The New York Instances and Washington Post have now come round to a position I advocated for here on Medium final week: We should always 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 arms 10+ times each day was fifty five% efficient in stopping virus transmission; wearing a mask was actually more effective, reducing transmission by about sixty eight%.
Combining multiple types of protection — hand washing, mask wearing, gloves, and another layer of outerwear (gowning) — was ninety one% effective.
Read that again: 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 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. Here’s a chart showing the relative barrier effectiveness for varied materials:
Secondly, they work because they preserve you from touching your face all day long. The masks makes you more self-aware of the truth that you’re not supposed to the touch your face- specifically, your mouth, nose, and eyes, and the areas round them- and if you by chance do, you’ll touch the mask, not your skin directly.
Third, the expertise of different nations 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 latest Youtube video showing how some countries have successfully “flattened the curve” on new infections: “Should you look at all the countries which have flat curves, they are nations where mask-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 mask usage to one hundred% in 10 days, and in 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.
When you nonetheless have to be persuaded, take a look at this Chinese research of a neighborhood outbreak case on January 22 throughout the peak Lunar New Year travel season. A sick person on the bus who did not work together with anyone spread the virus to 7 others, a few of whom have been seated much more than 6 ft away. Two new passengers caught the virus half-hour 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 where people have 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 buy masks commercially, if by some miracle you possibly can find them now. Commercially made PPE needs to be reserved for medical personnel at this time. Sadly, the shortage 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 got this messaging of “Masks don’t work!” They do, people just didn’t need you to know it for a while, to avoid a run on masks. Think of the empty cabinets in supermarkets across America the place rest room paper used to live, and you understand why.
The simplest thing you are able to do to masks NOW are to use materials around the house. Get artistic; anything that covers the mouth and nose and stays in place will work.
While it’s best if the mask fits well and there are not any gaps between your face and the outside air, don’t give up in your homemade mask should you can’t achieve that. Any face covering will keep you from touching the skin round your nostril and mouth directly, which might turn out to be an important mechanism by which masks block virus transmission. Should you inadvertently contact your face while you’re wearing a masks, you’ll just touch the masks, not your skin.
You can attempt to form your face covering using pipe cleaners or opened-up rubber-coated paper clips within the part that goes over your nose to make a tighter match — experiment. An important thing is that you wash your arms, put on your face covering, and go out of the house protected.
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