The masks can be made by anyone using a few simple household items.
A care worker from North Somerset believes she has created a homemade mask that can delay the spread of coronavirus.
Judy Sweeting has worn her homemade masks when out in public throughout the pandemic and insists they are easy for people to make at home.
Judy said: “I work in a care home, so I know a little about the spread of infections.
“I decided to publicise the mask after seeing pictures of people crammed into the tube (in London).”
The reusable masks are made from simple household items, making them accessible to everyone.
Judy added: “All you need is; a two-litre water bottle, a stapler and a pair of scissors.
“It protects your face both from other people’s germs and from you touching your face after placing your hands on infected surfaces.”
The care home that Judy works for has also asked that some masks be made for their staff as the UK’s keyworkers face a battle to get hold of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE).
MORE: URGENT APPEAL FOR PPE IN AVON AND SOMERSET
Judy added: “PPE is in short supply, and care workers are only going to have the basic paper masks, which do not protect your eyes.”
“I thought that anyone who wants to give themselves more protection, this is a way of doing it.”
- The instructions to create Judy’s face mask can be found below:
- Take a straight sided 2lt plastic water or pop bottle. Remove the label. Cut the top and bottom off with scissors giving you a straight tube about 18cm long.
- Cut up through the tube where the label adhesive is to - give you an oblong approx 18cm by 30cm.
- Do the same with a second bottle to get a second oblong.
- Cut 3 strips about 1.5cm wide from the long side of the first oblong.
- Take 2 of these 30cm strips and join by overlapping end to end and stapling them together to give you a strip about 55cm long.
- Take the third strip and staple one end over the join you have just made to make a T shape.
- Take the second, uncut, oblong and mark the centre point of one long side.
- Staple the other end of the third strip to the centre point of the second oblong.
- Take the ends of the long strip and temporarily fasten with Sellotape to the sides of the visor.
- Put it on and adjust the taped side straps to fit then staple and trim off excess.
- Round off the bottom corners of the visor.
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