I wanted to let everyone know that I reached out to a local (Hickory) company over the weekend to inquire about their making some reusable App State cloth facemasks and received a quick reply and production. I received an email a little bit ago that mine are ready for pickup and I let them know that I'd share their information via our board, in case any fellow Mountaineers are looking for any logo masks. The company is Custom Design Group and they are located in the Viewmont area of Hickory, near Lenoir-Rhyne and Hickory High School. I'm fairly certain that they'd also be happy to mail masks for those not located in the Catawba Valley. Their direct pages are as follows:

https://www.cdgbrands.com/
https://www.facebook.com/CustomDesignGroup

The main point of contact is Rich Stober. His email address is: rstober@cdgbrands.com

These guys do good (and fast) work...they produce a lot of items for LR and the local high schools. If anyone is looking for a local company to give some business during these trying times, while getting a few masks for your or your family then give these guys a shout.

I’m all for people trying to help and it would be my guess that this fabric isn’t going to hurt anybody, but I highly question the particle filtration and the size of the particles filtrated by some off the shelf fabric. It’s important to note Some fabrics work better than others.

It’s good to remember that this style of make is best at preventing “you” from coughing or sneezing droplets into the air and onto surfaces, but would do little to prevent you from inhaling the smaller partials yourself. It has been seen in studies that people are able to spread airborne particles to others over varying distances. these masks would certainly help prevent you from producing these airborne particles but would most likely do very little to prevent you from inhaling a particle that’s smaller than a cell. This is why social distancing has played a role in the flattening of the curve.

On another note.

Also remember that gloves are meant to protect your hands from becoming contaminated when interacting with a contaminated surface and should be removed after coming in Contact with the said surface. When I was in EMS, I would routinely go through multiple sets of gloves on a scene.

Touch patient, remove gloves, go in to pockets or bag, put on new gloves, touch patient.

You are better off not wasting the nitrile if your going to wear a glove all day or for an extended time. That’s not what they are for and disease has not been shown to spread through skin to skin contact. One of the major ways it seems to spread is through contact to a mucous membranes, eyes nose mouth, from a contaminated surface(yo dirty hands). Washing your hands(with soap, not a sanitizer) regularly has been shown to significantly reduce the chance of infection. The mechanical action of washing is a key component in clean hands.

While I applaud people trying to help and keep themselves safe, I have seen some stupid a** sh** of the past month. People wearing gloves all day, the strangest assortment of masks on people and overall general fear and paranoia of any space outside their home. Make smart choices, responsibly social distance, go outdoors and say hey to the neighbor from a good distance. Remember that these masks/ any mask won’t hurt, but they may provide a false sense of security from the main culprits(dirty surfaces). Overall, this may prevent you from spreading the virus but it will most likely do very little to prevent you from becoming infected because of the piss poor filtration.

Source of my opinions: 8 years of EMS and rescue

Source of the questioning partial filtration. https://futurism.com/neoscope/diy-face- ... oronavirus

Source of transmission methods: https://www.who.int/news-room/q-a-detai ... onaviruses

Disclaimer; Use multiple fact based and non opinion based sources to gain information. I posted these links because they were the most concise I could find late at night and I trust futurism.

I emailed Rich asking about cost and quality of the masks. He promptly responded and here's his reply:

Ed
The masks are double layered high quality cotton masks. They are $10.00 a mask and right now with our production schedule they are prob 4 to 5 business days on the turn around time. If you want just email your address and the sizes you want. We can get that order started for you.

Thank You and let us know if we can do anything else for you.

Parker

Capt. Ed wrote: ↑

Wed Apr 08, 2020 10:45 am

I emailed Rich asking about cost and quality of the masks. He promptly responded and here's his reply:

Ed
The masks are double layered high quality cotton masks. They are $10.00 a mask and right now with our production schedule they are prob 4 to 5 business days on the turn around time. If you want just email your address and the sizes you want. We can get that order started for you.

Thank You and let us know if we can do anything else for you.

Parker

I still stand by my previous statement. Cotton cloth, no matter the quality, will to little to filtrate micro particles from the air. Won’t hurt you, but I personally wouldn’t bet my health on it.

BTK2000 wrote: ↑

Wed Apr 08, 2020 11:08 am

Capt. Ed wrote: ↑

Wed Apr 08, 2020 10:45 am

I emailed Rich asking about cost and quality of the masks. He promptly responded and here's his reply:

Ed
The masks are double layered high quality cotton masks. They are $10.00 a mask and right now with our production schedule they are prob 4 to 5 business days on the turn around time. If you want just email your address and the sizes you want. We can get that order started for you.

Thank You and let us know if we can do anything else for you.

Parker

I still stand by my previous statement. Cotton cloth, no matter the quality, will to little to filtrate micro particles from the air. Won’t hurt you, but I personally wouldn’t bet my health on it.

I think we all understand these are not N95 masks. However, masks like these with multiple layers of cloth do have their benefits: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-nc ... rings.html

I'll happily buy N95 masks when they become available to the public. In the meantime, I hope we all wear this or something like it when in public.

These will also come in handy for those traveling to the October 14th game

So it filters the particles when you cough them out but doesn't filter them coming in. I've seen these statements numerous times too and certainly appreciate anyone trying to help. But I bet the filtration is close to equal both ways.

Everyone wearing a mask might be a way to have a football season. If it is, these would be a nice one to have.

What BTk is saying is correct. The primary reason for wearing any non n-95 mask is that approximately 25% of people who have covaid19 are asymptotic...... showing no signs.... it is really important for these people, who again don’t know that they have it to wear a mask...they are “spreaders.” It will keep us safe.

Got 3, they are great

I’m going to order some to wear over my medical grade mask.

Someone design a yellow corn cob pipe on a black mask. Or a Yosef beard bandana.

It's easy to double-down on the N95 mask's supremacy for those who have access to them on a daily basis. For those who do not have that access and still must venture out into the wide-wide world, wearing a cloth mask is better than wearing no mask at all. We can argue over the degree of the protection, I suppose, but even 5% protection is better than no protection whatsoever.

App91 wrote: ↑

Thu Apr 16, 2020 6:22 pm

Got 3, they are great

What sizes did you order? I assume this product isn't a one size fits all deal.

XL for me, medium for wife and daughter.

Ordered masks for my wife, grandson and me.

I imagine college versions are not far behind. https://www.fanatics.com/?query=Face%20coverings

I ordered 2 of the App ones yesterday since they've now been mandated at work.