What if Everyone Wore a Mask?

[zoidberg]

A good N100 or P3 respirator stops virtually all coronavirus sized particles. Better than 99.99% filtration.

This would seem to be the right sort of thing..... until very recently, available from lots of builders' merchants....

But, there's little point in rushing out to Screwfix to try to find one, 'cos I bought up every one for many miles around and am flogging 'em on eBay for 20 times normal!
Wha-ha-ha-ha-ha.....

( ......And they're all shut now, anyway. )

 

[zoidberg]

If I wore a mask my glasses would mist up & i would probably get run over by a bus when i crossed the road

If it has your number on it.......

 

[Daydream believer]

If it has your number on it.......

Have to be a No. "1"

 

[Blue Sunray]

That antique is still current in a number of countries mate.............
And I do use it with an in date cannister.........
I do wonder why the F*** I bother replying on these forums......

Because you like posting pictures of yourself in random bits of illegally retained old issue kit?

Seriously though (even if you do have a source of in date canisters) one of the reasons the S10 was replaced was because it didn't offer good protection against biological agents and guess what a virus is?

 

[Zing]

This would seem to be the right sort of thing..... until very recently, available from lots of builders' merchants....

But, there's little point in rushing out to Screwfix to try to find one, 'cos I bought up every one for many miles around and am flogging 'em on eBay for 20 times normal!
Wha-ha-ha-ha-ha.....

( ......And they're all shut now, anyway. )

When I bought some three weeks ago and gave them to my family members they said they didn’t need these silly things. I said, yes you do, but if you really don’t want them sell them soon for 10 times the cost or give them to someone. They are now selling for five times cost. Someone values them clearly.

 

[Hacker]

Can’t find the source at the moment but there is a UK peer reviewed report on transmission rates for various masks. This shows that paper medical type ones are pretty useless. They get moist from expired air in about 15mins and from then on any pathogen can go in either direction. The fact that many populations (primarily Far East) wear them doesn’t provide any evidence that they have any protective use; people may wear them because it makes them feel safe.

I’ve just been into Falmouth to get some food and seen 3 people wearing them, but with the top below their nose!

 

[Poignard]

It would be amusing to see those racist gammons who have objected to muslim women wearing masks being compelled to wear them.

 

[Praxinoscope]

You only wear one over your mouth & nostrils, you don't cover your eyes, so how would your glasses mist up?

Depends a lot on the type and design of the mask, we often wore masks at work as often dealing with materials with potential live mould on them, we found the best masks to avoid misting of spectacles were made by 3M, they had an additional one way valve so that when you exhaled the warm air did not creep up towards your glasses.
Whether these masks would be effective against a virus I don't know.

 

[Deleted member 36384]

Cartridge type mask filter units have both a shelf life and an operational life e.g. 24 hours operational limit. In my business we use a lot of these mask devices for mixing chemicals into drilling mud systems. From memory some cartridges are only one shift, 12 hours, others are 30 days. The social distancing and 2m rule appears to be superior protection in the long run.

 

[Daydream believer]

You only wear one over your mouth & nostrils, you don't cover your eyes, so how would your glasses mist up?

Have you never tried wearing masks & glasses in different circumstances- inc industrial, rubber sealed, cartridge style etc for anything from spraying to dust protection etc etc.

 

[ryanroberts]

I quite regularly travel to Taipei for business reasons. Reusable, washable cloth masks with printed patterns are quite common and seemingly a fashion accessory, it's not just the disposable paper ones that are worn. They may become normalised in the west in the future, along with biosecurity border checks - Taiwan also use IR to take temperatures. Ironically I was thinking of buying a couple of the cloth ones to use on the underground etc last time I was out there, good ones are rather expensive.

 

[thinwater]

This would seem to be the right sort of thing..... until very recently, available from lots of builders' merchants....

But, there's little point in rushing out to Screwfix to try to find one, 'cos I bought up every one for many miles around and am flogging 'em on eBay for 20 times normal!
Wha-ha-ha-ha-ha.....

( ......And they're all shut now, anyway. )

The problem with this sort of mask, for general protection of the comiunitiy, is that it uses an exhale valve. Any thing YOU spray out is unfiltered. Some disposable masks have these too.

The principle behind a surgeon's mask it that it catches the wearer's spray. We're not just trying to protect ourselves, we're trying to protect others from us (since we won't always know if we are infected).

