The New York Times and Washington Post have now come around to a position I advocated for right here on Medium last week: We should always all be wearing masks. Not just health care workers, but ALL of us. Each time we exit in public.
Why?
Because they work.
Research from the SARS outbreak in 2003 shows that washing fingers 10+ instances day by day was 55% efficient in stopping virus transmission; wearing a mask was truly more effective, reducing transmission by about sixty eight%.
Combining a number of types of protection — hand washing, masks wearing, gloves, and another layer of outerwear (gowning) — was ninety one% effective.
Read that once more: ninety one% efficient at stopping virus transmission.
COVID-19 and SARS are similar types of viruses (coronaviruses), and it makes sense that what works to stop transmission for one will work to cease transmission of the other.
Masks work, first, because they are a physical barrier to no matter’s riding alongside on that air you’re breathing or moving through. Right here’s a chart showing the relative barrier effectiveness for numerous supplies:
Secondly, they work because they preserve you from touching your face all day long. The mask 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 for those who unintentionally do, you’ll contact the mask, not your skin directly.
Third, the experience of different countries who masks show that masks work within the real world. Within the words of Jeremy Howard, researcher and Masks4All activist, explaining a chart in his current Youtube video showing how some countries have efficiently “flattened the curve” on new infections: “When you look at all the nations which have flat curves, they are international locations the place masks-wearing is extremely 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 utilization to one hundred% in 10 days, and within 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.
If you nonetheless must be persuaded, take a look at this Chinese examine of a neighborhood outbreak case on January 22 during the peak Lunar New Year journey season. A sick person on the bus who didn’t interact with anyone spread the virus to 7 others, a few of whom were seated much 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 folks were sitting on the bus.
So let’s say you’re satisfied, and now you’re thinking of some form of face covering. What are your options?
First, please don’t purchase masks commercially, if by some miracle you possibly 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 shortage of foresight that caused us to be in such a position of scarcity, is probably why we initially received this messaging of “Masks don’t work!” They do, people just didn’t want you to realize it for a while, to avoid a run on masks. Think of the empty cabinets in supermarkets throughout America where toilet paper used to live, and also you perceive why.
The simplest thing you can do to mask NOW are to use supplies around the house. Get artistic; anything that covers the mouth and nostril and stays in place will work.
While it’s best if the masks suits well and there are not any gaps between your face and the outside air, don’t surrender in your homemade mask for those who can’t achieve that. Any face covering will keep you from touching the skin round your nostril and mouth directly, which may turn into a very powerful 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 utilizing pipe cleaners or opened-up rubber-coated paper clips in the part that goes over your nostril to make a tighter fit — experiment. A very powerful thing is that you simply wash your palms, put on your face covering, and exit of the house protected.