— from Beth Dixon —
Many people in the island community, along with others around the world, are making homemade masks. The original impetus for doing this seems largely to have originated with a desire to provide them to our healthcare workers and other vulnerable citizens. They certainly need them!
However, not all settings are ready to accept homemade masks, despite the fact that the CDC has said that they could be a last resort alternative. Fortunately, some manufacturers are stepping up to provide medical grade masks, though whether or not that effort will be sufficient is still not known.
However, there is now an effort to promote the use of homemade masks for the general public. An opinion column in the Washington Post on 3/28 is worth reading. Jeremy Howard, a research scientist at UCSF, makes a well-reasoned argument for regular use of masks by citizens.
Personally, I found this appeal compelling. It makes even more sense to me with news reports I read today in the Los Angeles Times and Newsweek about virus transmission.
Scientists are learning daily about this novel virus, and perhaps not everything they believe today will ultimately turn out to be accurate. Nonetheless, perhaps shifting our culture so that wearing homemade masks is more the norm could be helpful.
Jeremy describes how a campaign in the Czech Republic altered public perception and behavior in a three day period of time. I’ll end with a quote from Jeremy’s article:
“When I first started wearing a mask in public, I felt a bit odd. But I reminded myself I’m helping my community, and I’m sure in the coming weeks people who don’t wear masks will be the ones who feel out of place. Now I’m trying to encourage everyone to join me — and to get their friends to wear masks, too — with a social media campaign around #masks4all.”
I realize that this suggestion may not appeal to everyone. Personally, I hope that Jeremy is wrong about people feeling out of place if they don’t wear masks in public. He’s just trying to shift his own perception about his use of a mask. We certainly don’t need more judgmental attitudes about others in this difficult period, IMHO (though that’s not what I perceive he’s trying to suggest). But I invite you to consider his argument for using them. Even though I’m rarely out and about in public places these days, if you see me in my homemade mask – you’ll know why.
There is strong evidence that this virus can be transmitted through aerosols, and In the lab the virus was still “viable and infectious” after 3 hours, wearing a mask in public spaces seems more than just a good idea…
Absolutely. I wish we had enough for all to wear. Wearing masks is also a visual sign of solidarity in difficult times, and communicates to everyone that the wearer is doing their part to take appropriate precautions, and take the situation seriously.
And this statistic was surprising to me: (From the New York Times): “When researchers conducted systematic review of a variety of interventions used during the SARS outbreak in 2003, they found that washing hands more than 10 times daily was 55 percent effective in stopping virus transmission, while wearing a mask was actually more effective — at about 68 percent. Wearing gloves offered about the same amount of protection as frequent hand-washing, and combining all measures — hand-washing, masks, gloves and a protective gown — increased the intervention effectiveness to 91 percent.”
(Full Article: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/27/health/us-coronavirus-face-masks.html)
I am wearing my homemade mask when I have to go out. Since I’m not going out every day the mask has a chance to not be worn for a while so any bad guys on it will die out before I put it on again. I think.
Hi! A recent e-mail (worth the ink) quoted a S. Korean public health official as saying droplets could spread as far as 7 meters (21 feet). Every pic I’ve seen of Asia has everyone wearing masks. A choir in Mount Vernon that rehearsed March 10 now has 27 confirmed cases of coronavirus out of 60 people who attended that rehearsal. Two have died.
Since we can’t get commercial masks yet, I believe everyone should wear masks, commercial or home-made, at all times in public until authorities have this controlled. Especially Island Market, Post Office (done), Food Bank, and everyone serving the public. If each public worker had 2 home-made masks and washed each after use, would probably help a bunch.
Health care workers count most, but everyone in public is in jeopardy.
Oh my gosh! Things move so quickly these days! I sent this statement to Lin this afternoon and this evening I read the following article in the Washington Post: https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/cdc-considering-recommending-general-public-wear-face-coverings-in-public/2020/03/30/6a3e495c-7280-11ea-87da-77a8136c1a6d_story.html
Clearly, as with everything in life, there can be a shadow side. If masks embolden people to reduce their physical distancing from others, or the public’s use of medical grade masks reduces availability for healthcare workers, that’s a problem. And nothing is ever simple – masks will need cleaning, or brief periods of “retirement” so that people wearing them don’t become infected if the masks are contaminated in the public sphere. There is so much that is unknown about COVID-19 at this point … but … it still DOES seem to me, that in addition to the other reasonable precautions we are taking, routine use of homemade masks might help.
Wearing a mask can help remind us not to touch our faces.