[Serious] Can you sew? Can you save a life?

[Gawdzilla Sama]

First responders are running out of masks. If you aren't totally shit at sewing and have the time, consider making some. A few million are needed ASAP. Generic 1/4 elastic is in short supply, big ass rubber bands are abundant. The hospitals will sterilize them when they get them, even if you swear to god you've already done it.

[onlinebiker]

Is that what you been doing with your old skivvies?

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

Is that what you been doing with your old skivvies?

You saw the ‘Serious’ tag, right?

Boru

[onlinebiker]

Is that what you been doing with your old skivvies?

You saw the ‘Serious’ tag, right?

Boru

Appologies...

Did not

But.... You can't really consider such an idea as serious.....

Surgical masks have standards... Of fit, material and micron filtration. The idea of simply knocking off a few without access to those standards makes the idea less than feasable.....

Thus my missing the "serious" callup....

[arewethereyet]

I have a friend who used to be a labor and delivery nurse. The last few years she has owned a quilting shop. She's been posting patterns and giving guidance so her fellow quilters can get to work making masks. She even has some instruction on making bias tape to use to tie on the masks since most people don't have a supply of thin elastic on hand.

I donated all my fabric a while back to a lady who makes quilts for babies in NICUs and kids in cancer wards. If I still had all that, I would be working on some myself.

Great suggestion for anyone crafty with some fabric on hand.

[John 6IX Breezy]

Appologies...

Did not

But.... You can't really consider such an idea as serious.....

Surgical masks have standards... Of fit, material and micron filtration. The idea of simply knocking off a few without access to those standards makes the idea less than feasable.....

Thus my missing the "serious" callup....

I don't know how serious everyone is. That said, when it comes to diseases, the initial dose of a pathogen plays a critical role in how sick you get and how quickly you get there. For those reasons, any amount of protection that reduces the number of pathogens you are in contact with will be much better than wearing nothing.

Specially since this virus transmits through droplets when you cough or sneeze, even a simple cloth over your face will capture those droplets and prevent you from breathing them in.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Hospitals are asking for help. Find a reason to not help if you wish.

---

https://youtu.be/FSeDlVxQx1k

[onlinebiker]

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nati...899622001/

.....

I suppose there is the placebo effect.

...

Best bet - stay home. Avoid other people.

A homemade mask will afford you little to no protection against the virus.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

[John 6IX Breezy]

The issue with "experts" (there's no such thing as experts when there's a new strain; you only know as much as you research) is that they have the difficult job of communicating medical information to lots of people in a way that is easily digestible by everyone. That often means saying things that are less than accurate but get a point across.

For example, when trying to prevent panic buying, the Surgeon General tweeted out that we should stop buying masks because they do little to protect us and prevent healthcare workers that need them from having them. But face masks either help or they don't, they don't magically provide protection only if you're a nurse but not if you're just an average person. What he should have said was yes masks help, that's why we need them most in the medical field, so please stop buying them or we'll have a shortage.

The other common one is that you only need a mask if you're sick but not if you're healthy. But again, masks either help or they don't. They don't randomly become a protective barrier if you're breathing out but not when you're breathing in, they protect both ways, and most have a waterproof lining on the outside specifically to protect when inhaling. The point they're trying to get across is that there's a limited supply, and masks become most efficient if the person that's sick wears them, than if everyone around them tries to.

The expert in OnlineBiker's link said this: "“The DIY masks, albeit creative, are only to serve as a reminder for us to not touch our face," Doyle said. "The virus can travel up to six feet if you cough, sneeze, vape, second-hand vape."

Not only is he wrong because people tend to touch their face more when they put something on it. He's trying to foresee the millions of potentially dangerous ways someone might make DIY masks, like putting a plastic bag over your face, or ignoring social distancing because you think a mask makes you untouchable. You have to remember experts are speaking to that audience as well when they make these PSA statements.

But as he said in his own statement, coughing and sneezing are main avenues of spread. So putting any cloth over your face is going to provide more protection against droplets than wearing nothing. Coughing on your elbow alone is a great way to capture most of these droplets.