Why Wear a Cloth Mask?

A Few Facts and Some Patterns To Get You Started

People are asking, "why wear a cloth mask if we know they aren't 100% effective against airborne viruses?"  I'm here to say it is worth it, and here's why... [If you're just here for patterns, skip to the bottom. ;)]

First of all, it's important to be aware that every virus has a "target" in the body where it is most effective at making a person sick. When a virus reaches its target location, it then has the best resources it needs to grow and become most dangerous to the body. Covid-19's target is the lungs. So it makes sense to put on a barrier to prevent it from directly reaching its target. People will often argue that the virus can still get into our bodies through our eyes and ears. That may be true, but this means that the body's immune system will have more time to fight viruses off before they reach their target locations and become more formidable.

Second, it's also important to be aware that the amount of virus particles you are exposed to can drastically affect your chances of fighting it off. If you are directly breathing in the air of an infected person, millions of virus particles are going directly into your lungs. This can be overwhelm your immune system, and will take much longer to fight off. If you can reduce that amount by at least 50% with a mask (paired with distancing), you're giving your body a much better fighting chance. You might even give your body a chance to build up immunities.

It is true: studies show that common cloth materials used for masks are only about 50-73% effective at filtering airborne particles, but that is better than nothing! In some situations, 50% really matters. For example, say you go to the grocery store and someone with the virus sneezes nearby. If you were a fair distance away and then walk towards them, that 50% might have been all you needed in that situation to protect yourself from getting ill, because your DIY mask protected you from breathing in those last few virus-filled droplets of water still lingering in the air...

Another concern with cloth masks is that moisture can collect on your mask. Over time, more airborne particles can collect, eventually causing you to ingest or breathe it in, which in some cases can have the opposite effect of protection. Again, that's still better than breathing it in directly, but this is why you should still practice social distancing when wearing them, and also why you should not be wearing the same mask for hours and hours. Two hours is plenty of time to wear a mask.

As a former lifeguard and first-responder, I learned that you breathe out at least 20% of the oxygen you breathe in, hence we are taught in emergencies to breathe into drowned peoples' lungs with the use of a barrier. This tells me you're not going to asphyxiate if you wear a cloth mask unless you psych yourself out, especially since most cloth masks do let oxygen through. People with medical conditions should consult their doctors on this matter. But overall, you should make sure your mask material is a decent enough barrier while being breathable (see facts below).

My research about masks began back in February, when my mother-in-law (who is a dental hygienist) mentioned that her office might run out due to shortages. I wanted to make her something which could act as a barrier for her so that she wouldn't have to be out of work, so I began researching on a medical level. I even made my own prototype with polyethylene materials and had her put it through the autoclave at work to see if it would hold up (it did). I began to learn more and more about masks, filtration, and covid-19. This and discussions with my siblings (doctors, dental assistants, and a microbiologist) has helped me get a handle on surgical masks, how they are used, and how hospitals were/are dealing with mask shortages.

Also--disclaimer--I am not a medical professional, and obviously this should not supersede any medical advice from your doctor or health care professional. I am compiling my research for your benefit. If you find anything incorrect here, please let me know!

A Few Facts About Masks

• Surgical masks are not primarily designed to filter air, but to act as a barrier to prevent larger particles in the air from going directly into the lungs (for example, droplets from a person's breath, or kicked up particles from dental drills)
• Masks designed to filter air are those which fully seal around your nose and mouth. (surgical masks don't seal, but again, still act as a good barrier)
• n95 is a non-woven, spun plastic (polyethylene) material made to filter out the tiniest airborne virus particles. It has been heavily tested and found to be nearly 100% effective at filtering airborne bacteria and viruses. It is the standard material used to make medical-grade quarantine masks. (click here for stats and studies)
• People often use the term n95 to refer to medical-grade quarantine masks made from n95 material.
• Masks with pleats, or that stick out from your face, and have multiple layers are more effective because they have more surface area to filter particles.
• Concerning materials used at home, dish towels were the most effective common material tested at 74% filtering effectiveness (probably due to the threads which stick out, creating greater surface area for filtration).
• Cotton blend t-shirt material comes in second place at 70%
• 100% cotton fabric filters out 51% of virus-sized particles. A lot of people are making masks out of this material because of its breath-ability, but they should also be lining them with filter materials.
• Many baby wipe brands make their wipes out of n95 material. (I do not know which specific brands use the material, so if you find out, let me know!), and can be used as filter material in cotton masks.
• Dust masks also seem to be only around 50% effective.
• No mask is 100% foolproof. Even n95 quarantine masks have a tiny margin of error.
• There are many different kinds of surgical masks which have a wide range of uses and effectiveness and are not all created equal. Again, their main purpose is to be a barrier from splatter or dust. They are usually made from water resistant materials (made from stable, lightweight breathable plastics such as polyethylene) to avoid wet particles sticking to the masks. 
• Due to shortages, many hospitals are using masks in creative ways. For example, at my sister's hospital in Tulsa, doctors and nurses are using lightweight washable cotton masks over their n95 quarantine masks to make the n95's go further. So, call your local hospitals to find out what kind of masks they need and continue to make them and donate them!

