Surgeon General tells Americans how to make their own 'cloth face covering' by using an old T-shirt and rubber bands amid face mask shortage

The Surgeon General has instructed Americans on how to make their own 'cloth face covering' by using an old T-shirt and rubber bands, as the country is in the midst of a face mask shortage. 

Dr. Jerome Adams says in 'a few easy steps' people can make their own personal protective equipment with items from around their homes, he explains in a CDC video released on Friday night.

Besides bandannas, scarves or towels, Dr. Adams said a T-shirt is a suitable option to help stay safe during the coronavirus crisis, as he demonstrated how to make the makeshift mask using a 'got naloxone' shirt, the drug used to revive opioid overdoses. 

The DIY video comes after the CDC recommended that Americans wear non-medical cloth masks, as there is a shortage of face masks needed to protect doctors, nurses, first responders and others on the front lines after Americans rushed to scoop up personal protective equipment. 

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Surgeon General Jerome Adams has instructed Americans on how to make their own 'cloth face covering' by using an old T-shirt and rubber bands. Dr Jerome Adams says in 'a few easy steps' people can make their own personal protective equipment with items from around their homes, he explains in a CDC video released on Friday night

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He demonstrated how to make the makeshift mask using a 'Got naloxone' shirt, the drug used to revive opioid overdoses

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Besides bandannas, scarves or towels, Dr Adams said a T-shirt is another suitable option to keep safe during the coronavirus crisis

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The video comes after the CDC recommended that Americans wear non-medical cloth masks, as there is a shortage of face masks needed to protect doctors, nurses, first responders and others on the front lines after Americans rushed to scoop up personal protective equipment 

President Trump said he probably wouldn't be following the guidelines at his Friday press briefing.

Trump stressed it wasn't a mandate, saying: 'So it's voluntary, you don't have to be doing it. This is voluntary, I don't think I'm going to be doing it.' 

Minutes later, first lady Melania Trump tweeted that Americans should take mask-wearing seriously.

'As the weekend approaches I ask that everyone take social distancing & wearing a mask/face covering seriously,' she tweeted from her FLOTUS account. '#COVID19 is a virus that can spread to anyone - we can stop this together.'  

But the president suggested it might make him look foolish as he communicated with world leaders.  

'I'm feeling good,' Trump said when asked why he wouldn't sport face-wear. 

'Somehow sitting in the Oval Office, sitting behind that beautiful Resolute Desk, the great Resolute Desk, I think wearing a face mask as I greet presidents, prime ministers, dictators, kings, queens, I don't know, I just don't see it for myself,' Trump said. 

For days, top experts, including members of Trump's coronavirus taskforce said they were debating whether or not to put out a mask recommendation. 

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President Trump said he probably wouldn't be following the guidelines at his Friday press briefing. Trump stressed it wasn't a mandate, saying: 'So it's voluntary, you don't have to be doing it. This is voluntary, I don't think I'm going to be doing it'  

Minutes later, first lady Melania Trump tweeted that Americans should take mask-wearing seriously 

Dr. Adams also spoke at the briefing, adding: 'Remember this is all about me protecting you and you protecting me.

'And if people voluntarily choose to wear a face covering they're wearing it to protect their neighbors from getting coronavirus because they could have asymptomatic spread.'  

For days, Trump suggested that Americans could simply wear scarves to get by. 

But on Friday he said the CDC was putting out the new recommendation for masks. 

'From recent studies we know that transmissions from individuals without symptoms is playing a more significant role in the spread of the virus than previously understood, so you don't seem to have symptoms and it still gets transferred,' the president explained. 

'In light of these studies the CDC is advising the sue of non-medical cloth face covering as an additional voluntary public health measure,' he said. 

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The president urged Americans not to wear medical-grade masks and instead could make masks from fabric at home 

The president suggested cloth or fabric masks that could be ordered online or made at home. 

They should also be able to be washed. 

'I want to emphasize that the CDC is not recommending the use of medical grade or surgical grade masks and we want that to be used for our great medical people that are working so hard and doing some job,' the president said. 

Trump also said that mask-wearing did not replace the social distancing guidelines the government already put out, including standing six feet apart and 'practicing hand hygiene' as the president put it. 

'Again, we're all going to come back together here,' he assured the American people.  

But then reiterated he wouldn't be caught wearing a mask. 

'I'm choosing not to do it,' the president said.