In case you haven't already seen this

[nonelvis]

Instructions for how to turn an old t-shirt into a no-sew face mask. In Czech, but you can follow along without it.

I did this today using the bottom of a shirt -- made the mistake of choosing a V-neck, which didn't leave me enough face height along the arm area of the shirt -- but it still worked just fine for me. Totally recommended if you want to minimize the harm your potentially asymptomatic self could do to an otherwise healthy person.

Taking it out for a spin tomorrow. I predict no one will look twice at me at the Chinese grocery store I frequent, while people at the Stop & Shop will side-eye and keep their distance.

Comments

[fauxklore]

That’s a really clever idea.

[nonelvis]

I was legitimately shocked at how simple it was to do this, and I'm going to have to make more. Fortunately, we have a pile of t-shirts we've been meaning to donate for months, so there's plenty of material.

[nostalgia]

do masks work then?

[nonelvis]

If you're using a homemade mask, the answer is "sort of, maybe." They don't hurt, that's for sure, and there's definitely some evidence that they can help. In particular, they could keep people who are asymptomatic for COVID-19 from spreading the virus as far as they would without a mask. Here's a good article about this from Science magazine.