According to the Associated Press, as of March 20, 2020, worldwide, more than 248,000 people have been sickened by Covid-19 or the coronavirus, and 10,000 have died.
 

However, a large percentage of those infected have already recovered, and many of those infected may or may not show symptoms but will not require hospitalization.

After all, like the common flu, it is a virus. And like the common flu, the majority will build antibodies and get over it.

Two important ways to protect and prepare yourself during the spread of Covid-19 is regular and thorough handwashing/sanitizing, as well as wearing an antiviral protective mask while in crowded public spaces.

For Dhakaites, “crowded public spaces” means pretty much as soon as you step out your front door.

With the global face mask shortage, here is a simple, do-it-yourself way to make two, single-use face masks for you and your family members. The method was developed by the University of Hong Kong-Shenzhen Hospital.

According to the Shenzhen Hospital, the method, in the absence of a mask, does achieve 90 percent of the filtering effectiveness of surgical masks.

Let’s see how making your own face mask can be carried out.

Materials needed

•    2 sheets of paper towels

•    1 sheet of Kleenex (tissue paper)

•    4 feet of elastic string

•    Masking tape

•    2 Plastic-coated wires

•    A hole puncher

•    Scissors

Directions

Double up the two paper towels (place one over the other).

Place the tissue paper on top of the paper towels to form 3 layers, and then cut in half to form two long rectangles

Tape shut the short ends of the two rectangle portions by wrapping tape from front to back.

Punch two holes on both ends of the taped sides

Tape the plastic-coated wire to the paper towel side, at the bottom quarter center of the rectangle. (This part will be used to adjust the mask over the nose)

Cut the elastic string into 8 even parts (6 inches each)

Tie the strings through the four holes holes, adjusting the knots to fit around ear

Mask is worn across face secured with top and bottom elastic bands (two each) onto ear.

As always, stay tuned here on the blog for more health updates and tips and tricks.