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Surely you have been tempted to follow some of the tutorials that exist on the internet and show, step by step, how to make homemade masks . Forget it, the fifth time in a row that you go down for bread you will be just as suspicious as if you had one of those homemade gadgets stuck to your face.

When can homemade masks be used?

"This does not protect against the coronavirus," warns CSIC researcher Beatriz Novoa García in a tutorial, which shows in this YouTube video the manufacture of a mask with kitchen paper. "It does not protect against the coronavirus, but it is a way of leaving the masks free for health personnel who need them."

Guadalupe Fontán , member of the general nursing council, warns that the use of homemade masks is only justified in the case of "extreme shortages" . The "normal" population does not need masks and the use of the homemade ones is not "in any case recommended" .

The Ministry of Health indicates that "the healthy general population does not need to use masks." It will be "health professionals" who indicate the use "of masks in situations that are necessary".

Are homemade masks good for anything?

"The coronavirus is only 129 nanometers in diameter. It is going to strain," due to the cracks left by a homemade mask, clarifies the CSIC researcher. "It is to feel a little more protected." That is, they only have a placebo effect.

In industrial masks there are various degrees of filtering. FFP1 (78% effective, protects non-toxic residues and odors), FFP2 (92% effective, protects from non-toxic substances and fibrogenic elements) and FFP3 (98% effective filtration, capable of protecting toxic, poisonous, aerosol substances , smoke, fungal spores ...).

The Ministry of Health recommends that doctors use the FFP2 and FFP3 masks in their coronavirus protocols.

Guadalupe Fontán insists that our culture is not the same as that of Asian countries. "There are countries that have the use of masks incorporated into their daily lives. The population does not need to go out with a mask" in Spain because, directly, they cannot go out into the street during quarantine.

How are the masks used?

In case you don't follow the advice of experts and want to kill quarantine time by making your own face masks, remember to "not touch it" when you wear it, as recommended by the World Health Organization.

"Before putting on a mask, wash your hands with an alcohol-based disinfectant or soap and water," says the WHO.

"Change your mask as soon as it is wet and do not reuse single-use ones," advises the WHO. Keep in mind that the mask that comes out of your kitchen laboratory will be of a lower quality than the single-use mask used by doctors or patients. "Dispose of it in a closed container immediately" when you have stopped using it.

How are homemade masks made?

A quick search on YouTube offers quite a few examples of how homemade face masks are made. They can be made with cloth, kitchen paper or using coffee filters.

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