Non Medical Grade Masks Yes or No?

[HotCrossBungle]

In today's Guardian there is a comment piece by a University Research Scientist (in San Francisco) who is advocating the wearing of masks made out of ANY cloth material. He claims that this together with social distancing (and handwashing) is the best thing to stop the spread of the virus as it stops droplets getting out into the air.

However, I have also read over the past few weeks in various publications from a plethora of medical people that unless these are proper medical masks they are useless. This has also been told to me by someone who used to work within the NHS (now retired).

Which is it?

www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/apr/04/why-wear-a-mask-may-be-our-best-weapon-to-stop-coronavirus

Forgot to link to the article

I'm interested in this too.

I read an article the other day which said that people who are asymptomatic or very mildly unwell can still shed virus into droplets when talking, laughing, etc which can then transmit to others, get on hands, surfaces, etc so a cloth mask would reduce that even if it doesn't totally block it.

I think the difference in views is that our experts look at how would masks protect us, i.e. the mask wearer, whereas other societies view it as, if we all wear masks, we protect each other

We were told at the press conference yesterday ‘there is no evidence masks work’.
We were told people wear them in Asia for ‘cultural reasons’.

Absence of evidence of effect is not evidence of absence of effect.

Doctor friends have said they reduce viral load of a cough etc to some degree, however imperfectly.

Also if you are asymptomatic and you wear one etc, you are less likely to infect others (?)

I think it depends on how you look at it. Non medical grade masks are going to cut down the risk by a certain amount, even if they're not the kind of mask you'd wear in a critical care situation. Of course, non medical grade masks are useless in a hospital, and won't shut out or contain droplets as well.

Everyone wearing a mask of some sort is going to cut down the risks of infection even if it's not as much as everyone wearing a "proper" mask.

Even a medical grade mask is useless if you compare it to a full hazmat suit...

The virus is spread by droplets in the air that people either breath in or land on surfaces which people touch and then infect themselves with.

Anything that decreases the amount of droplets entering the air (transmission) or prevents you touching your face is effective to an extent.

The white/blue surgical masks you see most people wearing are leas effective but better than nothing.

After that you have FFP1 and FFP2 which have filters but don't offer full seals.

Lastly there is FFP3 which offers the most protection. These masks need to be fitted by an expert to offer the most protection but can still be used by members of the public without being fitted. Obviously they will offer less protection than if they were fitted but this is the best people can get.

Social distancing, staying home, washing your hands and wearing PPE are all things you can do to reduce your chance of contracting the virus or unknowingly shedding it if you're asymptomatic. They're not mutually exclusive .... i.e. it's not one or the other. People should be doing all of those things in combination. Similarly, saying you shouldn't wear a mask because it isn't fool proof is idiotic. That's like saying you shouldn't wear a bullet proof vest because it won't stop 50.kal rounds from a BMG. It will stop most small arms fire though and is obviously better than wearing no armour at all....

Of course the government doesn't currently recommend masks as necessary, but then they were initially going for herd immunity and did a huge u-turn and if the debacle over PPE and ventilators has shown anything it's that the government have been rather incompetent. It's far more likely they don't want people buying PPE due to the shortages and I'd rather trust the WHO and what every other country is doing. People in Asia where pandemics have been more common in the past wear masks for a reason. They wear them because they work.

I've included 3 images to show the different types of masks.

I personally have the last one shown which is a FFP3 mask which I bought from Tool Station back in late January.

@Randomschoolworker19 the message was clear on press conference ‘no evidence masks work’ and used in Asia for cultural reasons. No distinctions drawn between type of masks.

I agree with all you’ve said.

@Randomschoolworker19

Great post thank you.

@Randomschoolworker19 I'd love to see you in Aldi wearing that, you'd look bad ass!

Is this the guy who's video is on YouTube showing you how to make one out of a t shirt? I think I'll give it a go just for food shopping because like you say, it can't do any harm.

There was a good discussion about masks on yesterday's WHO press conference. This should start at the right place but if not, it's from about 58:13 -

@LangClegsInSpace

That video was very interesting and in a round about way pretty much summed up what I have said above.

Firstly, masks are useful but we're not going to expressively advice the public to wear them because we need to ensure there is enough for HCPs.

Secondly, masks help reduce transmission from infected people but obviously infected people should be self isolating. The problem with this is that people are asymptomatic or incubating the virus but still infectious so a mask before they develop symptoms would be useful.

Lastly, people still need to be social distancing, washing their hands and staying home even if they wear a mask.