The New York Times and Washington Post have now come round to a place I advocated for here on Medium last week: We should all be wearing masks. Not just health care workers, however ALL of us. At any time when we exit in public.
Why?
Because they work.
Research from the SARS outbreak in 2003 shows that washing hands 10+ instances every day was fifty five% efficient in stopping virus transmission; wearing a mask was actually more effective, reducing transmission by about sixty eight%.
Combining a number of types of protection — hand washing, mask wearing, gloves, and another layer of outerwear (gowning) — was ninety one% effective.
Read that again: 91% efficient at stopping virus transmission.
COVID-19 and SARS are similar types of viruses (coronaviruses), and it is smart 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 along on that air you’re breathing or moving through. Here’s a chart showing the relative barrier effectiveness for various materials:
Secondly, they work because they keep 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, nostril, and eyes, and the areas around them- and if you by accident do, you’ll touch the mask, not your skin directly.
Third, the experience of different nations 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 nations have successfully “flattened the curve” on new infections: “If you take a look at all the international locations which have flat curves, they are international locations the place 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 expansion of new covid-19 cases. The Czechs made their own masks- the government didn’t give them out.
In the event you nonetheless should be persuaded, check out this Chinese research of an area outbreak case on January 22 in the course of the peak Lunar New Year journey season. A sick particular person on the bus who did not interact with anyone spread the virus to 7 others, some of whom were seated much more than 6 ft away. Two new passengers caught the virus 30 minutes after the original 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 exactly where folks had been sitting on the bus.
So let’s say you’re convinced, and now you’re thinking of some kind of face covering. What are your options?
First, please don’t purchase masks commercially, if by some miracle you might find them now. Commercially made PPE ought to be reserved for medical personnel at this time. Sadly, the scarcity of commercially made PPE, and the lack of foresight that caused us to be in such a place of scarcity, is probably why we initially acquired this messaging of “Masks don’t work!” They do, folks just didn’t need you to understand it for a while, to avoid a run on masks. Think of the empty shelves in supermarkets across 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 use supplies across the house. Get creative; anything that covers the mouth and nostril and stays in place will work.
While it’s finest if the mask suits well and there aren’t any gaps between your face and the outside air, don’t hand over on your homemade mask in case you can’t achieve that. Any face covering will hold you from touching the skin around your nostril and mouth directly, which could transform a very powerful mechanism by which masks block virus transmission. In the event you inadvertently touch your face while you’re wearing a mask, you’ll just touch the masks, not your skin.
You may try to form your face covering utilizing pipe cleaners or opened-up rubber-coated paper clips within the part that goes over your nose to make a tighter match — experiment. The most important thing is that you wash your palms, put on your face covering, and go out of the house protected.
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