DIY Face Masks - COVID-19

[Aimless]

Luckily I had some N95 / P2 masks left from the bushfire smoke we got earlier in the year. Hard to get hold off but I managed to find a few in Adelaide over Christmas.

Main thing is not to touch your face / adjust the mask too much if you are touching stuff in busy areas like trains.

....I'm speechless

Not hoarding - just a three pack of 'gardener grade' P2 masks, two of which are lightly used. My wife has breathing troubles and the smoke in the air was setting it off - so thick you couldn't see a few metres ahead for a couple of days. Just handy to have on hand for shop runs...

[Mattblack]

Luckily I had some N95 / P2 masks left from the bushfire smoke we got earlier in the year. Hard to get hold off but I managed to find a few in Adelaide over Christmas.

Main thing is not to touch your face / adjust the mask too much if you are touching stuff in busy areas like trains.

....I'm speechless

Not hoarding - just a three pack of 'gardener grade' P2 masks, two of which are lightly used. My wife has breathing troubles and the smoke in the air was setting it off - so thick you couldn't see a few metres ahead for a couple of days. Just handy to have on hand for shop runs...

No Mate, I meant how depressing it is that you feel lucky that you had masks left over from the bushfires....it hasn't been a good year so far has it

[purple5ive]

Luckily I had some N95 / P2 masks left from the bushfire smoke we got earlier in the year. Hard to get hold off but I managed to find a few in Adelaide over Christmas.

Main thing is not to touch your face / adjust the mask too much if you are touching stuff in busy areas like trains.

....I'm speechless

Not hoarding - just a three pack of 'gardener grade' P2 masks, two of which are lightly used. My wife has breathing troubles and the smoke in the air was setting it off - so thick you couldn't see a few metres ahead for a couple of days. Just handy to have on hand for shop runs...

No Mate, I meant how depressing it is that you feel lucky that you had masks left over from the bushfires....it hasn't been a good year so far has it

2020 has not been a good year for many australians.
the stock market has plummented again, which means people retiring now are ******.
many more will loose their jobs because of the corona virus pandemic.

[Aimless]

Luckily I had some N95 / P2 masks left from the bushfire smoke we got earlier in the year. Hard to get hold off but I managed to find a few in Adelaide over Christmas.

Main thing is not to touch your face / adjust the mask too much if you are touching stuff in busy areas like trains.

....I'm speechless

Not hoarding - just a three pack of 'gardener grade' P2 masks, two of which are lightly used. My wife has breathing troubles and the smoke in the air was setting it off - so thick you couldn't see a few metres ahead for a couple of days. Just handy to have on hand for shop runs...

No Mate, I meant how depressing it is that you feel lucky that you had masks left over from the bushfires....it hasn't been a good year so far has it

Phew. Yeah, the cruel irony that I feel better about the current crisis because of prep for the last one did cross my mind a few times.

[Bugatti]

Mr. Bug is back!

Welcome back mate.

Thanks guys

Cheers, Bugs

[Bugatti]

Good to hear from you Car Man,was thinking you had self isolated from the Forum.
Blue

Thanks Blue

I have to say Blue, the endearing bloke that you are, that you haven't been far from my thoughts either.
And your wiggly avatar fishy

Cheers, Car Man

[Bugatti]

Welcome Back Bugsy .. Bug .. The Bug .. Mr Bug !!!!!

Great DIY idea indeed

Now ... can you please keep making them and box them up in 25 per pack - i can be your sole distributor here in VIC

PS - Terms and conditions applied

Thanks VooDoo

Now hold your horses there, young fella

I'm going to have to see your "Business Plan" before any cross border deals are made

Cheers, Bugs (copyright)

[Bugatti]

Good thread bug, and welcome back.

Thanks croe

I touched on this in the other coronavirus thread before it was removed.
I'll preface this by saying wear a mask by all means. Much better than wearing nothing. All types of masks can catch aerosols carrying the virus and reduce the risk of infection,
but:

Face masks are good if you are sick and don't want to spread it around to other people through respiratory droplets, really important to follow safety equipment etiquette when handling masks


Don't think you're impervious if you get your hands on a N95 mask either, they're the best you can get, but have respiratory hole diameters of 300 nanometres. SARS-CoV-2 has a diameter of 50-200 nanometres, meaning it can still get in and get you sick. Like p5 said too if you have facial hair or put it on improperly this majorly compromises the mask.

