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Advice on mask-wearing to protect against Covid-19

Discussion in 'Epidemics (including Covid-19, not Long Covid)' started by Hip, Apr 2, 2020.

  1. JaneL

    JaneL Senior Member (Voting Rights)

    Messages:
    364
    Location:
    Hampshire, UK
    As reported on The Guardian website today, The Royal Society for Data Evaluation and Learning for Viral Epidemics (DELVE) has just published a report which comes out in favour of face masks being worn by the general public:

    https://rs-delve.github.io/reports/2020/05/04/face-masks-for-the-general-public.html
     
  2. Leila

    Leila Senior Member (Voting Rights)

    Messages:
    1,157
    Coronavirus: hamster research shows effectiveness of masks ‘huge’ in Covid-19 battle, Hong Kong scientists say

    "Hamsters placed in adjoining cages with infected subjects were infected at a 66.7 per cent rate; the introduction of a barrier saw the percentage drop to 16.7‘

    It shows very clearly that if infected hamsters or humans … put on masks, they actually protect other people,’ HKU’s Dr Yuen Kwok-yung says"

    Edit: I was wondering how they made hamsters wearing masks, but it went like this:


    "in their experiment, partitions made of surgical masks were set up between cages in an isolated facility, with an infected hamster on one side, and three healthy hamsters on the other. A fan was then placed in between to make sure the virus would “transmit” between cages."

    So transmission might drop even more with a close fitted mask on the face?
     
    Last edited: May 17, 2020
  3. Wonko

    Wonko Senior Member (Voting Rights)

    Messages:
    6,674
    Location:
    UK
    Why has no one warned us that rodents can transmit covid-19?

    We're surrounded by rodents.

    I seem to misremember that no one in the UK is more than 2 meters from a rodent at all times, on average.
     
  4. Sasha

    Sasha Senior Member (Voting Rights)

    Messages:
    3,768
    Location:
    UK
    Has anyone determined yet the minimum safe distance to be away from someone without a mask who is talking to you? I just made the mistake of going outside and encountering a neighbour who wanted to talk to me, at length. Managed a good twelve feet, mostly, but we were having to speak correspondingly louder...

    I've noticed that discipline seems to have broken down on social distancing in a lot of people on the street, where I briefly ventured (and wish I hadn't)...
     
    Yessica, Sid, JaneL and 6 others like this.
  5. Wits_End

    Wits_End Senior Member (Voting Rights)

    Messages:
    1,322
    Location:
    UK London
    Apparently the thinking is now that you're unlikely to catch it from someone else in the open air just by walking past them - could that be a contributing factor?
     
    ladycatlover likes this.
  6. JaneL

    JaneL Senior Member (Voting Rights)

    Messages:
    364
    Location:
    Hampshire, UK
    The World Health Organisation have updated their guidance on face masks for members of the public:

    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jun/05/who-changes-advice-medical-grade-masks-over-60s
     
    ahimsa, Sean, Simbindi and 3 others like this.
  7. ahimsa

    ahimsa Senior Member (Voting Rights)

    Messages:
    2,617
    Location:
    Oregon, USA
    Trish and JaneL like this.
  8. ahimsa

    ahimsa Senior Member (Voting Rights)

    Messages:
    2,617
    Location:
    Oregon, USA
    So, does anyone have tips for how to choose from the many different brands of disposable masks online? Thanks!

    Edit: Looking to buy some disposable "medical grade" masks, just in case we ever need them, and I'm not even sure what "medical grade" means.
     
    Last edited: Jun 6, 2020
    Yessica and JaneL like this.
  9. lunarainbows

    lunarainbows Senior Member (Voting Rights)

    Messages:
    2,819
    Simbindi and JaneL like this.
  10. lunarainbows

    lunarainbows Senior Member (Voting Rights)

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    When WHO say “medical masks“ for those over 60/vulnerable to illness, do they mean “surgical masks“?
     
    Simbindi likes this.
  11. JaneL

    JaneL Senior Member (Voting Rights)

    Messages:
    364
    Location:
    Hampshire, UK
    Yes. This is the WHO definition of a medical mask from their latest guidance document regarding this (published 5th June):

    https://apps.who.int/iris/rest/bitstreams/1279750/retrieve
     
  12. JaneL

    JaneL Senior Member (Voting Rights)

    Messages:
    364
    Location:
    Hampshire, UK
    Hi @ahimsa - see above the answer to your question about medical masks. I can’t advise about brands but it’s important to make sure that the face mask carries the appropriate certification. The following advice is also from the WHO document I posted above:

     
    Simbindi, ahimsa and lunarainbows like this.
  13. Simbindi

    Simbindi Senior Member (Voting Rights)

    Messages:
    2,746
    Location:
    Somerset, England
    I am not sure, but I assume that if you purchase your masks from a registered pharmacy then they would only be supplying brands that have the correct certification. Currently, that is comparatively expensive to do in the UK, compared to sourcing them from Ebay or Amazon, which may be an indicator that many brands do not meet the high medical standard required for full PPE.
     
    JemPD likes this.
  14. lunarainbows

    lunarainbows Senior Member (Voting Rights)

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    2,819
    Yeah the box of surgical masks I got before are from some random seller on eBay. I don’t think they have any certification.
     
  15. Wits_End

    Wits_End Senior Member (Voting Rights)

    Messages:
    1,322
    Location:
    UK London
    I'm getting worried about the 40-60 seconds for washing your hands now ...
     
  16. Andy

    Andy Committee Member

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    21,810
    Location:
    Hampshire, UK
  17. TiredSam

    TiredSam Committee Member

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    10,482
    Location:
    Germany
    Free entertainment from those clowns again. Clare Geralda complaining about someone being patronising, SW complaining about someone being over-certain and unquestioning. I'm going to have to start ordering my irony meters in bulk if they carry on like this.

    Where are Sharpe and White? They can usually be relied upon to put their feet in it on Twitter at a time like this. Most disappointing.
     
  18. Mithriel

    Mithriel Senior Member (Voting Rights)

    Messages:
    2,815
    Well that has convinced me to wear a mask ...
     
  19. Sean

    Sean Moderator Staff Member

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    7,044
    Location:
    Australia
    Good. I encourage the pair of them to go on acting in public like the arrogant entitled reckless arse-clowns they really are. The more of it their non-psych colleagues in the UK see, the sooner they will shove them aside.

    And don't you just love Wessely lecturing others about the importance of rigorous science being done to establish the facts before making a policy or clinical recommendation. Does this guy possess any sense of self-reflection & humility at all?
     
  20. Keela Too

    Keela Too Senior Member (Voting Rights)

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