Masks

[dewline]

I neither need nor want the N95 masks that all the fuss in the news services and health care facilities has been made about since this started. I would like to get a batch of those "regular" "surgical" masks that I've been able to buy at places like Rexall or Shoppers Drug Mart. I want them partly to help other people feel safer around me when I do step outside, and partly because I'm expecting lawn-mowing season to start soon. Where I live, I often find myself doing that chore, and the backyard has the added complication of the lawnmower kicking up dust in several parts of the lawn. I have allergy issues, and the chance of my allergy issues' symptoms being mistaken for more dangerous things is high enough that I don't want to have to deal with such mistakes and their consequences.

(For shopping errands, I've been improvising with a scarf irregularly, and one of my co-residents is planning to make cloth masks to supplant that. We have enough "raw" material to get that done in-house.)

Comments

[basefinder]

We just received some homemade cloth face masks we ordered through Etsy. We've improvised with tee shirt masks and I use a cold weather neck/face cover when I hike.

I've used N95 masks over the years for woodworking (I'm extremely sensitive to sawdust) and even when I hiked in forest fire conditions a few years ago (not smart). I suspect I still have one or two, although I haven't seen them lately. If I find them, they will be our emergency masks if we have to go to hospital with corona.

[krpalmer]

An "aggregator and commentary" weblog linked to a mask pattern site, and I've cut up an old cotton T-shirt to make two of them. They fit snugly once assembled (remembering this is more "protecting others from me" than anything else), which leads me to a sort of "if I can sew one of these together, anyone can" feeling. Of course, I'm still terribly timid about going outside (being in a position fortunate enough to have been set up to work from home) and wash my hands many times a day, especially after bringing in and reading the daily newspaper (and then keep imagining that much has tracked in spreading contagion, such that I keep washing my hands and wiping surfaces).

[dewline]

Thanks for that web linkage! PDF downloaded for later printing and reference!