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AlexSFCA

(6,137 posts)
Mon Mar 30, 2020, 11:37 PM Mar 2020

Should we all wear masks outside home?

We should all assume we are potential carriers of coronavirus. In many asian countries, it’s nearly mandatory for everyone and they’ve been very successful. Should we have nationwide mandate to wear facial masks the moment we step outside house? We all are carriers and exhale coronavirus (must presume that way).

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Should we all wear masks outside home? (Original Post) AlexSFCA Mar 2020 OP
Where are these mythical masks available? Been wearing my last one for a week BamaRefugee Mar 2020 #1
They're easy enough to make, there's insructions all over the internet. marble falls Mar 2020 #6
you can make them or buy the handmade ones online Marrah_Goodman Mar 2020 #82
Yes greenjar_01 Mar 2020 #2
it only works if everyone wears it AlexSFCA Mar 2020 #3
Whatever greenjar_01 Mar 2020 #4
Yes. n/t PoliticAverse Mar 2020 #5
should all essential businesses that remain open provide masks AlexSFCA Mar 2020 #7
Yes. LisaL Mar 2020 #47
yes Marrah_Goodman Mar 2020 #84
Yes, a mask will protect you Meowmee Mar 2020 #8
Would a tshirt strip and coffee filters work to some degree? Captain Zero Mar 2020 #39
Yes Meowmee Mar 2020 #41
re: "If it protects others if you sneeze etc it protects you as well" thesquanderer Mar 2020 #80
Not true Meowmee Mar 2020 #85
it will restrict the travel distance of the virus AlexSFCA Mar 2020 #86
Yes. In those respects, both kinds of masks significantly help prevent transmission. thesquanderer Mar 2020 #94
Wearing one I would find easy getting one Raine Mar 2020 #9
Make one... BigmanPigman Mar 2020 #16
I'm going to give it a try Raine Mar 2020 #17
Get creative or just have fun with it. BigmanPigman Mar 2020 #19
I started sewing masks by hand today. MerryBlooms Mar 2020 #10
I don't have a sewing machine, and don't really know how to sew besides BusyBeingBest Mar 2020 #13
Me too that's the kind of sewing I do, basic by hand Raine Mar 2020 #18
My son Mossfern Mar 2020 #24
That's a pretty good idea. BusyBeingBest Mar 2020 #26
Hey Moss, yer son's a dadgum genius!!! Leghorn21 Mar 2020 #29
Thanks Mossfern Mar 2020 #30
Aaaaahhhhhh! 2naSalit Mar 2020 #32
That is clever & easy. Appreciate your smart son! TY appalachiablue Mar 2020 #72
All you need to use is a running stitch csziggy Mar 2020 #58
Do you have a pattern? EllieBC Mar 2020 #21
I've been looking at youtube how-to's for about a week now. BusyBeingBest Mar 2020 #23
My sister said she found one that was made from paper towel, staples, rubberbands. MerryBlooms Mar 2020 #65
I saw one like that too--wonder if it would be better BusyBeingBest Mar 2020 #66
The tighter the weave the better... MerryBlooms Mar 2020 #71
Yeah at the very least, gives us something to do sitting at home.. BusyBeingBest Mar 2020 #73
Here are two I bookmarked, there are lots on Youtube- MerryBlooms Mar 2020 #64
WHO says yes if you're sick or taking care of someone who is sick. mwooldri Mar 2020 #11
everyone must assume they are carriers AlexSFCA Mar 2020 #31
Exactly. LisaL Mar 2020 #48
We are. Greybnk48 Mar 2020 #12
YES...here's why... BigmanPigman Mar 2020 #14
I haven't, but they have to help, even if only marginally effective. Hoyt Mar 2020 #15
The ones I'm making are designer . . . Ms. Toad Mar 2020 #37
Cool. How long will it be before America's wealthy will appear with Louis Vuitton surgical masks? Hoyt Mar 2020 #50
I was looking for something in garage today marlakay Mar 2020 #20
I found a few also Steelrolled Mar 2020 #56
