The New York Instances and Washington Post have now come around to a place I advocated for here on Medium last week: We must always all be wearing masks. Not just health care workers, but ALL of us. At any time when we go out in public.
Why?
Because they work.
Research from the SARS outbreak in 2003 shows that washing arms 10+ times daily was 55% efficient in stopping virus transmission; wearing a masks was truly more efficient, reducing transmission by about 68%.
Combining multiple types of protection — hand washing, masks wearing, gloves, and one other layer of outerwear (gowning) — was ninety one% effective.
Read that once more: 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 stop transmission of the other.
Masks work, first, because they’re a physical barrier to whatever’s driving alongside on that air you’re breathing or moving through. Here’s a chart showing the relative barrier effectiveness for numerous supplies:
Secondly, they work because they maintain you from touching your face all day long. The masks makes you more self-acutely aware of the truth that you’re not supposed to touch your face- specifically, your mouth, nostril, and eyes, and the areas around them- and for those who by accident do, you’ll touch the mask, not your skin directly.
Third, the experience of different countries who mask show that masks work within the real world. In the words of Jeremy Howard, researcher and Masks4All activist, explaining a chart in his latest Youtube video showing how some countries have efficiently “flattened the curve” on new infections: “In the event you look at all the nations which have flat curves, they’re nations where masks-wearing is extraordinarily normal, and NOT wearing a masks in places like public transport would be considered anti-social.” He notes that the Czech Republic went from zero masks 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 federal government didn’t give them out.
When you still must be persuaded, check out this Chinese study of an area outbreak case on January 22 in the course of the peak Lunar New Year travel season. A sick individual on the bus who did not work together with anybody spread the virus to 7 others, a few of whom have 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 precisely where individuals have been sitting on the bus.
So let’s say you’re convinced, and now you’re thinking of some sort of face covering. What are your options?
First, please don’t buy masks commercially, if by some miracle you would discover them now. Commercially made PPE must be reserved for medical personnel at this time. Sadly, the shortage of commercially made PPE, and the dearth of foresight that caused us to be in such a position of scarcity, is probably why we initially got this messaging of “Masks don’t work!” They do, of us just didn’t want you to understand it for a while, to avoid a run on masks. Think of the empty shelves in supermarkets across America where toilet paper used to live, and you understand why.
The easiest thing you are able to do to mask NOW are to make use of materials across the house. Get creative; anything that covers the mouth and nose and stays in place will work.
While it’s best if the masks matches well and there aren’t any gaps between your face and the outside air, don’t hand over in your homemade masks if you happen to can’t achieve that. Any face covering will hold you from touching the skin around your nose and mouth directly, which may change into an important mechanism by which masks block virus transmission. When you inadvertently touch your face while you’re wearing a mask, you’ll just contact the mask, not your skin.
You’ll be able to attempt to shape your face covering utilizing pipe cleaners or opened-up rubber-coated paper clips within the half that goes over your nostril to make a tighter fit — experiment. The most important thing is that you simply wash your palms, put on your face covering, and exit of the house protected.
In case you have just about any inquiries about wherever in addition to the best way to work with n99 face mask, you can contact us on the web site.