Wearing masks or other face coverings is now recommended as one way of slowing the spread of the coronavirus.
But the new suggestion has led to some confusion because, for weeks, federal authorities insisted masks were not necessary. And while the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, along with many California officials, suggest wearing them while shopping or being out in public, President Trump says he won’t be covering his face…
But even if they don’t provide full protection to the wearer, masks can protect others nearby by removing contaminated droplets from the air released by asymptomatic people when breathing or talking.
Research published by Cambridge University Press in 2013 found that homemade cloth masks “significantly” reduced the amount of potentially infectious droplets expelled by the wearer.
Dr. Otto Yang, a UCLA expert in infectious diseases, said he thought universal mask-wearing had helped keep the virus under control in places such as Singapore and Taiwan.
“My personal opinion is that that’s probably been an important thing in other countries flattening their curve,” he said. “If you go to Taiwan or Singapore, everyone’s got a mask on all the time. Healthy or not. Sick or not.”…
How do you make your own mask?
It’s not that hard. The Times has a guide here as well as video.
Bibi Sheonarine, a 66-year-old real estate broker decided to start making cloth masks from her Upland home…
Read the full piece in the Los Angeles Times here: https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-04-06/how-to-guide-to-coronavirus-face-masks-how-to
