As the coronavirus rapidly spreads in South Korea, there has been a surge in mask demands that it overwhelmingly outnumbered the supply. Amidst of price gouging, hoarding, and a plethora of other problems, masks have been a rarity in this nation. The government hurriedly implemented policies to distribute masks fairly and evenly, yet the poor and the vulnerable have nevertheless been hit the hardest by this outbreak.
I was lucky enough to have slightly predicted this, and thus I have enough masks to use at home. However, not only for the poor who cannot afford masks, but also for those who simply have the money but cannot find pharmacies with masks, I decided to make some of these masks at home and give them out to my neighbours in Jeju.
There are, in fact, some who tried making masks with various materials, and I gained help from them a lot. I first started making masks with coffee filters, but they were too stiff and ineffective. I then researched more, and found that there were videos teaching how to make masks with HEPA filters—the actual filters used in commercial masks. But since all of the videos used sewing, I decided to make a video as well, but one that didn’t involve sewing so that people wouldn’t have to ineptly poke their fingers with needles like me!
So, enough of the digressions: this is the mask that I made.
The masks generally were quite comfortable and smooth than I thought. According to Korean news, these are as effective as 98.75 %--similar to the KF 94 masks that are actually being sold.
Below is also the video link, enjoy!
By the time I am writing this post—march 24th—there isn’t an English subtitle. But looking at how the disease is spreading in Italy and some other countries, I will make sure to put English subtitles in there as well. Or please scroll down, and I put down the method as well.
Also, I kinda enjoyed making the masks, and just continued to see how much I could make. Simple labour like this is very addictive, and I worked until 5AM without even noticing. As a result, here I have a hundred masks.
The outcome of hardcore labour
I am thinking of donating the masks to either the elderly in Boesung-ri where I am doing my Penguin Village Project or an orphanage near my home in Jeju.
****How to make homemade masks***
