What if Everyone Wore a Mask?

[thinwater]

I started a thread along these lines on another forum a few days ago. I'm curious what the UK impression would be:

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Last Sunday I walked through the boat yard on the way to my boat. I joked with my wife how I only saw a few people, only from more than 75 feet away, and that they were all wearing masks because they were sanding something.

When working in a refinery I wear safety glasses, steel toe boots, long pants, long sleeve, and gloves, not be cause I want to but because it is a safety rule. You don't think much about it.

In a wood shop, body shop, or fiberglass shop masks are worn a good bit of the time. I've worn a full face masks for as much as 6 hours a day inspecting refinery equipment. Not a big deal.

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So what if we all wore masks full-time, not just if infected, quarantined, or nervous, but because the government asked you to. In factory setting, for example, if your employer said "we're all wearing masks" it wouldn't seem like a big deal. In some operations that has always been the case. You might feel funny today wearing a mask a the grocery store, but you would not if everyone did.

At the moment, of course, masks are not available. It would also be inappropriate to buy a stack of medical masks at this time. Let's skip that.

This is an article on DIY options, based on a Cambridge University study. Actual data. https://smartairfilters.com/en/blog/best-materials-make-diy-face-mask-virus/

Let's skip the fact that many masks use exhale valves (the air comes in through the filter but out through a valve) and only protect the wearer.

There are lower capture efficiency types available, even home made. Instead of N95 (95%), they might only be 75% efficient, but 0.25 x 0.25 = 94% efficient if both the infected and non-infected person wear masks. Pretty close.

The primary function of such a home-made mask is not to protect you. The filtration efficiency is not really high enough. It is the same as a surgeon's mask, to keep your spray and spit off other people. If everyone wore them, the amount of contamination would be less. Additionally, it is though that the primary route of spread may be touching a contaminated surface and them touching your nose or mouth. Any mask blocks that.

Perhaps if you want to go to the boat yard to prep the bottom you just keep the mask on. Maybe that's better than staying home.

Just food for thought. A discussion starter. Maybe this will become a normal part of keeping the world moving. Times change.

 

[Star-Lord]

Yes I think wearing masks will be the new world order. Asian people seen wearing a mask are wearing them so as not to spread their germs when they have a common cold. This seems a very sensible idea! Until a vaccine is found (will it ever?).

 

[zambant]

I wear a NATO NCB mask and gloves when I go out.
Do I look silly? - yep....do I give a damm?.......you got it.
Fair winds and stay safe
ps and yes the filter is not attached in the photo

 

[Graham_Wright]

It makes lip reading difficult (and I need to).

 

[JohnGC]

Some years ago , the Japanese habit of mask wearing in public was addressed by a British virologist.

So far as I can remember; his comment was that the incidences of the common cold and flu in Japan are no different to that in the west. On it's own, its doesn't work.

Mask use in the medical world is only one item in a multi-part defence.

It didn't take much observation of "social distancing", in the week before the lock-down, to see how many ways transfer can be effected at choke points such as doorways.

 

[elton]

Some years ago , the Japanese habit of mask wearing in public was addressed by a British virologist.

So far as I can remember; his comment was that the incidences of the common cold and flu in Japan are no different to that in the west. On it's own, it doesn't work.

Mask use in the medical world is only one item in a multi-part defence.

It didn't take much observation of "social distancing", in the week before the lock-down, to see how many ways transfer can be effected at choke points such as doorways.

Masks can't stop a virus because a virus is too small. They go straight through. Operating theatre staff wear them to prevent spitting into wounds while they're taking.

 

[Blue Sunray]

I wear a NATO NCB mask and gloves when I go out.
Do I look silly? - yep....do I give a damm?.......you got it.
Fair winds and stay safe
ps and yes the filter is not attached in the photo

It might work better if you put a canister on that antique (and by the way last millennium the term was NBC, these days it's CBRN).

 

[JumbleDuck]

Yes I think wearing masks will be the new world order. Asian people seen wearing a mask are wearing them so as not to spread their germs when they have a common cold.

There is no evidence that they actually work against germs, though. It's a social/cultural thing rather than a science/medical one. Many Japanese people wear them to keep pollen out - about 30% of Japanese people have hay fever and it is VERY rude there to blow your nose in public.

 

[Zing]

There is no evidence that they actually work against germs, though...

Masks can't stop a virus because a virus is too small. They go straight through. Operating theatre staff wear them to prevent spitting into wounds while they're taking.

Not true. A good N100 or P3 respirator stops virtually all coronavirus sized particles. Better than 99.99% filtration.

 

[Zing]

Unfortunately we can’t make enough of them for it to be a practical solution to the problem, but for certain industries they could make them compulsory equipment, so the workers could work at full capacity. Like in the health service or care homes for example.

I started a thread on this subject with lots of data and links supporting this position:

https://forums.ybw.com/index.php?threads/masks-coronavirus-and-its-presence-in-the-air.536651/

 

[thinwater]

There is no evidence that they actually work against germs, though. It's a social/cultural thing rather than a science/medical one. Many Japanese people wear them to keep pollen out - about 30% of Japanese people have hay fever and it is VERY rude there to blow your nose in public.

Yes, obviously. This is why operating room staff never wear masks.

In one sense you are correct. In another, obviously not. They are only effective if considered as part of a set of practices.

 

[ghostlymoron]

I've been around town today for the first in a fortnight (to collect items from the pharmacy).
There were noticeably fewer people about and quite good adherence to the 2m rule although some hadn't modified their behaviour at all.

 

[knuterikt]

Advice from medical authorities here in Norway is that wearing a mask as permanent protection can increase the risk of infection rather than reduce it.
The reasoning is that most people are not trained and used to proper procedure. If you wear a mask and get virus contamination on hands or gloves and get the urge to adjust the mask you can suddenly have a contaminated mask increasing the risk of inhaling the virus.

 

[JohnGC]

Yes, obviously. This is why operating room staff never wear masks.

In one sense you are correct. In another, obviously not. They are only effective if considered as part of a set of practices.

Which is rather the point several of us are making.

 

[Muddy32]

Someone else said that they will wear their wives lower undergarment. Nothing gets past them.

I'll get my hat.

 

[Zing]

Advice from medical authorities here in Norway is that wearing a mask as permanent protection can increase the risk of infection rather than reduce it.
The reasoning is that most people are not trained and used to proper procedure. If you wear a mask and get virus contamination on hands or gloves and get the urge to adjust the mask you can suddenly have a contaminated mask increasing the risk of inhaling the virus.

That kind of thinking is I believe, at least in part behind the widespread advice here to not wear masks. It is rather patronising and wrong. After all we are being trained to wash our hands and to not touch our faces. To stand 2m apart and not to sneeze in someone's face. How hard is it to make it an extra requirement to not touch your mask. It is also not correct logic as would apply to the better masks. They will filter out the contaminated finger prints anyway.

 

[Sandy]

You try saying "ready about" wearing that!

 

[NormanS]

No way.

 

[Kawasaki]

Someone else said that they will wear their wives lower undergarment. Nothing gets past them.

I'll get my hat.

 

[Deleted member 36384]

To be frank, no, I don't want to wear a mask except when it is part of the required PPE to do a job. When this is all over I will not be wearing a mask either. I am more likely to loose weight, look after my fitness and try and keep my immune system in good order than wear a mask.