The New York Times and Washington Post have now come round to a position I advocated for right here on Medium last week: We must always all be wearing masks. Not just health care workers, but ALL of us. Every time we go out in public.
Why?
Because they work.
Analysis from the SARS outbreak in 2003 shows that washing fingers 10+ occasions day by day was fifty five% effective in stopping virus transmission; wearing a masks was actually more effective, reducing transmission by about 68%.
Combining a number of forms of protection — hand washing, masks wearing, gloves, and another layer of outerwear (gowning) — was ninety one% effective.
Read that again: ninety one% effective 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 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 various supplies:
Secondly, they work because they preserve you from touching your face all day long. The mask 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 for those who by chance do, you’ll touch the mask, not your skin directly.
Third, the experience of different international locations who masks show that masks work in 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 successfully “flattened the curve” on new infections: “In case you look at all the countries which have flat curves, they are nations where mask-wearing is extraordinarily regular, 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 usage to one hundred% in 10 days, and in the process they halted the expansion of new covid-19 cases. The Czechs made their own masks- the government didn’t give them out.
If you happen to nonetheless need to be persuaded, check out this Chinese research of a neighborhood outbreak case on January 22 during the peak Lunar New Year travel season. A sick particular person on the bus who did not interact with anybody 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 half-hour after the original 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 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 can discover them now. Commercially made PPE must 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 scarcity, is probably why we initially bought this messaging of “Masks don’t work!” They do, of us just didn’t want you to know it for a while, to avoid a run on masks. Think of the empty shelves in supermarkets across America the place toilet paper used to live, and you perceive why.
The simplest thing you can do to masks NOW are to make use of materials around the house. Get creative; anything that covers the mouth and nose and stays in place will work.
While it’s finest if the masks fits well and there are no gaps between your face and the outside air, don’t give up in your homemade masks when you can’t achieve that. Any face covering will maintain you from touching the skin around your nose and mouth directly, which may change into an important mechanism by which masks block virus transmission. In the event you inadvertently contact your face while you’re wearing a mask, you’ll just contact the masks, not your skin.
You can attempt to shape your face covering using pipe cleaners or opened-up rubber-coated paper clips within the part that goes over your nostril to make a tighter match — experiment. Crucial thing is that you simply wash your fingers, put on your face covering, and go out of the house protected.
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