Also, with laymen buying up all the N95 masks realise that this depletes the supply from clinicians who actually need them to help patients.

Some very good points croe, you have convinced me on some and I agree with the remainder.

The masks are as much not to spread illness as much as they are not to get any yourself.
Having two family members in a high risk category, there is even a concern of spreading the common cold to them, which if they did catch a common cold, it would lower their ability to fight off COVID-19 if they caught that as well at the same time.

A point on the droplets sizes and the respiratory holes, another point on that to reaffirm a well fitted mask is that the smaller the respiratory holes, the harder the suction required through the mask to take in air. That would allow an ill fitted mask gap to take in air.

Main thing is not to touch your face / adjust the mask too much if you are touching stuff in busy areas like trains.

Aimless, so true.

The 3 reoccurring pieces of advice which trumps all others is:
1. Wash your hands regularly
2. Don't touch your face (mouth, nose & eyes)
3. 1.5m-2m distance from anyone.


The masks (of any kind) play a part but as croe said, we are not impervious just because of the mask.


Cheers, Bug (not the virus kind )

[Bugatti]

Face masks are good if you are sick and don't want to spread it around to other people through respiratory droplets, really important to follow safety equipment etiquette when handling masks, realise that these pretty much become petri dishes once you wear them for a while

I placed this quote separate to get your opinion Mr croe.

Obviously with the hard times ahead and without a doubt clinical personnel should get a priority on any personal protection equipment and then equally the elderly should be next in line (as they get rolled over in the toilet paper stakes, so something should go their way), I have a question for you and others.

There is going to be a tendency to "reuse" masks, and as they are predominantly designed for single use only, is there a way to extend the life of a mask? Obviously not the "done thing" but is there a level of "calculated judgement" to get a little more use out of them.


The two things that come to mind are:

For surgical style masks that can lay flat

Can ironing with a very hot iron (and possibly steam able) kill the virus/germs enough?

Mask 95.JPG (19.16 KiB) Viewed 1117 times

Also, for "moulded" P95 style masks, can spraying them with an alcohol based sanitiser or with methylated spirits kill the virus/germs enough?



Now, I'm not advocating either , , , , it would be nice to know if it can be done to some level of safety , , , , or an answer to even dispel this notion.



Thanks

[croe04]

Face masks are good if you are sick and don't want to spread it around to other people through respiratory droplets, really important to follow safety equipment etiquette when handling masks, realise that these pretty much become petri dishes once you wear them for a while

I placed this quote separate to get your opinion Mr croe.

Obviously with the hard times ahead and without a doubt clinical personnel should get a priority on any personal protection equipment and then equally the elderly should be next in line (as they get rolled over in the toilet paper stakes, so something should go their way), I have a question for you and others.

There is going to be a tendency to "reuse" masks, and as they are predominantly designed for single use only, is there a way to extend the life of a mask? Obviously not the "done thing" but is there a level of "calculated judgement" to get a little more use out of them.

Thanks

With the disposable surgical style masks, they are entirely designed to be single use only products. Use them once, bin them after and get a new one.

N95 masks are a little different.
The guidelines for N95 masks suggest 'limited reuse'. i.e N95 masks are reusable, but, the practice of reusing them has greater inherent risk. The mask also becomes progressively less effective the more times you use it.
The way to reuse N95 masks is once you've taken them off store them in a cool, dry, preferably sterile environment with no cross contamination from other masks for an extended period of time.
You can't wash or apply any fluids to a N95 mask without massively compromising the filtering effectiveness unfortunately.
However, the mask should be immediately discarded after use if it becomes contaminated with bodily fluids like blood or mucus or knowingly is exposed to viral aerosols (e.g someone who is sick sneezes or coughs on you).
Manufacturers procedures should also be carefully followed when handling/using/disposing of a N95 mask