Full Guide To Wearing Face Masks

The New York Times and Washington Post have now come round to a place 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.
Research from the SARS outbreak in 2003 shows that washing fingers 10+ instances every day was 55% effective in stopping virus transmission; wearing a mask was truly more effective, reducing transmission by about sixty eight%.
Combining multiple types of protection — hand washing, masks wearing, gloves, and one other layer of outerwear (gowning) — was ninety one% effective.
Read that again: ninety one% effective at stopping virus transmission.
COVID-19 and SARS are similar types of viruses (coronaviruses), and it is smart that what works to stop transmission for one will work to stop transmission of the other.
Masks work, first, because they are 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 varied materials:

Secondly, they work because they hold you from touching your face all day long. The mask makes you more self-aware of the truth that you’re not supposed to touch your face- specifically, your mouth, nose, and eyes, and the areas around them- and in the event you by chance do, you’ll contact the masks, not your skin directly.
Third, the experience of different international locations 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 latest Youtube video showing how some nations have successfully "flattened the curve" on new infections: "When you have a look at all the countries which have flat curves, they are nations where masks-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 utilization to 100% in 10 days, and in the process they halted the growth of new covid-19 cases. The Czechs made their own masks- the government didn’t give them out.


For those who nonetheless should be persuaded, check out this Chinese examine of a local outbreak case on January 22 in the course of the peak Lunar New Year travel season. A sick person on the bus who did not work together with anybody spread the virus to 7 others, some of whom have been seated much 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 precisely where folks have been sitting on the bus.
So let’s say you’re satisfied, and now you’re thinking of some type of fashion face masks covering. What are your options?
First, please don’t purchase masks commercially, if by some miracle you could find them now. Commercially made PPE must be reserved for medical personnel at this time. Sadly, the shortage 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 acquired this messaging of "Masks don’t work!" They do, folks just didn’t need you to realize it for a while, to keep away from a run on masks. Think of the empty cabinets in supermarkets across America the place toilet paper used to live, and you understand why.
The simplest 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 nose and stays in place will work.

While it’s best if the masks fits well and there are no gaps between your face and the outside air, don’t quit in your homemade masks if you happen to can’t achieve that. Any face covering will keep you from touching the skin around your nostril and mouth directly, which might grow 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 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. An important thing is that you simply wash your arms, put on your face covering, and exit of the house protected.