DIY Face Masks Slow COVID-19 Spread

April 11, 2020

U.S. Army soldiers wear homemade (do-it-yourself) face masks that help them against the spread of COVID-19. The graphic includes tips on how to use and clean them.

CDC On Homemade Cloth Face Coverings

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends wearing cloth face coverings in public settings where other social distancing measures are difficult to maintain (e.g., grocery stores and pharmacies), especially in areas of significant community-based transmission.

CDC also advises the use of simple cloth face coverings to slow the spread of the virus and help people who may have the virus and do not know it from transmitting it to others. Cloth face coverings fashioned from household items or made at home from common materials at low cost can be used as an additional, voluntary public health measure.

Cloth face coverings should not be placed on young children under age 2, anyone who has trouble breathing, or is unconscious, incapacitated or otherwise unable to remove the mask without assistance.

The cloth face coverings recommended are not surgical masks or N-95 respirators. Those are critical supplies that must continue to be reserved for healthcare workers and other medical first responders, as recommended by current CDC guidance.

More CDC information about making a sewn and non sewn face cover/mask

Image created by USA Patriotism! from U.S. Army graphic by Office of the Chief of Public Affairs - April 2020
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