The New York Instances and Washington Post have now come around to a position I advocated for right here on Medium final 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+ occasions day by day was fifty five% efficient in stopping virus transmission; wearing a masks was really more efficient, reducing transmission by about sixty eight%.
Combining multiple types of protection — hand washing, mask wearing, gloves, and one other layer of outerwear (gowning) — was ninety one% effective.
Read that again: ninety one% efficient at stopping virus transmission.
COVID-19 and SARS are similar types of viruses (coronaviruses), and it is sensible 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 along 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 mask makes you more self-conscious of the fact that you’re not supposed to touch your face- specifically, your mouth, nose, and eyes, and the areas round them- and for those who by chance do, you’ll contact the masks, not your skin directly.
Third, the expertise of other nations who mask show that masks work in the real world. Within the words of Jeremy Howard, researcher and Masks4All activist, explaining a chart in his current Youtube video showing how some international locations have efficiently “flattened the curve” on new infections: “In the event you take a look at all the countries which have flat curves, they’re nations the place masks-wearing is extraordinarily regular, and NOT wearing a masks in places like public transport can be considered anti-social.” He notes that the Czech Republic went from zero mask utilization to a hundred% 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.
For those who still have to be persuaded, check out this Chinese study of an area outbreak case on January 22 during the peak Lunar New Year journey season. A sick particular person on the bus who didn’t interact with anyone spread the virus to 7 others, a few of whom had been seated a lot more than 6 ft away. Two new passengers caught the virus half-hour 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 exactly the place individuals were sitting on the bus.
So let’s say you’re convinced, 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 might discover them now. Commercially made PPE needs to be reserved for medical personnel at this time. Unfortunately, the shortage of commercially made PPE, and the lack of foresight that caused us to be in such a place of shortage, is probably why we initially got this messaging of “Masks don’t work!” They do, people just didn’t need you to realize it for a while, to keep away from a run on masks. Think of the empty shelves in supermarkets throughout America the place rest room paper used to live, and you understand why.
The best thing you are able to do to mask NOW are to make use of materials across the house. Get inventive; anything that covers the mouth and nose and stays in place will work.
While it’s best if the masks matches well and there are not any gaps between your face and the outside air, don’t quit on your homemade masks in the event you can’t achieve that. Any face covering will preserve you from touching the skin around your nostril and mouth directly, which might change into a very powerful mechanism by which masks block virus transmission. In the event you inadvertently contact 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 utilizing pipe cleaners or opened-up rubber-coated paper clips within the half that goes over your nostril to make a tighter match — experiment. Crucial thing is that you just wash your fingers, put on your face covering, and go out of the house protected.
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