Overview
By providing homemade facemasks in accordance with CDC guidelines, our goal is to lessen the immediate demand for N95 respirators in the healthcare setting, reserving them for the most critical care needs. These facemasks have not been evaluated by the FDA.
In response to the respirators shortage crisis due to COVID-19, the CDC has indicated that "it may be necessary for HCP to use masks that have never been evaluated or approved by NIOSH (including homemade masks). It may be considered to use these masks for care of patients with COVID-19, tuberculosis, measles, and varicella. However, caution should be exercised when considering this option." Created for Crisis does not recommend the use of these homemade facemasks when surgical masks or N95 respirators are available.A homemade facemask should only be used in non-surgical settings when the HCP will be more than 3 feet from a symptomatic patient OR within 3 feet of symptomatic patient wearing a surgical facemask. HCPs should not use these homemade facemasks when there is:
Significant exposure to liquid, bodily, or other hazardous fluids
A high level of infection risk through inhalation exposure
A high-intensity heat sources or flammable gases
Warnings:
These homemade facemasks are not surgical masks or Filtering Facepiece Respirators (FFRs).
Facemasks made according to the patterns and instructions on this website have not been tested for fluid resistance, particulate or bacteria filtration efficiency, differential pressure, or flammability.
Recommendations: We recommend monitoring the CDC website below for the latest updates regarding the respirator shortage: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/hcp/respirators-strategy/crisis-alternate-strategies.html.
Please contact us at info@CreatedforCrisis.org with any questions or concerns.