The New York Instances and Washington Post have now come round to a place I advocated for here on Medium final week: We should all be wearing masks. Not just health care workers, but 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 each day was fifty five% effective in stopping virus transmission; wearing a masks was really more efficient, reducing transmission by about 68%.
Combining a number of types of protection — hand washing, masks wearing, gloves, and one other 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 stop transmission for one will work to stop transmission of the other.
Masks work, first, because they’re a physical barrier to no matter’s driving along on that air you’re breathing or moving through. Here’s a chart showing the relative barrier effectiveness for various supplies:
Secondly, they work because they keep you from touching your face all day long. The masks makes you more self-conscious of the fact that you’re not supposed to the touch your face- specifically, your mouth, nostril, and eyes, and the areas around them- and should you by chance do, you’ll contact the mask, not your skin directly.
Third, the experience of different international locations 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 successfully “flattened the curve” on new infections: “When you take a look at all of the countries which have flat curves, they’re international locations the place mask-wearing is extremely regular, and NOT wearing a mask in places like public transport could be considered anti-social.” He notes that the Czech Republic went from zero mask usage 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 government didn’t give them out.
In case you still must be persuaded, take a look at this Chinese research of an area outbreak case on January 22 through the peak Lunar New Year travel season. A sick individual on the bus who didn’t interact with anybody 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 individual 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 sort of face covering. What are your options?
First, please don’t purchase masks commercially, if by some miracle you could find them now. Commercially made PPE must be reserved for medical personnel at this time. Unfortunately, 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 obtained this messaging of “Masks don’t work!” They do, of us just didn’t need you to realize 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 also you understand why.
The simplest thing you are able to do to mask NOW are to make use of materials across the house. Get creative; anything that covers the mouth and nostril and stays in place will work.
While it’s best if the mask fits well and there aren’t any gaps between your face and the outside air, don’t give up on your homemade mask in the event you can’t achieve that. Any face covering will preserve you from touching the skin around your nose and mouth directly, which may transform a very powerful mechanism by which masks block virus transmission. Should you inadvertently touch your face while you’re wearing a mask, you’ll just contact the mask, not your skin.
You can try to form 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 fit — experiment. An important thing is that you wash your palms, put in your face covering, and go out of the house protected.
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