Safety Glasses are also good if you have them. Normal glasses can also offer a bit of protection JCMach1 Mar 2020 #22
I saw someone with swimming goggles on today! 2naSalit Mar 2020 #33
Those would be good. LisaL Mar 2020 #46
We have some safety glasses, I'm planning to use them BusyBeingBest Mar 2020 #70
I have my mowing glasses which form a shield on all sides JCMach1 Mar 2020 #77
Thanks for the suggestion! musette_sf Mar 2020 #87
Yes budkin Mar 2020 #25
I wore mine to the Post Office today... ProudMNDemocrat Mar 2020 #27
Yes. bamagal62 Mar 2020 #28
I am not convinced that's necessary. PoindexterOglethorpe Mar 2020 #34
Better to wear it and not need it than to need it and not wear it hangaleft Mar 2020 #38
+1, I've been saying for years my parents generation had a gift of toughness. Every generation has . uponit7771 Mar 2020 #74
did you grow up on a farm far from mcdonald's Captain Zero Mar 2020 #40
Well, I did spend part of my childhood, from age 7 to 14 out in the country. PoindexterOglethorpe Mar 2020 #42
When I posted a thread here about parents deliberately exposing their rzemanfl Mar 2020 #55
I'm 71 and grew up in Manhattan HockeyMom Mar 2020 #57
Everyone needs to be responsible for their own safety. Totally Tunsie Mar 2020 #35
welcome to pandemic 101 AlexSFCA Mar 2020 #36
So as someone with zero underlying conditions, who is easily PoindexterOglethorpe Mar 2020 #43
For me, as a healthy (so far as I know, don't go to doctor very often) 50 year old BusyBeingBest Mar 2020 #69
Yes, it's a no brainer Cicada Mar 2020 #44
Yes. LisaL Mar 2020 #45
We should wear masks to protect others, not necessarily ourselves. kentuck Mar 2020 #49
I see it the other way. If you protect your self you are protecting others mitch96 Mar 2020 #60
Or cut up a HEPA vacuum bag into filters. Clean bag, obviously. LisaL Mar 2020 #68
I think so Generic Other Mar 2020 #51
I found a box of painter's masks Freddie Mar 2020 #52
'Mask countries' vs the 'no mask' countries - graph PunkinPi Mar 2020 #53
The mask countries also do massive testing & track you w/ cell phone apps. CottonBear Mar 2020 #54
Agree...just found the graphic interesting in light of the OP's question. nt PunkinPi Mar 2020 #59
+1 uponit7771 Mar 2020 #76
I went absolutist on masks after reading accounts and data JCMach1 Mar 2020 #78
It's probably ideal MissMillie Mar 2020 #61
You can make a cotton mask or you can purchase on-line. LisaL Mar 2020 #67
Yes we all should duforsure Mar 2020 #62
Without question. The more people who wear them, the more people WILL feel obliged to Alex4Martinez Mar 2020 #63
I have a rubber trump mask. Wonder how that would work. n/t zackymilly Mar 2020 #75
I have a rubber Beavis mask musette_sf Mar 2020 #88
heh heh...heh heh...n/t zackymilly Mar 2020 #89
I NEED TP musette_sf Mar 2020 #91
Beavis knew this day was coming. n/t zackymilly Mar 2020 #92
A coronavirus particle is 70-90 nm. Act_of_Reparation Mar 2020 #79
yes, we should Marrah_Goodman Mar 2020 #81
Yes, I belive so shanti Mar 2020 #83
I wear mine outside the home DenverJared Mar 2020 #90
Yes! Buckeye_Democrat Mar 2020 #93
that's terryfing AlexSFCA Mar 2020 #96
Yep, it's a win win. LisaL Mar 2020 #97
We should wear masks if we have them to help protect elderly and immunocompromised people. roamer65 Mar 2020 #95

AlexSFCA

(6,137 posts)
3. it only works if everyone wears it
Mon Mar 30, 2020, 11:41 PM
Mar 2020

mask may not protect you from infection but it will protect from spreading it to others. National mandate could ease lockdown quite a bit. Lack of masks is purely political right now. We have trillions dollars capacity to manufacture masks for the entire world x 3.

