The New York Times and Washington Post have now come round to a position I advocated for here on Medium last week: We should always all be wearing masks. Not just health care workers, however ALL of us. Every time we go out in public.
Why?
Because they work.
Research from the SARS outbreak in 2003 shows that washing hands 10+ times day by day was 55% effective in stopping virus transmission; wearing a masks was truly more effective, reducing transmission by about 68%.
Combining multiple types of protection — hand washing, masks wearing, gloves, and one other layer of outerwear (gowning) — was 91% effective.
Read that once more: 91% efficient at stopping virus transmission.
COVID-19 and SARS are comparable 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 are a physical barrier to no matter’s driving alongside 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 preserve 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 round them- and when you accidentally do, you’ll contact 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 current Youtube video showing how some nations have successfully “flattened the curve” on new infections: “If you have a look at all of the international locations which have flat curves, they are countries where mask-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 mask usage to a hundred% 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.
When you nonetheless must be persuaded, take a look at this Chinese study of a local outbreak case on January 22 through the peak Lunar New Year travel season. A sick individual on the bus who did not work together with anyone spread the virus to 7 others, some of whom have been seated a lot more than 6 ft away. Two new passengers caught the virus 30 minutes after the unique sick 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 the place people have been 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 would discover them now. Commercially made PPE should 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 scarcity, is probably why we initially bought this messaging of “Masks don’t work!” They do, of us just didn’t want you to comprehend it for a while, to keep away from a run on masks. Think of the empty cabinets in supermarkets throughout America where toilet paper used to live, and you understand why.
The best thing you can do to mask NOW are to use supplies across the house. Get creative; anything that covers the mouth and nose and stays in place will work.
While it’s greatest if the mask suits well and there are no gaps between your face and the outside air, don’t give up on your homemade mask if you happen to can’t achieve that. Any face covering will preserve you from touching the skin round your nose and mouth directly, which may develop into an important mechanism by which masks block virus transmission. Should you inadvertently touch your face while you’re wearing a masks, you’ll just touch the masks, not your skin.
You possibly can attempt to shape your face covering utilizing pipe cleaners or opened-up rubber-coated paper clips in the half that goes over your nostril to make a tighter fit — experiment. The most important thing is that you just wash your fingers, put in your face covering, and go out of the house protected.
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