PPEfattoincasa: Upcycle and Stay Safe!
Update: As it so happens, the timing of this article coincided with the publication of a sharp commentary by Leung et al. at The Lancet:
As the spread of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outside China is accelerating, we urge policy makers to reconsider the role of masking.
In the following days, it set off numerous discussions on the topic. I tried to capture some remarks in a separate article, Do you mask? Do your mask!. Some of these remarks were originally published as updates to this article.
Many are wondering if the time has come to start wearing some sort of PPE — personal protective equipment, for most of us this would basically translate to wearing a face mask. There is conflicting advice regarding the merit of that for the general public. I am not going to discuss that — make up your own mind. The fact is, the people who have more experience with such outbreaks do not even discuss this topic, they just wear their masks.
The problem is, if you do decide to go for that, you will realise that you are just too late to the party — there is a global shortage of supplies for a number of reasons. At least in that regard, it is true that at this point, even though everyone can benefit from wearing a mask, we should probably leave the available limited supplies to those who need them the most in the front lines.
What started as a joke, turned into a challenge, and ended in a fun weekend DIY project.
Now that many of us are locked down at home, and spring is approaching, some of you might think it is a good opportunity to do some spring cleaning and dispose of some old stuff that has piled up. So did I. Before you start to throw stuff away, however, I am going to show you how you can put together some level of PPE at home using available tools and supplies that might otherwise end up in the garbage, #UPCYCLE.
Disclaimer
Before we begin, I am not an expert on PPE and I cannot claim any specific level of protection. However, I do believe any protection is better than no protection at all, despite some so-called “experts” claiming the contrary. The solution that I am proposing can be adjusted by adding more layers to hopefully get better filtering capabilities. It is probably better than a mere surgical mask, which is at most what you can hope to get these days, if anything at all. In addition, you can also put a surgical mask on top for extra protection and as a disposable top layer, which is what some medical professionals are doing to reduce the need to frequently exchange the FFP masks which are harder to come by.
PPEfattoincasa: Upcycle your underwear!
So what do we need: My clean up efforts turned up some old boxer shorts (or rather boxer briefs) which turned out to be a good starting point. By folding the parts that go along the legs into one another you get two base layers — one out and one in. In this case you have two edges — the long one which normally goes along the side of the legs and the short one which is around the crotch. The long one shall cover your face, while the short one goes around the neck. If you try it out by putting your head through the folded parts that go along the legs, you can already see if it is a good fit or not. Ideally, they should have a small fold at the end of the parts that go along the legs. which we can make good use of. As they may loosen over time, I would suggest adding a shoe lace to the outer layer so you can tighten it up as needed. This can be added along the fold.
Next, a common problem also with surgical masks is becoming evident — there are gaps around the nose. Some masks, and in particular FFP-grade ones do have a soft metal part that can be adjusted to fit the face of the user and close those gaps. For that purpose, I decided to use what is typically used to close loose tea bags. These parts have metal wire or thin metal sheets inside a plastic sheath and as such are quite suitable and about the right size. Maybe a single one is enough, but to be on the safe side, I decided to bind together 2–3 of them for both the outer and inner layers. I flattened them with a pastry roll (you can also use a bottle) and then I bound them together with some tape about 1 cm from the edges. I also wrapped the edges with tape to taper them off so they do not tear the fabric or scratch the skin when putting on and off. I made small incisions on the folded ends of the parts that cover the legs — both the inner and the outer layer. Then I inserted the bundled parts into the folded ends so that they are in what would be the front of the PPE, over the long edge. You can try if they can be adjusted and hold in place at this point, while carefully putting the PPE on and off.
The final step is to add some intermediate layers for filtering. For that, I decided to use kitchen paper, but you can also use napkins, make-up towels, or toilet paper (all the hoarding of toilet paper now suddenly makes sense!). I put 2 layers, but you can put more or less than that, depending on your own judgement and the material that you use. You can try to use the mask like that, but chances are the filter layers might misalign when you put it on and off. To prevent that, I added two clips that I had put aside from new shirts I bought a while ago. They are rounded and unlikely to scratch your skin or damage the fabric and filters. You can also try using hairpins or paper clips. Be careful what you choose if you go for that as there is a danger it might scratch your face.
With this solution you can exchange the filtering layer as often as you need. You can also wash the whole contraption, although you will need to remove the metal parts before doing so. I would recommend creating 2–3 of those so you can exchange them as needed and also wash them frequently.
If this prevents one transmission it is a win! If it makes people think of new ways to make good use of old stuff, it is a double win!
Final word of caution, be very careful when putting the mask on and especially taking it off as then it may be contaminated. With this setup, that can be quite challenging, so you may have to practice safe removal a few times before starting to actually use it. Pay attention to the metal parts and also to potential contamination. I would recommend washing your face or even your head every time you take it off after going out. You should do that in general, every time when you go out, regardless of the type of PPE you use, and even if you do not use any at all. Before and after that, you should also wash your hands of course.
Stay safe!
I would like to stress again that I am not an expert on PPE and I cannot claim any specific level of protection. I will make some tests to get a rough idea of the effectiveness and the amount of filtering you need. In the meantime, remember that any protection is better than no protection at all. This solution allows you to add more layers to hopefully get better filtering capabilities. You can also put a surgical mask on top for extra protection. Stay safe and stay healthy!
Update: An article titled Testing the Efficacy of Homemade Masks: Would They Protect in an Influenza Pandemic? by Davies et al. from 2013, discusses different materials and their efficacy in comparison to surgical masks. I have captured some remarks regarding that in Do you mask? Do your mask!.
*fattoincasa is an initiative seeking to help coping with the difficulties associated with the current situation in Italy. This is increasingly applicable to everywhere else around the world. Stay strong and make good stuff at home!
