How to make a coronavirus facemask from an old t-shirt
5 June 2020, 07:43 | Updated: 7 June 2023, 08:56
It will be mandatory to wear face masks on public transport from 15th June. But with masks difficult to find, here's how you can make your own.
New rules mean that face coverings will have to be worn on all trains, tubes, buses and trams in England from 15th June.
Doctors have urged the government to make face coverings compulsory in all places where social distancing is not possible. The British Medical Association says they shouldn't be restricted to transport and should be brought in immediately
As demand for them rockets, here's how you can make your own facemasks:
Method 1: Just a t-shirt
How to make your own facemask, by Rachel Venables
Cut 20cm off the bottom of the t-shirt and discard the top.
Next, cut a 15cm hole in the side, 2cm from both the top and the bottom.
That will leave you with two straps - cut them in half. You can now use those to tie the facemask around the back of your head.
Method 2: With elastic bands
How to make your own face mask
What you need to make your own facemask:
- an old t-shirt, towel, scarf or something of a similar material
- two elastic bands
Cut your material into a square, around 30x30cm, although you can change that based on the size you require.
Fold up from the bottom to the middle and then from the top to the middle.
Repeat that - so fold again from the bottom to the middle and then the top to the middle. You will have a long strip of material.
Put your elastic bands around the strip of material on either end.
Then fold the material over the top of the elastic band.
Pick up the elastic bands and you can then hook them around to ears to create a cloth facemask.
Will everyone in the UK have to wear facemasks?
The scientific advice on masks has been mixed. At first, we were told that they didn't help and often led to people touching their face more often.
However, the advice is consistent on the fact that facemasks will stop you infecting other people if you do have coronavirus.
The government have recommended the use of facemasks on public transport, in shops and other places where social distancing guidelines are difficult to follow.
Nigel Farage backs WHO idea for public to start wearing face masks
Nigel Farage thinks we should all be wearing facemasks. He told his LBC show: "The wearing of masks would stop the spread.
"If the wearing of masks means that we can start to open up then I think it would be a price worth paying."
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