Custom cloth facemasks with full-color sublimation printing on fabric materials, provide protection during daily activities outdoor as well as becoming fashion items.
Oxford fabric (Cotton Blend: Cotton & Polyester), producing a cloth face mask with a relatively dense fabric fiber that protects the user from dust and bacterial/viral particles with anti-wrinkle properties (typical of polyester material) yet also soft-textured and comfortable to wear (typical of cotton material)
DIY Masker is KMB Group's brand for Cloth Face Mask Products.
KMB Group (PT Kreasi Multi Bisnis) are clothing / souvenirs manufacturer and merchant based in Jakarta, Indonesia, with more than 7-years of experience engaged in the apparel manufacture such as office uniforms, safety clothing (protective clothing or wear pack), khaki shirts, field shirts, jackets, alma mater suits, and others.
Scientists from the University of Cambridge asked this exact question in the aftermath of the 2009 H1N1 flu pandemic. They thought that in a global pandemic scenario, we might run out of N95 masks. Their predictions have come true during the coronavirus outbreak.
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The researchers asked volunteers to make their own masks using cotton t-shirts and a sewing machine, using a simple protocol they’d devised. Then the researchers shot tiny 1-micron size bacteria (called “Bacillus atrophaeus”) at the masks and measured what percentage the homemade masks could capture. These particles are roughly the size of the particles behind the plague and anthrax.
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The DIY masks (cloth masks) captured fewer particles than the surgical mask, but they still managed to capture 69% of 1-micron particles.
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But is that the smallest particle homemade masks can capture? The researchers stepped it up a notch by shooting 0.02-micron “Bacteriophage MS2” particles at the masks. These are even smaller than coronavirus particles.
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Again, the surgical mask captured more particles, but the homemade cloth mask captured 51% of these nanoparticles.
This study examined homemade masks as an alternative to commercial face masks. Several household materials were evaluated for the capacity to block bacterial and viral aerosols. Twenty-one healthy volunteers made their own face masks from cotton t-shirts; the masks were then tested for fit. The number of microorganisms isolated from coughs of healthy volunteers wearing their homemade mask, a surgical mask, or no mask was compared using several air-sampling techniques. The median-fit factor of the homemade masks was one-half that of the surgical masks. Both masks significantly reduced the number of microorganisms expelled by volunteers, although the surgical mask was 3 times more effective in blocking transmission than the homemade mask. Our findings suggest that a homemade mask should only be considered as a last resort to prevent droplet transmission from infected individuals, but it would be better than no protection. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2013;0:1-6)
It is critical to emphasize that maintaining 6-feet social distancing remains important to slowing the spread of the virus. CDC is additionally advising 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.
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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.