This is how to make an effective cloth mask at home

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It is already the time you should be wearing a mask whenever you are outside your home. While wearing masks won't eliminate the COVID-19 virus from the world, research has shown they can be one method of controlling the spread of the virus. A cloth mask made at home can be effective.

If it happens that you are infected with coronavirus, you will protect other people by wearing a mask. Similarly, if everyone wears masks, everyone including you can be protected from the virus.

Masks can also help you in other ways than preventing the particles containing the virus from entering your body through your mouth or nose. This is because they can prevent you from touching your mouth or nose with your hand that may contain the virus.

What tips to follow when wearing a mask?

Masks are important, but you should always remember the most up to date tips for staying safe during the spread of the pandemic.

Here are some tips you should follow:

Wash hands with soap and water regularly and for 20 seconds. You can use hand sanitizers and alcohol also but not very frequently. Also never use Clorox on your skin.
When coughing or sneezing when you are not wearing a mask, use a tissue to cover your nose and mouth, or use your elbow to cover them.
Avoid touching your face. A mask can help you remember that. When wearing the mask, avoid rubbing your eyes.
Try to stay home for as long as possible. Keep your trips as few as possible to keep yourself safer.
Avoid gatherings anywhere. If you find that any of the places you are going into has gatherings, it is better not to enter.
Clean and disinfect surfaces frequently. Don't spray sanitizers in the air because it is not effective.

How to make an effective cloth mask at home

The American Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) published useful information for making cloth masks that are effective enough to keep you safe from the new coronavirus. We brought together some steps to follow to make your own mask at home.

How to make a cloth mask at home without sewing

To make your own cloth mask at home without needing any sewing, you will need nothing more than some materials that you will mostly already have.

The first resource is a piece of cloth that can be a T-shirt or a scarf made from cotton-like flexible material or cotton with another material. The material should be good enough to fold to make the mask cover your mouth and nose. Also you need two rubber bands or hair ties.

Making the mask

The first step is to make a smaller piece of cloth that you will use to make the mask. Lay the T-shirt in front of you and cut a height of 8 inches from the lower part of the T-shirt.

The result will be a rectangle from the lower part of one side of the T-shirt after cutting up and across.

Put the remaining pieces of the T-shirt aside and put the rectangular piece to be horizontal in front of you on a flat surface. Fold the piece of cloth on a horizontal axis from top to middle and from down to middle.

Fold it again from down to middle and from up to middle so that it will become like a package. Loop the rubber bands or hair ties around the package from the two sides while leaving a space of two inches to the edge on both sides.

Fold both sides from the right and the left, on a vertical axis, towards the middle. Now you can unfold your new mask and begin to use it.

Tips for putting on and taking off masks

There are some tips you can follow when putting your cloth mask (or any other mask) on and off. Before handling the mask to wear it, wash your hands with water and soap for 20 seconds at least. You can also use alcohol or hand sanitizer.

When putting your mask on, you have to make sure that you:

Hold the mask from the rubber bands and make it cover your nose and mouth totally.
Avoid touching the cloth or the material of the mask.
Not wear it if it was used before or not clean.

When taking off your mask, you have to make sure that you:

Unhook it from the ties or the rubber bands instead of touching the cloth.
Avoid touching or rubbing your eyes, nose or mouth after removing the mask.
Put the mask directly in the washing machine or a clean place to wash it, or dispose it safely if it is a disposable mask.

Making a cloth mask at home can be a good thing to do, especially if you can't find good disposable masks around or they are available at unreasonable prices.

As you can see from the steps, making it is easy and takes nothing more than minutes. You should also notice that the mask cannot be used more than one time before washing it as it must be washed with every use to avoid making the mask a dangerous tool rather than a protective one.

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