?

 

I don’t know the answer to that.

Thinking logically, I suspect it would be difficult to so perfectly align two fabrics such that the weave orientations could allow a faster flow, so thinking that way, I imagine it wouldn’t make much difference..... but honestly unless some-one tested the concept, I’ve really just made a pondered guess.

 

Thanks @Keela - one of those 4am thoughts !
May test with liquid to see if flow is affected .

 

Don't forget that unless you literally force the air to be sucked in through the fabric, which you can only do by creating an airtight seal all the way around - pretty impossible with a home made mask - then the more difficult you make it for the air to get through the fabric, the more will simply be sucked through the gaps around the edges.
So it seems to me that it's a balancing act, between fine enough weave to have at least some effect at filtering, & not so tight that it becomes pointless because the air will just be sucked in by the path of least resistance - ie through the gaps around the edges.

I still cant understand why people (no one here I just mean in general) cant grasp that if we all wore them then we could protect each other because it's so much more effective at keeping virus containing vapour in, than out.

 

https://twitter.com/user/status/1264723749762301952

 

Interesting. Though of course these are bacterial colonies, so may not represent how good a mask is at stopping viral particles. Still it does demonstrate the point rather well.

I wonder what the results would look like on repeating the exercise with a petri dish held to the side (ie where a cloth mask might vent out)?

 

I am rubbish at sewing now because of the ME and arthritis (and no sewing machine) but I have made masks for my husband and grandson by making a two layer tube of t shirt material which wrap round the mouth and nose and gathered round the back with a hair tie.

My awful tacking stitch is holding it together but best of all, there is no leakage from the sides or top because they lie close against the face.