Upgrading tip for the mask that you should be wearing unless you are in New Zealand

[anna_wing]

The price of paper masks is rising sharply here as cases rise, so I have advised the locals in the office of a simple hack to pass along in their home neighbourhoods for all the people who cannot afford to keep buying them:

1 Make yourselves double-layer cloth masks from whatever cloth is available, leaving the sides of the internal layer open to act as a filter pocket for a paper filter.

2 Before you throw away your paper mask after using it, cut out the nose-wire and save it.

3 Drop the nose-wire in some boiling water.

4 Stitch it into your cloth mask to make it fit better.

Comments

[shirebound]

Early in the pandemic I remember reading that disposable masks can be put through a regular washing machine cycle up to ten times without losing their virus-filtering abilities. Hopefully it's true, as I've been dong it!

[anna_wing]

I was wearing them in an equatorial country, so they were also soaked already by the end of the day. I just moved to cloth masks as soon as I could. Even after the anti-viral coatings wear off, they're still fine with an additional filter. I keep a pack of the disposables in my bag for emergencies.

[asakiyume]

When I make cloth masks, I always leave a portion of the bottom open so that I (or the person I'm making them for) can slip filter paper in there for extra protection.

I like your idea for saving the nose wire!

[anna_wing]

Yes, most double-layer cloth masks here are made with the top or the sides open for a removable filter.