DIY Masks. What to use?

[George K]

https://www.nytimes.com/article/coronavirus-homemade-mask-material-DIY-face-mask-ppe.html

.While a simple face covering can reduce the spread of coronavirus by blocking outgoing germs from coughs or sneezes of an infected person, experts say there is more variation in how much homemade masks might protect the wearer from incoming germs, depending on the fit and quality of the material used.

Scientists around the country have taken it upon themselves to identify everyday materials that do a better job of filtering microscopic particles. In recent tests, HEPA furnace filters scored well, as did vacuum cleaner bags, layers of 600-count pillowcases and fabric similar to flannel pajamas. Stacked coffee filters had medium scores. Scarves and bandanna material had the lowest scores, but still captured a small percentage of particles.

If you don’t have any of the materials that were tested, a simple light test can help you decide whether a fabric is a good candidate for a mask.

“Hold it up to a bright light,” said Dr. Scott Segal, chairman of anesthesiology at Wake Forest Baptist Health who recently studied homemade masks. “If light passes really easily through the fibers and you can almost see the fibers, it’s not a good fabric. If it’s a denser weave of thicker material and light doesn’t pass through it as much, that’s the material you want to use.”

[Loki]

https://smartairfilters.com/en/blog/best-materials-make-diy-face-mask-virus/

[Copper]

@George-K said in DIY Masks. What to use?:

If it’s a denser weave of thicker material and light doesn’t pass through it as much, that’s the material you want to use.”

Someone told me that if you scaled up a human hair to 100 yards - the length of a football field, a COVID virus scaled up by the same factor would be 4 inches wide.

So you want the filter to stop something that small.

[jon-nyc]

Except the virus isn’t typically floating around by itself. Typically on a larger droplet.

[Copper]

[Aqua Letifer]

That's still for free-floating viruses, not those that need to survive within water droplets.

ER doc working in Maryland told me a cloth mask was about 10-20% effective in protecting against novel coronavirus, which is better than nothing.

[mark]

better than nothing is a good start. Add some furnace filter material in the construction of it, and I wonder how that improves.