Annie, I noticed that lack of knowledge about fabric weaves, also. Batik is not a type of fabric. As most of us know, it is a dying technique. And, batiste, is much too thin to use for this. Given the rest of the ignorance about fabrics, weaves, and fibers that is probably not a misquote. It is also not true that the spaces between fibers are larger in a knit than in a woven. It depends on what fabric is being talked about. Some of these new knits do actually have some pretty large spaces between the fibers. Most of those are synthetic knits and if you wear a pair of pants made out of that fabric, you will feel the wind blow through. All knit is not the same, though. If you have a nice cotton interlock knit, you will not see any light between the fibers, unless, of course your fabric came from an old worn out garment. A cotton interlock knit will also have a bit of fuzziness to the yarns that it is knit from, thus, creating little bits of fuzz that may catch that droplet of contaminated moisture. A synthetic fiber is more like a string of plastic that is smooth and has a slick surface that won't catch or hold anything. A fabric that is really tightly woven is what is called "sheeting". I have seen sheeting fabric on bolts that is dyed in the batik method. It was popular back some years ago. Sheeting cotton is so hard and tight that the sewing machine needle needs to be really sharp to pierce it and sometimes multiple layers of it can be really hard to sew. You may need a thimble to even get a hand needle through it. It is possible that this experiment used a piece of batik dyed cotton and that cotton fabric happened be a sheeting fabric. I never understood why it is said that this is a good fabric to use as quilt backing. It may be sturdy , but it is so hard to get a hand needle through. A cotton muslin would be a better choice for running quilting stitches through. I am not sure how sheeting differs from a percale. A tight percale might be a good substitute. It might even be classified as a percale. I don't know. But, I do know that it is some tight and tough stuff without being bulky. I have some in my mask making arsenal and have been sewing on it and through it the last few days. The sewing machine needle will let you know when you hit a piece of sheeting fabric. I think that this researcher, or this person who wrote about it, did not know anything substantial about fabric, weaves, knits or fibers. This is very unhelpful information. Also, there is not really anything that is designated as heavyweight quilters cotton. Most cotton that is sold for piecing at places like Joanns is pretty poor cheap cotton, with a few minor exceptions. Good quality cotton that is sold in speciality stores is not better quality because it is "heavier". It is good quality because it is made of longer staple cotton fibers that make the fabric nicer. Being "heavy" is not a quality that you want when piecing.

Arapaho, I stopped bringing a purse to the grocery store for 2 reasons. One, it took up precious room in my cart, which I now fill. Two, I did not want to contaminate any more items than needed. I only bring in my phone, for Apple pay, a printed list, small wipes and sanitizer. First I carried them in a tote bag, but the clerks mistook my "purse" for a grocery bag and each time would start explaining that we have to use plastic. So then I looked around, and I always keep nice shopping bags for things i might have to carry, and I found this, below. This is my new "purse." I had to laugh to myself that I still carry a "designer purse." PS, FWIW, the FDA seems to think we should not worry about virus on surfaces.

Thaks, Judi, yes sarcasm. If masks weren’t effective, medical folks wouldn’t wear them. I never see cloth masks anymore. All appear to be k95.. I just saw in our local paper that covid cases doubled here the last week in July. Which is a bit odd beccause the weather was idyllic and nearly every event and gathering has been outside.The local health department is again recommending masks.

I saw this on the news today: CDC warns: Don't argue with anti-maskers (hover your icon over the link to see the url--if that doesn't work--https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/dont-argue-with-anti-maskers-cdc-warns-stores/ar-BB18mCM8?li=BBnb7Kz) There are people who will stop to help someone in trouble--a car accident, someone being attacked, someone who has fallen. Then there are people who will drive on by, ignore cries for help, never put themselves out for another human being. I tend to think of anti-maskers in the latter category.