Wearing/handling/washing masks

1. If you are an essential worker who has to be around people all day: make yourself 5 or 6 surgical masks (or buy them), and switch them out after 1-2 hours during your 8-hour workday. Take breaks outside and away from people so you can have time to get fresh air without having to wear a mask. When you get home, throw your clothes--and cloth masks--in the wash and then go take a shower (see # 4 below)
2. While wearing a mask, your breath sucks all the airborne particles towards your face, concentrating it on the front of your mask... so be sure not to touch the front of your mask (I see people doing this constantly), but pull it off from the ear or back of the head, depending on how they stay on.
3. Leaving your nose uncovered is useless. It may utilize your body's natural air filtration system, being slightly better than breathing through your mouth,  but you can still easily breathe virus particles directly into your lungs through your nose as well as breathe virus particles directly out.
4. You do not need to wear masks outside unless you are in close proximity to people, as your breath quickly dissipates in the atmosphere (indoors it does not dissipate nearly as quickly)
5. Keep clean masks in one sealed plastic bag, and put used masks in a separate plastic bag.
6. For washing cloth masks, the CDC says putting them through the laundry is sufficient for cleaning. You can also leave them out for 24 hours for any virus particles to die off (if they are plastic or polyester, leave for 72 hours, preferably in the sun when possible).

Misc. facts

• Washing your hands is far more effective than using hand sanitizer because any remaining living virus or bacteria particles are rinsed away (I wrote a post about washing produce, which will give you more confidence in your common dish and hand soaps)
• Hand dryers in public bathrooms can kick up a lot of bacteria and virus particles, so it's best to just avoid them.

Mask Patterns

These are some good ones I've found so far...

1. CDC's guide for wearing and making face masks . This has a lot of good information and three simple patterns; one is even a simple folded bandana for people with no sewing skills.
2. HOW TO MAKE FACE MASK WITH FILTER POCKET AND ADJUSTABLE WIRE | SEWING TUTORIAL (YouTube). Here's a pattern for a cotton surgical mask with a pocket for replacing filters. It also allows the elastic band to be replaced if it breaks. I have made several of these with some modifications and everyone says these are super comfortable compared to many others. (I use a 16-gauge wire to line the width of the mask with a 1.5-inch slit in the center so you can remove the wire).
3. Joann's also has a simple mask pattern with fusible interfacing. I haven't made these, but I would be concerned about comfort with the interfacing rubbing the face and nose
4. Four different face masks... (YouTube). For a legit quarantine-worthy mask pattern, here's a video of a doctor explaining how mask tests are done, materials she used for four different types of masks, and even gives a pattern tutorial at the end of the mask which passed the test. She does mention, for small chins, this one requires tape to be fully effective. So, if you can get your hands on n95 material (or halyard as she suggests), you might be able to make a legit, fully-effective quarantine mask.
5. While I was waiting for my fabric to come in, I was drying out baby wipes and sewing them into dust masks as liners for grocery shopping (since the dust mask has a decent seal around the face, but only minimal filtration). It only takes 10 minutes to pleat a couple of dried baby wipes and quick stitch them into the inside of a dust mask. These, however, are one-time-use only dust masks because they aren't washable (or, I suppose you can set them aside for 3 days to let the virus die off and then reuse).

I will be updating this when I come across new information. Until then, I hope this helps you on your pandemic endeavors! And if you have more info to share, please do!

