Full Guide to Wearing Face Masks
The New York Instances and Washington Post have now come around to a place I advocated for here on Medium last week: We should all be wearing masks. Not just health care workers, but ALL of us. Every time we go out in public.
Why?
Because they work.
Research from the SARS outbreak in 2003 shows that washing arms 10+ instances daily was fifty five% effective in stopping virus transmission; wearing a masks was really more effective, reducing transmission by about 68%.
Combining a number of forms of protection — hand washing, masks 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 related types of viruses (coronaviruses), and it is sensible 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 whatever’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 mask makes you more self-conscious of the fact that you’re not supposed to touch your face- specifically, your mouth, nostril, and eyes, and the areas around them- and should you accidentally do, you’ll contact the mask, not your skin directly.
Third, the expertise of different international locations who mask show that masks work in 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: “For those who look at all the international locations which have flat curves, they’re countries the place masks-wearing is extremely 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 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.
When you nonetheless have 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 didn’t work together with anyone spread the virus to 7 others, some of whom had been seated a lot more than 6 ft away. Two new passengers caught the virus 30 minutes after the unique 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 the place people 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 may discover them now. Commercially made PPE should be reserved for medical personnel at this time. Unfortunately, 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, of us just didn’t want you to know it for a while, to keep away from a run on masks. Think of the empty shelves in supermarkets across America the place toilet paper used to live, and also you understand why.
The best thing you are able to do to mask NOW are to make use of supplies around the house. Get creative; anything that covers the mouth and nostril and stays in place will work.
While it’s greatest if the masks fits well and there are not any gaps between your face and the outside air, don’t quit on your homemade mask if you can’t achieve that. Any face covering will hold you from touching the skin round your nose and mouth directly, which might grow to be an important mechanism by which masks block virus transmission. If you inadvertently contact your face while you’re wearing a mask, you’ll just touch the masks, not your skin.
You possibly can attempt to form 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 fit — experiment. A very powerful thing is that you wash your hands, put in your face covering, and go out of the house protected.