thewirecutter.com
Guess you missed that WHO/Taiwan thread eh?
www.theguardian.com
Most people in any context can't read.
Ofc there will be people touching the (makeshift) masks, just as there are people sneezing into their hands and not washing them properly. But there will be people using them properly, every bit helps.
You can use makeshift masks and surgical masks should be mandatory mass produced anyhow.
Where is the actual proof homemade masks are what contributed to flattening the curve? It's social distancing. If anything, homemade masks will embolden people to go out when they shouldn't, thinking they're safer than they are and less capable of spreading the virus than they are
This post explains it best, especially the boldedGuess you missed that WHO/Taiwan thread eh?
The OP is correct in that logically if everyone wears masks, then logically the infected would spread it less. The problem is humans are not logical and screw things up all the time, and this is why the expert medical community doesn't recommend masks foir public use. Outside of a laboratory testing which does show some results with masks, every study that has looked at the community use of masks has seen no benefit OR an actual increase in infections.
Not from the mask usage, but from humans making constant mistakes in relation to mask use. Masks must be discarded after about 20 minutes or they start to increase the chance of infection due to moisture saturation. After 20 minutes, that moisture will start escaping from the mask because its saturated. And even if you do discard it in time, improper touching and disposal also increase infection chances. The final reason and worse offender is the false sense of security and people returning to normal routines, which destroys social distancing protocols which BY FAR are the most effective method.
As for, Asian countries, if you look at the main factors for their linear increase, it was swift, strong social distancing and testing regimes. Places that actually started to reduce those strict guidlines, like Hong Kong, have now shown a spike again in cases since the Virus is still active worldwide. Mask use be damned.
Tokyo and Hong Kong brace amid fears of fresh wave of coronavirus cases
Tokyo governor warns of measures to prevent ‘explosion’ of cases as Hong Kong health expert calls for curfew to handle cases arriving from overseas
I'm not sure why you keep focusing on these to dismiss it when it's not used in the arguments given against it.
Guess you missed that WHO/Taiwan thread eh?
The OP is correct in that logically if everyone wears masks, then logically the infected would spread it less. The problem is humans are not logical and screw things up all the time, and this is why the expert medical community doesn't recommend masks foir public use. Outside of a laboratory testing which does show some results with masks, every study that has looked at the community use of masks has seen no benefit OR an actual increase in infections.
Not from the mask usage, but from humans making constant mistakes in relation to mask use. Masks must be discarded after about 20 minutes or they start to increase the chance of infection due to moisture saturation. After 20 minutes, that moisture will start escaping from the mask because its saturated. And even if you do discard it in time, improper touching and disposal also increase infection chances. The final reason and worse offender is the false sense of security and people returning to normal routines, which destroys social distancing protocols which BY FAR are the most effective method.
As for, Asian countries, if you look at the main factors for their linear increase, it was swift, strong social distancing and testing regimes. Places that actually started to reduce those strict guidlines, like Hong Kong, have now shown a spike again in cases since the Virus is still active worldwide. Mask use be damned.
Tokyo and Hong Kong brace amid fears of fresh wave of coronavirus cases
Tokyo governor warns of measures to prevent ‘explosion’ of cases as Hong Kong health expert calls for curfew to handle cases arriving from overseas
Homemade masks are basically useless (and some institutions even find them to increase exposure risks) and the public shouldn't be buying up N95 masks right now so no, this is a bad idea.
People Are Sewing Face Masks for Medical Workers. Should They?
As a last-resort measure, some hospitals would consider using homemade masks for patients who don’t have COVID-19.
*If everyone could have high quality enough masks (which are needed for medical staff) to change them every 20 mins as well as correct training on how to use them and correctly wash their hands every time they touch them
Important to note is that these don't conflict with the reasoning behind why it's not advised for general populations to adopt masks. It's due to behavioral issues of the people wearing them and improper use not the efficacy of the masks themselves when used properly. I was honestly surprised by how well makeshift masks held up on a testing front though.
I have an old (75+) lady as a neighbour who's as kind and sweet as you could hope for but she just will not stay in the house. She's had her brother-in-law (similar age) round multiple times and slips out to go to the supermarket for a paper every day. It's frustrating. I've tried buying it for her but she just lists another item she 'needed' at that point in time and had to get.
Bewildering, then, that the WHO and Medical Officers around the world are making this simple mistake made clear in the OP. We should forward them the thread.
Just let me add this (one of hundreds of similar examples):
The No. 1 way to prevent coronavirus isn't wearing a face mask
Health officials have revised their guidance on face masks.www.cbsnews.com
False safety with a mask that doesn't help just makes people more careless.
What's useful to trained medical professionals and what's useful when applied across a general population are different in this instance.
Guess you missed that WHO/Taiwan thread eh?
The OP is correct in that logically if everyone wears masks, then logically the infected would spread it less. The problem is humans are not logical and screw things up all the time, and this is why the expert medical community doesn't recommend masks foir public use. Outside of a laboratory testing which does show some results with masks, every study that has looked at the community use of masks has seen no benefit OR an actual increase in infections.
Not from the mask usage, but from humans making constant mistakes in relation to mask use. Masks must be discarded after about 20 minutes or they start to increase the chance of infection due to moisture saturation. After 20 minutes, that moisture will start escaping from the mask because its saturated. And even if you do discard it in time, improper touching and disposal also increase infection chances. The final reason and worse offender is the false sense of security and people returning to normal routines, which destroys social distancing protocols which BY FAR are the most effective method.
As for, Asian countries, if you look at the main factors for their linear increase, it was swift, strong social distancing and testing regimes. Places that actually started to reduce those strict guidlines, like Hong Kong, have now shown a spike again in cases since the Virus is still active worldwide. Mask use be damned.
Tokyo and Hong Kong brace amid fears of fresh wave of coronavirus cases
Tokyo governor warns of measures to prevent ‘explosion’ of cases as Hong Kong health expert calls for curfew to handle cases arriving from overseas
That's the thing. The current mentality is to ensure you don't get infected. Not accepting that you already are.
Are there any evidence of false sense of protection? It seems that masks rather make everyone aware of the situation, see East Asia.
How do we know that? If they're not symptomatic I would assume they're not being tested.
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
So fundamentally you think the advice should be that people are heavily steered from buying medical masks but pushed toward using homemade ones? Just to understand the position correctly. Wouldn't that compound the concern of people adversely putting themselves at more risk that Jenny Harries was speaking of? Understanding that if the concern is mask wearers making themselves more susceptible to the virus and the suggestion being everyone should wear masks that resulting in everyone being at more risk.
futurism.com
From mass tests done for instance when Japan extracted citizens from Wuhan after the outbreak. Estimates from China are 30% which mirror the tests the Japanese performed on their citizens:
www.dw.com
Studies have recommended community mask use.
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
