Complete Guide to Wearing Face Masks
The New York Occasions and Washington Post have now come round to a position I advocated for here on Medium last week: We must 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 hands 10+ instances every day was fifty five% efficient in stopping virus transmission; wearing a masks was actually more efficient, reducing transmission by about sixty eight%.
Combining a number of types of protection — hand washing, mask wearing, gloves, and one other layer of outerwear (gowning) — was 91% effective.
Read that once more: ninety one% efficient at stopping virus transmission.
COVID-19 and SARS are comparable types of viruses (coronaviruses), and it is smart that what works to stop transmission for one will work to cease transmission of the other.
Masks work, first, because they are a physical barrier to whatever’s riding along on that air you’re breathing or moving through. Right here’s a chart showing the relative barrier effectiveness for varied supplies:
Secondly, they work because they maintain you from touching your face all day long. The mask makes you more self-conscious of the truth that you’re not supposed to touch your face- specifically, your mouth, nostril, and eyes, and the areas around them- and in case you by chance do, you’ll touch the masks, not your skin directly.
Third, the experience of other nations who masks 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 international locations have successfully “flattened the curve” on new infections: “If you happen to have a look at all the nations which have flat curves, they are countries the place mask-wearing is extremely normal, and NOT wearing a mask in places like public transport would be considered anti-social.” He notes that the Czech Republic went from zero masks usage to one 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.
Should you still need to be persuaded, check out this Chinese study of an area outbreak case on January 22 through the peak Lunar New Year travel season. A sick individual on the bus who did not work together with anybody spread the virus to 7 others, a few of whom were 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 precisely where folks had been sitting on the bus.
So let’s say you’re satisfied, and now you’re thinking of some form of face covering. What are your options?
First, please don’t buy masks commercially, if by some miracle you possibly can discover them now. Commercially made PPE ought to be reserved for medical personnel at this time. Sadly, the scarcity of commercially made PPE, and the dearth 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, of us just didn’t want you to comprehend it for a while, to keep away from a run on masks. Think of the empty shelves in supermarkets across America where toilet paper used to live, and you understand why.
The easiest thing you can do to masks NOW are to use materials around the house. Get creative; 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 give up in your homemade mask in the event you can’t achieve that. Any face covering will hold you from touching the skin round your nose and mouth directly, which might turn into the most important mechanism by which masks block virus transmission. If you inadvertently touch your face while you’re wearing a masks, 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 part that goes over your nostril to make a tighter fit — experiment. Crucial thing is that you wash your arms, put on your face covering, and exit of the house protected.
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