Please, wear a mask. It won’t kill you and it might save a life — maybe even your own
My 81-year-old mother sewed 40 cloth face masks and sent them to a hospital in Florida, where apparently such protective personal equipment is in short supply.
I called her on the phone. “You sent 40 of your masks to people in Florida, and zero to your son?”
“I sent them,” she said, “to people I know will wear them.”
She knows me well.
I’m not much of a mask guy. But in this time of coronavirus, almost all of us are doing things that might not come naturally.
It was fine with me when the experts a few weeks ago advised us not to wear masks in public, even though some were already doing it. Discouraging people from snatching up every mask they could get their hands on, like toilet paper — in theory preserving a larger supply for first responders who need them more — seemed like sound reasoning.
Last week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reversed course. Americans now are advised to wear face coverings when they go out.
We’ve seen this sort of advisory whiplash before. Eggs were bad for you, then suddenly they were good for you. Nuts spent some time in the shaming doghouse; now they’re about the most popular health snack in the world.
So what’s the deal? Do people in and around Modesto really need to wear masks? The pandemic surely is serious, but we haven’t had a COVID-19 death yet in Stanislaus County. Our situation doesn’t seem out of control, like in the News — York and Orleans.
In last week’s county-hosted Question-Answer session, Dr. Julie Vaishampayan, our public health officer, explained that face coverings slow the spread of the virus in public, where it’s hard to keep proper distancing. Plus, they make it harder for you to inadvertently touch your face while in public, where you’re picking up invisible nasties without knowing it.
So yeah. It’s time to set aside inconvenience and pride and wear a mask. For your health, and that of everyone around you.
But where do we get something we can’t find anywhere because everyone else is looking for it?
I’ll admit, I’m luckier than I deserve. My wife, a fine seamstress, got out her sewing machine table this morning.
On Sunday, our daughter sent photos showing her, her husband and their terrier-chihuahua mix all wearing newly sewn masks homemade that day by her and her teenage sister-in-law, and offering some from their new stockpile. I quickly put in an order. (The dog mask was a joke; they don’t really need masks.)
That evening, a neighbor left a small package on our doorstep and sent a text explaining that she is making masks for seniors and friends. This thing is legit — quilter’s cotton outer layer with local themed prints featuring the Stanislaus County Fair gate, a Medic Alert logo (started in Turlock, now in Salida), Patterson peaches, Oakdale chocolate and California poppies. Sterilized with her CHI Air Life Ultraviolet Sanitizing Wand. And a pouch for disposable filters made of blue auto shop towels. Because it’s nearly impossible to find elastic these days for strings that go around your neck and head, she used social media to acquire headbands from other neighbors, repurposed for face mask straps.
I proudly wore this labor of love when I ventured to the store this morning for milk and butter. It didn’t kill me, and I felt like I was doing my part.
An internet search for mask making turns up multiple DIY videos and info sites. But what if you can’t sew, or don’t have a neighbor or relative who does?
Watch this 45-second video featuring U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Jerome Adams showing how to throw together a perfectly usable face covering using only cloth and two rubber bands: https://youtu.be/tPx1yqvJgf4. The CDC offers super-simple instructions for mask-making requiring no sewing using a bandanna and coffee filter, or an old T-shirt that you don’t mind cutting up.
This mask craze is not Halloween; it really could save lives. We can do this.
This story was originally published April 8, 2020 at 5:00 AM.