Other Sources:

Simple Respiratory Protection—Evaluation of the Filtration Performance of Cloth Masks and Common Fabric Materials Against 20–1000 nm Size Particles.  Some studies on masks of varying materials and their effectiveness against airborne particles as compared to n95 material.

Mask Selection Guide. One company's chart with different masks and their purposes/effectiveness.

Photo by Laura Dewilde on Unsplash

Soap or No Soap? Disinfecting Your Produce

Advice From a Microbiologist Who Studies Bacteria on Plants.

The other day, out of sheer paranoia, I washed all my produce in soapy water. I am a bit of a germ-o-phobe to begin with, so I tend to feel like something isn't clean unless there are a lot of suds. I also know that you're not supposed to wash produce in dish soap because of ingesting residue, but with the virus going around, my paranoia was strong! Then, a few days later, out of the blue, one of my sisters sent an article from the LA Times advising us not to do that (for the very reason that we could be ingesting soap, which is toxic for us), asking for our opinion in the family group chat.

Of course, the best advice is to grow your own produce to save money and avoid foreign contamination, but not all of us have the right space or time to do that.

My oldest sister spoke up. She is working on her PhD in microbiology, doing studies on the microbiome of plants. In her studies, she has to disinfect plants (lettuce, to be specific) to remove rogue bacteria and microbes that collect on the plant from the air which could throw off her studies. It turns out that the surfactant (SDS or SLS) in regular dish soap has the quality of dissolving the outer lipid membranes of bacteria and viruses (hence washing your hands is very effective!). So this is what they use to disinfect their plants. But, in the process of disinfecting, they have to take special care not to also destroy the cell walls of the plant itself. They do this by washing the plants in a very diluted solution of soap in water. Simple!

If we do that with our produce, there will still be a residue that is left behind for us to ingest, so the answer is to make sure it is minimal (we already ingest soap residue from our own dishes on a regular basis and we don't want to double that!). So, a 1% solution of soap in water actually does make a difference! Her advice was to put a drop of soap in six liters of water and lots of manual rinsing and rubbing (this was a rough guess, but close to something she might do in the lab). Although, be gentle with your greens, as lots of rubbing will break them down and make them go bad quick.

Real talk, I had already rubbed my oranges with LOTS of soap and they have all gone bad super quick (could be that they were already old, or that I completely destroyed the outer cell biome which protects them from getting moldy too fast...)! So, now I am sharing with you all, so you can stop being paranoid like me and know that a little actually does go a long way.

Now, if you're concerned about washing off pesticides, that's a different story. Saltwater is actually the most effective way to do that. If you want to know more about that, you should watch this YouTube video, "How to Make Your Own Fruit and Vegetable Wash." This is an informative video about washing pesticides from your veggies, which also discusses the science behind it! If you're like me, and concerned this would be too much washing for your produce (soap and salt), I've decided to prioritize disinfecting until the pandemic sort of blows over.

Lastly, do not use bleach. This is because the residue it leaves on produce could potentially affect your gut health in the long run.

Hope this has helped!



Photo by Talal Ahmad on Unsplash

Pandemic Vegans

Thoughts on Eating Healthy In Survival Mode

My husband and I have been scouring the scientific studies on nutrition on and off for the past five years now (okay, let's be honest, Dustin is the main researcher, and I'm the glad recipient of his findings). We became vegans in November of 2015. We slowly got rid of everything in our kitchen that was a meat or dairy product and replaced it with whole, plant-based foods; mostly grains, starches, and vegetables. We weren't super strict: we were basically social omnivores and strict vegans at home because some social occasions just called for flexibility. But overall, making this lifestyle change has transformed our lives and made us feel like our best selves.

Dustin and I went shopping the other day, preparing for a whole month of food, and bought as much fresh food as we thought would not go bad before we had a chance to eat it, and then stocked up on the longer-lasting items. And this has had me thinking about survival situations. Actually, more honesty, I've been thinking about prepping a lot in the past year. Obviously if we're willing to be social omnivores, then we are definitely willing to be survival omnivores. If things got really bad, and supply chains forced us to run out of food, you bet I would be crossbow hunting deer and trapping rabbits in the nearby forests until I could get a good vegetable garden going. But I'm getting ahead of myself... I don't think it will come to that, and produce isn't whats running out on the shelves right now, so I know we can still eat healthy while stockpiling.

