Full Guide to Wearing Face Masks
The New York Instances 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, however ALL of us. Each time we exit in public.
Why?
Because they work.
Research from the SARS outbreak in 2003 shows that washing arms 10+ instances every day was fifty five% effective in stopping virus transmission; wearing a mask was really more efficient, reducing transmission by about 68%.
Combining a number of types of protection — hand washing, masks wearing, gloves, and another layer of outerwear (gowning) — was 91% effective.
Read that once more: ninety one% effective at stopping virus transmission.
COVID-19 and SARS are related types of viruses (coronaviruses), and it makes sense 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 no matter’s riding alongside 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 hold 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, nose, and eyes, and the areas round them- and if you happen to unintentionally do, you’ll touch the mask, not your skin directly.
Third, the expertise of other 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 recent Youtube video showing how some international locations have efficiently “flattened the curve” on new infections: “When you have a look at all of the international locations which have flat curves, they’re international locations where masks-wearing is extremely regular, and NOT wearing a mask in places like public transport can be considered anti-social.” He notes that the Czech Republic went from zero masks usage to one hundred% in 10 days, and within the process they halted the expansion of new covid-19 cases. The Czechs made their own masks- the federal government didn’t give them out.
Should you nonetheless have to be persuaded, check out this Chinese study of a neighborhood outbreak case on January 22 during the peak Lunar New Year journey season. A sick individual on the bus who did not interact with anyone 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 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 precisely where folks had been sitting on the bus.
So let’s say you’re satisfied, and now you’re thinking of some type of face covering. What are your options?
First, please don’t purchase masks commercially, if by some miracle you would discover them now. Commercially made PPE should 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 position of shortage, is probably why we initially received 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 throughout America the place toilet paper used to live, and you perceive why.
The easiest thing you can do to mask NOW are to use materials across 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 hand over in your homemade mask when you can’t achieve that. Any face covering will maintain you from touching the skin round your nose and mouth directly, which could become a very powerful mechanism by which masks block virus transmission. In the event you inadvertently contact your face while you’re wearing a mask, you’ll just contact the mask, not your skin.
You possibly can attempt to shape your face covering using pipe cleaners or opened-up rubber-coated paper clips in the half that goes over your nostril to make a tighter fit — experiment. An important thing is that you simply wash your hands, put on your face covering, and exit of the house protected.
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