The New York Times and Washington Post have now come around to a place I advocated for here on Medium last week: We should always all be wearing masks. Not just health care workers, however ALL of us. Whenever we go out in public.
Why?
Because they work.
Analysis from the SARS outbreak in 2003 shows that washing arms 10+ times daily was 55% efficient in stopping virus transmission; wearing a masks was actually more efficient, reducing transmission by about 68%.
Combining a number of forms of protection — hand washing, mask wearing, gloves, and another layer of outerwear (gowning) — was 91% effective.
Read that again: 91% efficient at stopping virus transmission.
COVID-19 and SARS are similar types of viruses (coronaviruses), and it makes sense 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 alongside on that air you’re breathing or moving through. Right here’s a chart showing the relative barrier effectiveness for numerous materials:
Secondly, they work because they maintain you from touching your face all day long. The masks makes you more self-aware of the fact that you’re not supposed to touch your face- specifically, your mouth, nose, and eyes, and the areas around them- and in the event you unintentionally do, you’ll contact the mask, not your skin directly.
Third, the expertise of different countries who masks show that masks work within the real world. In the words of Jeremy Howard, researcher and Masks4All activist, explaining a chart in his recent Youtube video showing how some countries have efficiently “flattened the curve” on new infections: “When you take a look at all the international locations which have flat curves, they’re 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 within the process they halted the expansion of new covid-19 cases. The Czechs made their own masks- the government didn’t give them out.
Should you nonetheless have to be persuaded, take a look at this Chinese study of a neighborhood outbreak case on January 22 throughout the peak Lunar New Year travel season. A sick person on the bus who did not work together with anyone spread the virus to 7 others, some of whom had been seated much more than 6 ft away. Two new passengers caught the virus 30 minutes 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 precisely where folks were sitting on the bus.
So let’s say you’re satisfied, 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 can find them now. Commercially made PPE should be reserved for medical personnel at this time. Sadly, the scarcity of commercially made PPE, and the dearth of foresight that caused us to be in such a place of shortage, is probably why we initially bought this messaging of “Masks don’t work!” They do, folks just didn’t need you to comprehend it for a while, to keep away from a run on masks. Think of the empty shelves in supermarkets throughout America where toilet paper used to live, and also you perceive why.
The best thing you are able to do to mask NOW are to use materials around the house. Get creative; anything that covers the mouth and nose and stays in place will work.
While it’s best if the mask suits well and there aren’t any gaps between your face and the outside air, don’t give up in your homemade masks in case you can’t achieve that. Any face covering will maintain you from touching the skin round your nostril and mouth directly, which could become an important mechanism by which masks block virus transmission. In the event you inadvertently touch your face while you’re wearing a mask, you’ll just touch the mask, not your skin.
You possibly can try to shape 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 fit — experiment. Crucial thing is that you wash your hands, put in your face covering, and exit of the house protected.
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