Face Masks or Not?

[_Jersey Girl]

So what are you guys doing for masks? We already had a supply of surgical masks when the pandemic hit full force. Don't ask. I've been wearing those for quite some time now. I don't hate them. I recently invested in 2 cloth designer-type masks. I kid you not. I figured I was in this for the long haul so I sprung for somewhat attractive ones. They have filter pockets for pm 2.5 filter activated charcoal filters. Got those, too. Haven't tried the combo yet, so I can't review them.

I noticed we've got a new box of masks that aren't N95 but they resemble them. Too lazy to go look at what they are at the moment.

So what are you wearing or are you a non-mask wearer? If you are wearing a mask, how do you like them and where'd you get them from?

[_Gunnar]

Whenever I go out, I wear a mask lovingly sewn together by my own dear wife. She has made several of them for each member of the family. She is quite handy with a sewing machine, and she makes masks that out of old shirts, jeans and leftover, but suitable cloth remnants, using patterns she found online. They are pleated and consist of several layers of fabric. and include a pocket into which we can insert additional, removable and disposable layers of filtering materials. They have adjustable elastic straps so they can be fitted for comfort, and also have a pocket to insert a semi-rigid but malleable and shapeable nosepiece such as a pipe cleaner, if desired, to make it fit more comfortably over the nose. She and several of her church women's group, along with some other groups of volunteers, made a bunch of these masks, and donated them to our local medical care facilities to help tide them over during a local shortage of medical grade N95 and surgical masks. I am so lucky to have her as my wife!

[_Icarus]

Anything is better than nothing.

[_Gunnar]

Anything is better than nothing.

Probably true, and as is often emphasized, but ignored by anti-maskers, they are much more effective at preventing an infected person, whether symptomatic or not, from spreading the virus to others than at protecting an uninfected person from getting it. That is the main rationale for using them.

[_Res Ipsa]

We’re required to wear them on public transit, in indoor public spaces, including all businesses, and crowded outdoor spaces. I have six or seven cloth face masks that I use on a rotating basis.

[_Chap]

... as is often emphasized, but ignored by anti-maskers, they are much more effective at preventing an infected person, whether symptomatic or not, from spreading the virus to others than at protecting an uninfected person from getting it.

Yup. Wearing masks is something we need to do for each other.. And we need them to do it for us.

This acknowledgement of mutual dependence and commitment to mutual aid is, I think, the thing that the anti-maskers hate. I mean, we exist purely as self-sustaining individuals, right? Anything that detracts from that is communism, or worse, perhaps even gay.

[_Jersey Girl]

Whenever I go out, I wear a mask lovingly sewn together by my own dear wife. She has made several of them for each member of the family. She is quite handy with a sewing machine, and she makes masks that out of old shirts, jeans and leftover, but suitable cloth remnants, using patterns she found online. They are pleated and consist of several layers of fabric. and include a pocket into which we can insert additional, removable and disposable layers of filtering materials. They have adjustable elastic straps so they can be fitted for comfort, and also have a pocket to insert a semi-rigid but malleable and shapeable nosepiece such as a pipe cleaner, if desired, to make it fit more comfortably over the nose. She and several of her church women's group, along with some other groups of volunteers, made a bunch of these masks, and donated them to our local medical care facilities to help tide them over during a local shortage of medical grade N95 and surgical masks. I am so lucky to have her as my wife!

Well, Mrs. Gunnar is more industrious than I am. I know how to sew perfectly well. I just detest it. So I am assuming the filters she used were made of polypropylene? You will love hearing this. We have a group called Colorado Crafting for a Cause that made and donated 30,000 masks and add to that other types of PPE--surgical bonnets, gowns, and head bands. Someone broke out a 3D printer and made those deals that hold the mask loops behind the head. They are currently on hiatus regarding donations but the crafters are still sewing like crazy. Some have been joined by their husbands and children.

They are working on youth masks and came up with a great idea for children going back to school...attaching one of the mask loops to a lanyard so that when the child removes the mask it stays on their body only hung around their neck. That would probably be against safety regs for young children but I bet the state would be willing to suspend the regs in the case of preschoolers going back to school as in "wearing mask lanyards must be supervised by an adult" and then...there you go!

That group has become a well oiled machine since the Australian bush fires. What amazes me is the sheer ingenuity of crafters who innovated ways to overcome every obstacle and make their product more user friendly over the months. Not to mention the drive that crafters and sewists like your wife and her group can pull out of a hat when Trump was dragging his pathetic feet on PPE to the point where now essential personnel are once again experiencing shortages of PPE.

Our group is set to gear up again in a couple of weeks in order to fulfill needs for back to school...if anyone is actually going back to school.

[_Jersey Girl]

We’re required to wear them on public transit, in indoor public spaces, including all businesses, and crowded outdoor spaces. I have six or seven cloth face masks that I use on a rotating basis.

We are also required to mask in public now. Since then I have been in Walmart and one craft store once each time. Everyone I saw was masked. I actually expected there to be some public challenging on that at store entrances, but no. People are compliant. I've been wearing surgical masks the whole entire time, now trading up for a couple of designer fabric masks with filter pockets. They are made by Vera Bradley. I'm not all over her designs but I picked up a couple that I did like quite a lot. I think I paid 8$ for one off the website and more for one I nabbed off eBay because it had a discontinued pattern--hummingbirds--and I just needed it to feed my inner authentic nature freak self. :-)

I just saw this map this morning on CNN of states that have adopted mandatory mask orders.

https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/19/us/state ... index.html

[_Jersey Girl]

... as is often emphasized, but ignored by anti-maskers, they are much more effective at preventing an infected person, whether symptomatic or not, from spreading the virus to others than at protecting an uninfected person from getting it.

Yup. Wearing masks is something we need to do for each other.. And we need them to do it for us.

This acknowledgement of mutual dependence and commitment to mutual aid is, I think, the thing that the anti-maskers hate. I mean, we exist purely as self-sustaining individuals, right? Anything that detracts from that is communism, or worse, perhaps even gay.

I think the anti-maskers are seeking psychological control over that which they have no real control over...the pandemic, losing their work, their routines, etc. Of course they are slap out of their minds, but they are grasping at the only control straws they have left.

They're so deluded that they don't realize that complying with mask wearing is one of the very measures they DO have to control the virus and re-establish a sense of normalcy. We're biding our time until a viable vaccine is ready. God forbid they work cooperatively towards that effort for the good of themselves and the good of the whole.

[_MeDotOrg]

This is a mask I had made to order:



Should be getting it this week.