Question: Coronavirus & home sewn masks?

The precautionary principle is, according to Wikipedia, “a strategy for approaching issues of potential harm when extensive scientific knowledge on the matter is lacking.” The evidence base on the efficacy and acceptability of the different types of face mask in preventing respiratory infections during epidemics is sparse and contested. But covid-19 is a serious illness that currently has no known treatment or vaccine and is spreading in an immune naive population. Deaths are rising steeply, and health systems are under strain.

This raises an ethical question: should policy makers apply the precautionary principle now and encourage people to wear face masks on the grounds that we have little to lose and potentially something to gain from this measure? We believe they should.
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https://www.bmj.com/content/369/bmj.m1435
 
How NOT to Wear a Mask

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Wearing a face mask takes some getting used to. To get the most benefit, you need to avoid these common mistakes.
Almost overnight, masks in a variety of colors, styles and materials have appeared on the faces of people around us. While it’s good news that many people are doing their part to slow the spread of coronavirus, the bad news is that many people are wearing their masks wrong.

“Wearing a mask takes some getting used to, for sure,” said Dr. Scott Segal, chairman of anesthesiology at Wake Forest Baptist Health. “You are probably wearing it exactly right if it’s a little stuffy.”
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https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/08/...ask-mistakes.html?smid=tw-nythealth&smtyp=cur
 
obeat said:
View attachment 10390
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Hmm, the trouble with that, as I see it, is that I can think of at least 3 different types of dish towel:
- linen ones (e.g. the sort of thing sold as souvenirs the world over)
- cotton ones
- towelling or other fluffy ones.

Which is meant, and is there a significant difference between their relative particle-trapping abilities?
 
Wits_End said:
Hmm, the trouble with that, as I see it, is that I can think of at least 3 different types of dish towel:
- linen ones (e.g. the sort of thing sold as souvenirs the world over)
- cotton ones
- towelling or other fluffy ones.

Which is meant, and is there a significant difference between their relative particle-trapping abilities?
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The picture shows the traditional check cotton one that is soft and absorbent but not fluffy. I think linen would have big holes. Towelling would be too hot and stuffy. The check cotton ones would seem likely to be good to me because their absorbency reflects a fairly deep mesh of fine fibres.
 
Apologies for cross-posting (I just mentioned this on the 'spread' thread) but I just caught a guy on BBC Radio 4 saying that the exit strategy (?) in the UK would involve more wearing of masks. He was talking about the bluetooth contact-tracing idea, among other things. Didn't catch his name.

I'm still surprised that we in the UK are so late to be told to adopt masks and that it's being left to individuals to make that choice.
 
Sasha said:
Apologies for cross-posting (I just mentioned this on the 'spread' thread) but I just caught a guy on BBC Radio 4 saying that the exit strategy (?) in the UK would involve more wearing of masks. He was talking about the bluetooth contact-tracing idea, among other things. Didn't catch his name.

I'm still surprised that we in the UK are so late to be told to adopt masks and that it's being left to individuals to make that choice.
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It also conflicts with herd immunity strategy, which I am not convinced ever disappeared
 
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Sasha said:
Apologies for cross-posting (I just mentioned this on the 'spread' thread) but I just caught a guy on BBC Radio 4 saying that the exit strategy (?) in the UK would involve more wearing of masks. He was talking about the bluetooth contact-tracing idea, among other things. Didn't catch his name.
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Think that was David Nabarro, who is the guy who didn't get the job at WHO got by Tedros. He works in WHO. I think the subtext was that he thinks masks are an essential part of a control strategy but he cannot say anything that goes against WHO policy.

I think it was him who also mentioned neighbourhood tracing groups. That sounds pretty much like telling people to take charge of their own destiny like neighbourhood watch groups for crime.
 
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Perrier said:
PS> Canada post now does allow postmen to leave pkgs in front of doors, but some of the postmen are practically our friends and thus help us all by putting pkgs inside our vestibules so they are not stolen or rained upon. I really need to haul out that sewing machine....
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Canada Post here in Metro Vancouver has always left small packages outside. The large packages that are delivered by truck, if no one is home, are taken to a local post office and you have to pick them up there.

I've noticed that some of the postal workers are wearing masks, and others are not.
 
I've noticed a lot of homemade cotton masks now being offered on Ebay for about £5-10 including postage. These include the type where you can insert a filter.
 
Keela Too said:
Hmmmm

BBC:
Coronavirus: UK to be 'guided by scientists' on face masks

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-52321378

They suggest at the end masks “ may do more harm than good”.

Really don’t know how they reach that conclusion
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I think it is because people keep touching their faces to make the mask comfortable and to talk to people but it can also give a false sense of security and stop them social distancing. Two people with masks on may feel they can stand closer.

They know that as more safety measures have been put into cars the more risks some drivers take. It may not be a problem now, but I saw a programme years ago which said that as cars got safer more pedestrians were injured.

I think wearing masks should be the norm, but the decision to make them compulsory is not completely straightforward and thought is going into it.
 
Keela Too said:
Hmmmm

BBC:
Coronavirus: UK to be 'guided by scientists' on face masks

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-52321378

They suggest at the end masks “ may do more harm than good”.

Really don’t know how they reach that conclusion
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I liked the way Fiona Bruce on Question Time kept saying 'well masks seem quite a good idea then?' while surrounded by idiots.
 
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