Full Guide to Wearing Face Masks
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 all be wearing masks. Not just health care workers, but ALL of us. Each time we exit in public.
Why?
Because they work.
Analysis from the SARS outbreak in 2003 shows that washing hands 10+ instances daily 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 91% effective.
Read that again: ninety one% efficient at stopping virus transmission.
COVID-19 and SARS are comparable 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’re a physical barrier to no matter’s using alongside 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-acutely aware of the fact that you’re not supposed to touch your face- specifically, your mouth, nostril, and eyes, and the areas round them- and in case you by accident do, you’ll touch the masks, not your skin directly.
Third, the expertise of different countries who masks show that masks work within the real world. In the words of Jeremy Howard, researcher and Masks4All activist, explaining a chart in his current Youtube video showing how some countries have successfully “flattened the curve” on new infections: “Should you have a look at all of the international locations which have flat curves, they’re nations the place masks-wearing is extraordinarily normal, and NOT wearing a masks in places like public transport can be considered anti-social.” He notes that the Czech Republic went from zero masks utilization to 100% 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.
When you still have to be persuaded, take a look at this Chinese research of a local outbreak case on January 22 through the peak Lunar New Year travel season. A sick particular person on the bus who didn’t 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 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 precisely where individuals were sitting on the bus.
So let’s say you’re satisfied, and now you’re thinking of some sort of face covering. What are your options?
First, please don’t buy masks commercially, if by some miracle you could discover them now. Commercially made PPE needs to 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 place of shortage, is probably why we initially received this messaging of “Masks don’t work!” They do, people just didn’t need you to realize it for a while, to avoid a run on masks. Think of the empty shelves in supermarkets across America where toilet paper used to live, and you perceive why.
The easiest thing you can do to masks NOW are to make use of supplies around the house. Get inventive; anything that covers the mouth and nostril and stays in place will work.
While it’s finest if the masks suits well and there are not any gaps between your face and the outside air, don’t hand over in your homemade masks should you can’t achieve that. Any face covering will maintain you from touching the skin around your nose and mouth directly, which could turn into the most important mechanism by which masks block virus transmission. In the event you inadvertently contact your face while you’re wearing a masks, you’ll just contact the mask, not your skin.
You can attempt to shape your face covering utilizing pipe cleaners or opened-up rubber-coated paper clips in the half that goes over your nose to make a tighter match — experiment. The most important thing is that you wash your arms, put on your face covering, and exit of the house protected.
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