This mask, like most home-made face coverings, may not totally protect you, but it protects others. So if everyone wore one, we could all be safer!
Ready-made masks are hard to find these days and medical masks should be saved for medical personnel.
Here are directions for masks I made from a few of my many "cowboy" square neckerchiefs (about 18" square) that can easily be washed or, as I do, boiled. So you can use a clean one whenever you go out.
No sewing required for these! I had pony-tail bands left from my long-hair days. (Otherwise ear bands can be rings cut from discarded stockings!)
Here are the easy directions:
https://blog.japanesecreations.com/no-sew-face-mask-with-handkerchief-and-hair-tie.
(I might also slip a "single use" paper coffee filter in there too for an extra layer of protection!)
This may not totally block COVID-19 virus which is under one micron in size, but the many thicknesses of cotton cloth folded into this mask should block the sprays of sneezes, etc., where the virus hangs out.
CDC's webpage has useful information about making masks, offering several options. It includes a no-sew mask very much like the one I made.
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/prevent-getting-sick/diy-cloth-face-coverings.html
Cloth masks should be washed after each use.
(Paper and similar fiber masks are for one time use only).
Consumer Reports recommends washing cloth masks in a washing machine or soap and hot water and letting them dry thoroughly.
https://www.consumerreports.org/coronavirus/how-to-choose-and-wear-a-mask-during-the-coronavirus-pandemic/?EXTKEY=NH04HTHD4&utm_source=acxiom&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=20200426_nsltr_health
I wash used cloth masks in soap and hot water and leave them in simmering water in my Crock-Pot on "high" for an hour or more.
Note: Thanks to Rich S. for this link, which raises an important ethical issue: the horrendous treatment of workers in overseas sweatshops where many of our "cheap" masks are made.
https://www.facebook.com/blueactionfigure/videos/10219286417965098
This raises the ethical question of wearing a mask which exploits human labor in this way, versus making your own, which deprives these workers of even this pittance. And also worth considering is the unsanitary conditions in these sweatshops as they affect both the workers there and the masks they produce. These questions leave much to think about as we consider the many threads of COVID-19.
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