The CDC recommendation is to wear a face covering in public places, and in some places, local governments have even made this recommendation a requirement.

If you’re not sure why you need to wear a face mask, and if you don’t believe that a face mask is effective, there are plenty of videos that clearly demonstrate what happens when you wear a face mask (verses not wearing one) and why it’s important. We particularly like this one with Bill Nye.

Now that we’re all on the same page about the importance of wearing face masks, let’s talk about how to make them as effective as possible. An N95 face mask is obviously very effective, but they’re not always easy to find. Some homemade face masks can be very effective as well, but how effective depends on how well the mask fits.

Even store bought surgical face masks aren’t always as effective as we’d like. Why? For many people, they leave a gap on each side of the face which lets air easily pass in and out of the mask. Not good.

Thankfully, there’s an easy solution. As dentist Olivia Cuid, M.D. demonstrates in a TikTok video, it takes less than a minute to turn an ordinary surgical face mask into a very well fitting face mask. Watch her very helpful hack in the video below.

@oliviacuidmd

Highly requested 60s version of my viral mask hack ##fyp ##doctorsoftiktok ##masktutorial ##covid19 ##viral ##maskhack ##learnontiktok

♬ original sound – Dr. Olivia

Viewers are going crazy about this almost too good to be true hack. One comment reads, “What a clever idea. Thank you so much. I’m in the med field and am very uncomfy going grocery shopping with disposable masks. Brilliant.”

Another viewer wrote, “Thank you very much for this tip – just tried it and its SO much better! 😃😃”

Even celebrities are loving Cuid’s hack. Katie Couric shared the video on Instagram saying, “Thank you @tt_cui for sharing this easy tutorial for how to make a loose mask fit securely on your face!” Kristen Bell reposted the video on Instagram as well.

Besides being super smart (she came up with this amazing hack, after all), Cuid also has a great sense of humor. For example, check out this video she posted. In the comments, she wrote, “How our office celebrate the weekend after a whole week of sweating in our PPEs 🤣”

@oliviacuidmdIt took a lot of convincing before they agreed to do this 😂😂 ##dentist ##blindinglights ##dentalhygienist ##dentalassistant ##funny ##healthheroes

♬ Blinding Lights – The Weeknd

Are you going to try out Cuid’s face mask hack?