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Originally Posted by IowaHawkeyeChief
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That's about N95 masks. You realize surgical masks are completely different right? I've said that like 5 times already. I don't think people understand.
This is an N95 mask:
N95 masks are primarily to
protect the wearer - especially when in a high-risk environment like around a hospital. They have to be fitted. You can't have a beard. They can certainly protect others from the wearer as well. If people have them they wear them.
This is a surgical mask:
Surgical masks are primarily
to protect others from the wearer. They don't have to be perfect but if they knock down 90% of the tiny breath droplets that come out of asymptomatic people, or sputum droplets that come out of symptomatic people - that's a big win. A surgical mask doesn't have to be that precise. This is what there are billions of in Asia, not N95.
I work at a university where lots of Asian students wear these - even before all this happened. Most of them are wearing plain old surgical masks, not N95.
This is what's working in Japan:
This is the Hong Kong protocol:
Even homemade is ok. My boss told me how her family in Chongqing reuses the surgical masks by putting a paper towel around them and throwing the paper towel away.
China requires everyone to wear masks (not N95) outside right now. Czechoslovakia is requiring everyone to wear masks. The Chinese expert who's in Italy is telling them they need to have everyone wearing masks. But literally a bandana or homemade mask is much better than nothing.
NY Times: Why Telling People They Don’t Need Masks Backfired
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Fourth, the W.H.O. and the C.D.C. told the public to wear masks if they were sick. However, there is increasing evidence of asymptomatic transmission, especially through younger people who have milder cases and don’t know they are sick but are still infectious. Since the W.H.O. and the C.D.C. do say that masks lessen the chances that infected people will infect others, then everyone should use masks. If the public is told that only the sick people are to wear masks, then those who do wear them will be stigmatized and people may well avoid wearing them if it screams “I’m sick.” Further, it’s very difficult to be tested for Covid-19 in the United States. How are people supposed to know for sure when to mask up?
Fifth, places like Hong Kong and Taiwan that jumped to action early with social distancing and universal mask wearing have the pandemic under much greater control, despite having significant travel from mainland China. Hong Kong health officials credit universal mask wearing as part of the solution and recommend universal mask wearing. In fact, Taiwan responded to the coronavirus by immediately ramping up mask production.
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When we open back up again we have to require something over your mouth until this thing is gone imo. I assume (hope) our govt knows this, they just don't want to cause a panic run on masks right now (understandable).