LANSING, Mich. — If you plan on going out in public, Governor Gretchen Whitmer says you should wear a mask.
But not the N-95 masks or surgical masks needed for medical professionals.
If you can't buy any, you can make them just as easily. But most importantly, you need to make sure your mask fits your face properly.
"needs to fit snugly against the outside of your face and it needs to be secured with these ear loops," said Ingham County Health Officer Linda Vail.
"For me, this one's a little large, if I just put it around my ears and you can see I've got gaps on the side."
The better it fits, the less likely the mask is to fall or have gaps where water droplets with germs can escape.
Another thing you can do is make sure your homemade mask has a filter.
"What it does is add more filtering closer to maybe what another medical mask might have. Those do have some filter material in there as well."
But it's nowhere close to the filtering levels of N-95 masks, which are reserved for health care workers.
Whether it's top of the line or a homemade one, your mask also needs to stay dry.
"It's clearly going to get somewhat damp from breathing. To some extent, it's going to depend on how long you have it on. As a good practice, it's better to clean it every time you use it."
If you wear one all day, it might be better to make multiple masks and clean each one every night.
Remember, the best way to keep you and others safe from the spread of the coronavirus is to stay home, but if you need to get out it's real easy to make sure you've got your own mask.
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