COVID-19 - How To Make Safer Cloth Facemasks

When someone who has COVID-19 coughs, sneezes, or talks, they send tiny droplets with the coronavirus into the air. That’s where a mask can help.

A face mask covers your mouth and nose. It can block the release of virus-filled droplets into the air when you cough or sneeze. This helps slow the spread of COVID-19.

There are two main types of facemasks:

Masks for health care workers

N95 respirators and surgical masks should be reserved for health care workers and first responders. Because there aren’t enough of these masks for everyone, it’s important that they go to the doctors, nurses, and other medical staff who need them most.

N95 respirator masks fit tightly around your face. They filter out 95% or more of the smallest particles in the air. But they have to fit just right in order to work.

Read Also: Lagosians React To Compulsory Wearing Of Face Masks

Surgical masks are often blue with white borders. They fit loosely across your nose and mouth. These masks shield against the large droplets that come from a sick person’s cough or sneeze, but they’re too loose to protect against all germs. And they can’t block the tiniest particles that may carry coronavirus.

 

Masks for non-health care workers

Cloth masks are best for people who don’t work in health care. Here are some tips to keep in mind when making your own or getting a face mask.

Because you can adjust it, a mask that loops around your ears is very comfortable but sometimes these are not safe at all because of the openings on the sides.
A Family Health Nurse Practitioner Nkasiobi Violet Uluocha, MSN, APRN, BS, FNP-BC  has shown us how to make the facemasks safer with a very simple technique.
The technique involves tying the earloops at the sides to turn the facemask into a cup-like bowl.This tightens the ends and makes them align with the sides of your face leaving little or no space for air permeability thus making you have some higher degree of protection from the COVID-19 infection.

Always use this when using Cloth masks or surgical masks that are loose by the side.

 

WATCH  THE FULL VIDEO HERE

AFRICA TODAY NEWS, NEW YORK