 

[Zing]

The problem with this sort of mask, for general protection of the comiunitiy, is that it uses an exhale valve. Any thing YOU spray out is unfiltered. Some disposable masks have these too.

The principle behind a surgeon's mask it that it catches the wearer's spray. We're not just trying to protect ourselves, we're trying to protect others from us (since we won't always know if we are infected).

We do protect others with these. The idea is everyone has one of them, then everyone's virus breath gets filtered, but to a very high level, unlike with surgical masks. In a hospital you would not normally want this, but in the current situation doctor patient infection is not an issue.

The exhale valve is essential because they make breathing out very easy and less tiring, enabling all day wearing. Also surgical masks block blow a percentage of virus breath out of the sides as they seal badly, so with them other people are not 100% protected anyway. They do catch spit though, Just as valved respirators will.

 

[oldmanofthehills]

You only wear one over your mouth & nostrils, you don't cover your eyes, so how would your glasses mist up?

I have the same issue with most masks (and indeed snoods while skiing back in that other time). Partial masks are simply not profiled to my face as I have large craggy features. I cannot get filters for my full face mask in these troubled times and these also impede my vision thus making it dangerous to cross road.

Exhaled air seeps past to top of the mask, flows along face and then hits spectacle from behind and condenses.

It will still probably greatly protect everyone around me as my germs mostly only land on me - unless I stumble blind and crash into them

 

[Caraway]

There was a very interesting programme on Channel 4 last night. Something like "Coronavirus: Can I Avoid It?"

I was of the opinion that a mask could help. However if you watch the programme you will become convinced that the only answer is (what we have been told all along) that hand-washing and not touching your face are the main weapons against the virus.

 

[lw395]

If we all took to wearing masks, that would be at least 60 million a day in the UK, we're what, 20 days into this now? that's over a billion disposable masks....
And when I wear disposable masks for work, I get through more than one in an 8 hour day.

 

[SaltIre]

The World Health Organisation guidance on PPE and coronavirus is here.

 

[thinwater]

If we all took to wearing masks, that would be at least 60 million a day in the UK, we're what, 20 days into this now? that's over a billion disposable masks....
And when I wear disposable masks for work, I get through more than one in an 8 hour day.

The opening post talked about DIY alternatives. We're not talking about taking masks from those who need them.

 

[SaltIre]

The opening post talked about DIY alternatives. We're not talking about taking masks from those who need them.

Some Healthcare staff who have been trying to purchase PPE for use at work from DIY outlets have been unable to get any.

The BMA’s chair of council, Dr Chaand Nagpaul said:
“A construction worker wouldn’t be allowed to work without a hard hat and proper boots. Even a bee-keeper wouldn’t inspect a hive without proper protective clothing. And yet this Government expects NHS staff to put themselves at risk of serious illness, or even death, by treating highly infectious Covid-19 patients without wearing proper protection. This is totally unacceptable.
“We are told that lorries are shipping hundreds of boxes of supplies of PPE to GPs and to hospitals but that isn’t the reality for thousands of our members. The type of PPE being supplied in not in-keeping with WHO recommendations. GPs in many parts of England have been told to go and buy their own stocks, only to find none is available. In Cumbria, GP practice staff went to Wickes to try and secure masks. Hospital doctors are telling us: ‘We are being asked to risk our lives and our loved ones' lives, in flimsy paper masks and plastic aprons. I don't know if I can do it. I just don't know if I can. I don't think it is fair to expect this of us. I am terrified. How can this risk to practitioners, other patients, practitioners' families be justified?
BMA - BMA warns that without protective equipment, doctors and Covid-19 patients will die

 

[zoidberg]

More than a week ago I learned that my own GP Practice had had ZERO PPE delivered. They had nothing. Aware there were 'some' items of PPE still hanging in DIY outlets around me, I went out and got all the 'N100' half-masks and filters I could find. Despite the comments in my #41, I delivered them all to my Practice.

They may not be the best that 'theory' could come up with, but they're a damn sight better than the NOTHING provided by the NHS system.

It's staggering to think that this hadn't occured to them. They've known about 'the coming tide' for some weeks. .... a dozen good doctors, as many practice nurses, dispensery staff and a pro Practice Manager and his team....