Here's some helpful tips for those of you younger folk, or less experienced in cooking at home. If you're reading this and you have good insights you'd like to share, I'd love to hear them!

First of all, eat lots of cruciferous vegetables to boost your immune system. This is the absolute best thing you can do to help your body fight covid-19 if you catch it. If you hate veggies, force yourself now to eat things like broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, collard greens, bok choy, etc. If you really can't stand vegetables, try tomato juice. Drinking it twice a day can drastically improve your immune system function, so stock up on that V8, baby! (Watch, Using the Produce Aisle to Boost Immune Function if you'd like to see a summary of the studies on this). Also, if you have some extra cash to spend, get yourself some elderberry syrup or gummies to eat on the regular. This is also highly immune-boosting.

If you are vegan, don't forget to stock up on your vitamin B supplement! <-- very important

Fresh foods are extremely important. If you're looking for longer lasting fresh vegetables, buy cabbages, gourd-type vegetables like butternut squashes, and root vegetables like carrots, potatoes, and onions. Citrus fruit and apples will last quite a while. You can freeze your bananas, but be aware they do still turn brown after a couple of weeks. And definitely do not store your bananas with other fruit or veggies. bananas produce gases that speed up the ripening process...

Buy your normal one-week or two week load of fresh veggies, and then buy your longer-lasting fruits/veggies in larger quantities and then your dried foods in bulk. You can also buy freeze-dried and dried foods, but that can get pricey. If you have a dehydrator, you can stock up on those fruits... Mentally prepare for some monotony later on in the month(s) as your supplies dwindle. (Rice and beans for the win!)

Here's another thought: simplify! Dustin's grandparents have become experts at making delicious food with just salt and pepper and a few basic ingredients. I think this is the way to eat for cheaper and to make your groceries last longer. Dustin and I LOVE spices and flavor, but we are also learning to enjoy subtle natural flavors. This month I developed a dish that is only cabbage and noodles and salt and pepper (and a dash of curry and soy sauce). Since I don't have butter in my fridge, I found out that cabbage has a lovely buttery flavor when sauteed. We are learning to cut back on our more spice-heavy recipes so we can make our food last longer.

Also, don't despair... You can actually live and survive on potatoes or rice and beans for a long time. I believe if you go too long, you can come out with some real deficiencies... But you'll be fine for a few months. The same goes for other unprocessed whole grains, and legumes. They have a lot of basic vitamins and nutrients you need, even some protein. Ideally, you should eat widely and get all kinds of nutrients from different foods. But in survival mode, you can make it if you're stocked up on a few basic whole grains, dried beans, and potatoes. Lentils are particularly jam packed with nutrients (stock up!). I'm also learning recipes for split peas and fava beans.

(soak those beans overnight and rinse before use even if you have an instant pot... soaking removes the enzymes which give you gas... your family members stuck in quarantine with you will thank you later.)

Quinoa is an awesome little grain jam-packed with protein. But it can get pricey, and for various reasons, I'm concerned about supply chains here.

Also, you can re-grow things like green onions and herbs. Store your cut bunches of herbs in the fridge with the stems in a cup of water and cover it with a bag (or use an herb-saver). That will give your herbs at least a whole extra week in your fridge.

I haven't even talked about canning yet, which is something I want to eventually do from my kitchen. It's not as good as fresh foods, because you lose some nutrient content, but it is definitely better than having no vegetables at all! Canned foods are what got our grandparents through the winters before refrigerators.

These days, the only canned foods Dustin and I buy are tomato-based (like sauces, salsas, and various forms of tomatoes) or nut butters, jams and jellies. Most American canned foods are packed with too much salt and sugar. Plus, fresh foods taste so much better. But, in survival mode, canning is a great way to get through. Dustin's grandparents have an entire shelf of foods they have canned themselves, and these foods last for years. My favorite is their canned asparagus. One of these days I am going to buy all the necessary equipment and start a seasonal canning habit. Until then, I'm relying on my stockpiled dried foods for the long haul.

I'd love to hear your thoughts on how you are preparing for the next couple of months during this weird apocalyptic lockdown.


Photo by Ella Olsson on Unsplash