Face masks, what's the truth?

[flashbac]

Just that really. Many other countries are encouraging wearing of face masks but our government is not. Should we trust them on this?

Our government want the masks to go to the frontline staff who need them more than we do.
You're welcome to make your own though :)

You should wear a mask except this shit show of a government haven't got enough supplies so they've held off telling us plebs to wear them in case it reduces supplies further from key workers

The truth is we don't have much evidence. However this is a brand new virus in humans so we have lots to learn about it full stop. There is some evidence that it may reduce transmission.
We should all be wearing them. I was chatting to a neighbour while shopping today. He proudly told me that it wouldn't help me catching it. I explained that I was wearing it in case I was asymptomatic whilst shopping. Even with the 2 metre rule there is a chance I could spray out a bit of virus whilst chatting He understood why following my explanation.

If everyone wore even home made masks to reduce droplet infection then it's an extra barrier.

Less droplets on surfaces to be touched. Less droplets in the air for others to breathe in.

We all touch our faces constantly, it's normal. Wearing a mask makes you aware of not touching your face.

Logically it has to be the easiest thing to roll out.

If we wear them to protect others from us and everyone did it, we'd all be safer.

Covering your face some way will help, but fact is a lot of people don,t really wear them properly so social distancing is prob just as good. But if you want to make aa home made one,(or several.) and wash them regularly and make sure tey fit well it may help.

The truth is we still don't know. But it's thought that masks are more useful to stop you spreading it, but not so good to stop you catching it.

It's a legitimate concern that

If you can make a few and find one that fits, they can be quite comfortable. DH has a big head and a big nose, we scaled up a concertina mask and now he is comfy. DD broke her cheekbone at the beginning of March and is still quite tender, a concertina mask with a nose wire suits her. DS and I prefer shaped ones. I wear one at work, it takes 1.5 - 2 hours to become uncomfortable. So then I wash my hands, go outside take off the mask, do some breathing exercises and then put a fresh one on. It is not that much hassle.

By wearing a mask, I protect others, it would be nice if others also wore one and protected me.

It's time to encourage people to wear face masks as a precautionary measure on the grounds that we have little to lose and potentially something to gain, say experts in The BMJ today.
www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/04/200409105405.htm

Would your DH go for a 1 hour run wearing his mask the whole time, Pesty?

We are following the resources not the science.

If the advice is to cough.sneeze into your elbow, then it stands to reason that a mask is going to limit the droplet spread of CV.

I often hear that Korea reacted better to CV because of their more recent experiences of SARS etc, yet many then poo hoo their adherence to mask wearing in crowded places.

I am mostly of the mind the British government has badly mishandled this affair.

There is no truth. Therea a difference of opinion. And yes the science is very much an opinion. On both sides.

One side masks help reduce SARS
The other side points out that countries that wear masks, anyway saw no impact in the yearly infection rates for colds, flu and general viruses

One side says it must help and that seems logical

The other side says that people don't wear them properly, move them all the time, start to become conplancent about social distancing and hand hygiene ( which many people do report the people they see in masks seem to rhink they can do what they want) and actually make it work.

The whole 'its because they don't have enough for medical staff' doesn't make sense.

In most countries the masks people are wearing are home made. The above argument suggests the people in the UK can not be trusted to listen and wear home made ones, rather than try and seek out medical masks.

Is that really how crap we are? 50 other countries can trust their people to not wipe out ppe, but we can't be?

Masks are only going to help if people are going to be allowed out when symptomatic.

lljkk DH works in an educational farm setting. We have found a mask that is comfortable for him to wear and do manual work in for hours. All it took was a bit effort and experimentation.

He is far too busy working full time to go for a one hour run.

I've made cloth ones with removable filters for our family. Most of the objections seem to be either resource based (keep them for medical staff which I agree with), concerns people won't socially distance wearing them, comfort etc.

There seems to be a fair bit of evidence that they do help to reduce spread. Not that they're bullet proof, but any reduction is beneficial. There was a professor from the London School of Tropical med and Hygiene interviewed the other day who said he'd started off opposed but had changed his mind - he said that most evidence on mask use is from flu pandemic which doesn't read across well to coronavirus, and that even if they only reduced the R value by a few 10ths that would still help considerably to slow the spread.

There clearly are lots of factors involved - age of population, how they measure figures, spread of disease...

But many countries that have insisted on people wearing masks - if just in shops and on public transport - have had much lower death rates...

I now wear one for going to shops etc but not for daily exercising where it's much easier to keep apart.

Summerofloaf you can stop symptomatic people going out, and asymptomatic and presymptomatic spread are both features of covid. You don't have to be symptomatic to spread it.

Wearing a mask increases face touching unless trained/used to them. Most face touching is unconscious.

People get complacent when they have one. Anecdotally there have been lots of reports of this and I have also seen this; in shops people with face masks cease to socially distance. The only people who came into my space last time I went shopping had face masks on and were touching their face.

People don’t use them correctly.

People would dilute nhs supply - not everyone (by a long shot) would make their own

Any recommendation has to consider how people are likely to behave not ‘perfect behaviour’

They may be difficult to buy, but youtube has many tutorials:

www.youtube.com/results?search_query=face+masks

What I dont understand is all the emphasis on wearing them outside when actually you are physically much closer to the people in your household. Surely if you are going to wear them at all in the house makes most sense. Within households is where most transmission is taking place now.

@helpfulperson

I suppose it is to prevent asymptomatic spread when people go shopping the once a week when go shopping. I am sure nobody would object if you wanted to wear one at home.

YouTube tutorials are pretty much irrelevant - most people won’t make them.

@Aesopfable

not everyone (by a long shot) would make their own

That's not necessarily a problem if those that had the skills with a sewing needle made surplus surely...

We're all not good at everything...

Other countries have seemingly managed to do this...

Most people would buy them and continually reuse them (because they are difficult to get hold of)

Fabric ones won’t be washed after every wear.

When making policy this is the sort of behaviour you need to consider.

My doctor sister is in a country that requires you wear a mask. She says it's better than gloves but can also give people a false sense of security- you still need to keep 2m distance. They are not using hospital grade masks - you make your own cloth ones fairly easily. I suppose in areas where its impossible to be apart (on public transport) it is better to have it than not, as long as you clean it. And it protects other people from you rather than the mask protecting you from others.