How To Make Your Own Face Mask

The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) is now recommending everyone (expect infants) should wear a cloth mask or face covering in public. Whether you're showing COVID-19 symptoms or not, you could be carrying the virus and spreading it to others. That’s where wearing face coverings come in, because they can help protect the people around you and slow the spread of coronavirus.

Medical-grade face masks need to continue to be reserved for medical professionals and the sick, but you can still find non medical-grade masks to buy online. It's also pretty easy to craft your own basic version with things you have around the house. The CDC has instructions for making three different kinds of masks, depending on your sewing skills and materials available. Kaiser Permanente also has a pretty detailed tutorial available breaking the process down step-by-step. You can also find more and more videos each day that show you how. We’ve rounded up just a few including some “no-sew” tutorials.

The CDC says fit and proper wear and care of home made face coverings is key. Cloth face coverings should:

fit snugly but comfortably against the side of the face
be secured with ties or ear loops
include multiple layers of fabric
allow for breathing without restriction
be able to be laundered and machine dried without damage or change to shape

And don’t forget — face coverings are NOT a substitute for social distancing. Stay safe. Stay home. Let’s all do what we can to help slow the spread of the coronavirus pandemic.