The New York Times and Washington Post have now come around to a position I advocated for here on Medium last week: We should all be wearing masks. Not just health care workers, however ALL of us. Every time we go out in public.
Why?
Because they work.
Analysis from the SARS outbreak in 2003 shows that washing palms 10+ occasions day by day was fifty five% efficient in stopping virus transmission; wearing a mask was really more effective, reducing transmission by about 68%.
Combining multiple types of protection — hand washing, mask wearing, gloves, and one other layer of outerwear (gowning) — was 91% effective.
Read that again: ninety one% effective at stopping virus transmission.
COVID-19 and SARS are similar types of viruses (coronaviruses), and it is sensible that what works to cease transmission for one will work to cease transmission of the other.
Masks work, first, because they’re a physical barrier to whatever’s using along on that air you’re breathing or moving through. Here’s a chart showing the relative barrier effectiveness for varied materials:
Secondly, they work because they keep you from touching your face all day long. The masks makes you more self-conscious of the truth that you’re not supposed to the touch your face- specifically, your mouth, nose, and eyes, and the areas around them- and in the event you unintentionally do, you’ll touch the masks, not your skin directly.
Third, the experience of other countries who masks show that masks work in the real world. Within the words of Jeremy Howard, researcher and Masks4All activist, explaining a chart in his recent Youtube video showing how some nations have successfully “flattened the curve” on new infections: “In case you look at all the international locations which have flat curves, they’re countries the place mask-wearing is extraordinarily normal, and NOT wearing a mask in places like public transport would be considered anti-social.” He notes that the Czech Republic went from zero mask utilization to one hundred% in 10 days, and in the process they halted the growth of new covid-19 cases. The Czechs made their own masks- the federal government didn’t give them out.
When you still need to be persuaded, take a look at this Chinese examine of an area outbreak case on January 22 in the course of the peak Lunar New Year travel season. A sick particular person on the bus who didn’t interact with anyone spread the virus to 7 others, a few of whom had been seated much more than 6 ft away. Two new passengers caught the virus half-hour after the unique sick particular person had left the bus. NONE OF THE PEOPLE WEARING MASKS WERE INFECTED. Read the article, it’s very detailed, with a schematic of exactly the place people were sitting on the bus.
So let’s say you’re satisfied, and now you’re thinking of some type of face covering. What are your options?
First, please don’t purchase masks commercially, if by some miracle you would find them now. Commercially made PPE must be reserved for medical personnel at this time. Sadly, the shortage of commercially made PPE, and the shortage of foresight that caused us to be in such a position of shortage, is probably why we initially got this messaging of “Masks don’t work!” They do, folks just didn’t need you to know it for a while, to avoid a run on masks. Think of the empty shelves in supermarkets throughout America the place rest room paper used to live, and also you understand why.
The best thing you can do to masks NOW are to make use of supplies across the house. Get artistic; anything that covers the mouth and nostril and stays in place will work.
While it’s finest if the masks suits well and there aren’t any gaps between your face and the outside air, don’t hand over on your homemade masks if you can’t achieve that. Any face covering will hold you from touching the skin around your nostril and mouth directly, which may turn into the most important mechanism by which masks block virus transmission. When you inadvertently contact your face while you’re wearing a masks, you’ll just contact the masks, not your skin.
You possibly can try to form your face covering using pipe cleaners or opened-up rubber-coated paper clips in the part that goes over your nostril to make a tighter match — experiment. A very powerful thing is that you simply wash your hands, put on your face covering, and go out of the house protected.
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