The New York Times and Washington Post have now come around to a position I advocated for here on Medium last week: We must always all be wearing masks. Not just health care workers, however ALL of us. At any time when we go out in public.
Why?
Because they work.
Analysis from the SARS outbreak in 2003 shows that washing arms 10+ times every day was 55% efficient in stopping virus transmission; wearing a masks was actually more efficient, reducing transmission by about 68%.
Combining multiple forms of protection — hand washing, masks wearing, gloves, and one other layer of outerwear (gowning) — was ninety one% effective.
Read that once more: ninety one% effective at stopping virus transmission.
COVID-19 and SARS are comparable types of viruses (coronaviruses), and it makes sense that what works to stop transmission for one will work to stop transmission of the other.
Masks work, first, because they are a physical barrier to whatever’s using alongside on that air you’re breathing or moving through. Here’s a chart showing the relative barrier effectiveness for varied supplies:
Secondly, they work because they keep you from touching your face all day long. The masks makes you more self-conscious of the fact that you’re not supposed to the touch your face- specifically, your mouth, nostril, and eyes, and the areas round them- and in the event you accidentally do, you’ll contact the mask, not your skin directly.
Third, the experience of different nations who mask show that masks work in the real world. In the words of Jeremy Howard, researcher and Masks4All activist, explaining a chart in his current Youtube video showing how some nations have efficiently “flattened the curve” on new infections: “If you look at all the countries which have flat curves, they are international locations 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 100% in 10 days, and in the process they halted the growth of new covid-19 cases. The Czechs made their own masks- the government didn’t give them out.
In the event you nonetheless should be persuaded, take a look at this Chinese examine of an area outbreak case on January 22 through the peak Lunar New Year journey season. A sick individual on the bus who did not interact with anybody spread the virus to 7 others, some of whom had been seated a lot more than 6 ft away. Two new passengers caught the virus 30 minutes after the unique sick individual had left the bus. NONE OF THE PEOPLE WEARING MASKS WERE INFECTED. Read the article, it’s very detailed, with a schematic of precisely where people were sitting on the bus.
So let’s say you’re convinced, and now you’re thinking of some kind of face covering. What are your options?
First, please don’t buy masks commercially, if by some miracle you could find them now. Commercially made PPE should be reserved for medical personnel at this time. Unfortunately, the shortage of commercially made PPE, and the lack of foresight that caused us to be in such a place of shortage, is probably why we initially obtained 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 cabinets in supermarkets across America the place rest room paper used to live, and you perceive why.
The easiest thing you can do to masks NOW are to make use of supplies around the house. Get creative; anything that covers the mouth and nose and stays in place will work.
While it’s greatest if the mask fits well and there aren’t any gaps between your face and the outside air, don’t quit in your homemade masks if you can’t achieve that. Any face covering will hold you from touching the skin around your nose and mouth directly, which may become a very powerful mechanism by which masks block virus transmission. If you happen to inadvertently touch your face while you’re wearing a masks, you’ll just touch the masks, not your skin.
You can try to shape your face covering using pipe cleaners or opened-up rubber-coated paper clips within the half that goes over your nostril to make a tighter match — experiment. An important thing is that you wash your palms, put on your face covering, and exit of the house protected.
For more information in regards to n99 face mask look into our web-page.