Should You Make Your Own Facemask?
Is a homemade mask a useful complement to other COVID-19 preventive measures, or an ineffective measure that offers false hope?
Note from the writer: This article was updated April 5 to include an important new analysis of the ineffectiveness of various types of cloth and homemade masks in reducing the spread of disease. The article now presents evidence that masks can be helpful, then a new analysis indicating they may not work anywhere near as well as we hope, and then, finally, how to make one. This article is not intended to offer advice on whether everyone should don a mask, a question over which expert views continue to see-saw as the science develops.
As of this original writing on March 31, only people with COVID-19 symptoms or those caring for them were advised to wear facemasks by the World Health Organization (WHO), the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the U.S. Surgeon General. But if facemasks work for the sick and the caring, why shouldn’t everyone wear one to help reduce the spread of coronavirus?
Good question. Since then, the CDC came around to answering it, urging all Americans to wear a mask when outside their homes.
In parts of Asia, health officials had already been encouraging masks for all. The Czech Republic made nose and mouth coverings mandatory for people who are out in public, according to an article by Kelly Servick in Science, a publication of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
“The big mistake in the U.S. and Europe, in my opinion, is that people aren’t wearing masks,” said George Gao, head of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
“This virus does have the ability to transmit far easier than flu,” CDC director Dr. Robert Redfield told Atlanta radio station WABE prior to the new recommendation. “It’s probably now about three times as infectious as flu.”
Arguments for and against: A brief overiew
Reasons to advise against the widespread use of facemasks include the fact that healthcare professionals need them badly. Some 200 workers at one New York hospital have become sick, and two…