Meowmee

(5,164 posts)
8. Yes, a mask will protect you
Mon Mar 30, 2020, 11:47 PM
Mar 2020

Even if it is not an n95 s mask, it will offer some protection. If it protects others if you sneeze etc it protects you as well, pretty obvious. You can buy cloth masks which can be cleaned with throw away filters on amazon or make your own from vacuum bags etc. Better not to go out at all.

Meowmee

(5,164 posts)
41. Yes
Tue Mar 31, 2020, 03:12 AM
Mar 2020

If you can’t get surgical masks or n95 s etc. anything is better than nothing. Cover your eyes too with something. I wear wrap around glasses over my glasses. I am going to make something with a veil like plastic over a hat I saw here as well.

thesquanderer

(11,954 posts)
80. re: "If it protects others if you sneeze etc it protects you as well"
Tue Mar 31, 2020, 03:27 PM
Mar 2020

Not so much. Unlike N95, surgical masks don't seal around the perimeter. When you strongly expel from your nose/mouth, it mostly heads directly forward, through the filtering mask. But in normal breathing, as you breathe in, you are creating a small vacuum with air that will largely be pulled from the open areas where the mask is not sealed to the outside air. At least this is my understanding.

Meowmee

(5,164 posts)
85. Not true
Tue Mar 31, 2020, 04:54 PM
Mar 2020

Any mask is better than none, but of course you are free to do as you wish. I will be protecting myself because I know no one else will do it for me. For examples look up studies on surgical masks vs n95 masks for influenza worn by parents and family members of sick children etc for protection, they both had the same effect and both were effective vs no mask at all which was not.

No protection is perfect, even healthcare workers, who are usually exposed to much higher levesl, with the best ppe can and do become infected. Something is always better than nothing.

AlexSFCA

(6,137 posts)
86. it will restrict the travel distance of the virus
Tue Mar 31, 2020, 04:58 PM
Mar 2020

and it should certainly be effective when someone is talking and breathing.

thesquanderer

(11,954 posts)
94. Yes. In those respects, both kinds of masks significantly help prevent transmission.
Tue Mar 31, 2020, 05:57 PM
Mar 2020

But the N95 is supposed to be far superior when it comes to preventing yourself from getting it.

BigmanPigman

(51,430 posts)
19. Get creative or just have fun with it.
Tue Mar 31, 2020, 12:26 AM
Mar 2020

I have a round mask from 1999 and drew a red circle and a red slash on it. In the center I wrote tRump with a Big Fat Black Sharpie!. I wore it to an anti-tRump rally in protest of killing the ACA. I am proud to wear it even more now!

MerryBlooms

(11,728 posts)
10. I started sewing masks by hand today.
Mon Mar 30, 2020, 11:51 PM
Mar 2020

it sure as heck can't hurt. I don't trust a word from this administration or it's faux agencies.

BusyBeingBest

(8,049 posts)
13. I don't have a sewing machine, and don't really know how to sew besides
Tue Mar 31, 2020, 12:04 AM
Mar 2020

just basic stitching, but I'm doing the same thing--going to make three in case my husband and son want to wear one, although currently they feel it looks chickenshit and unmanly to for healthy guys to wear masks in public.

Raine

(30,540 posts)
18. Me too that's the kind of sewing I do, basic by hand
Tue Mar 31, 2020, 12:26 AM
Mar 2020

I don't know how to sew on a machine but I'm going to give it a try doing it by hand.

Mossfern

(2,375 posts)
24. My son
Tue Mar 31, 2020, 01:00 AM
Mar 2020

cut the sleeve off a t-shirt put it over his head, then raised it over his mouth and nose. You can probably double it, and slip in a piece of pillowcase between If you have an anti-microbal pillow protector that's even better.

No sewing.

Leghorn21

(13,520 posts)
29. Hey Moss, yer son's a dadgum genius!!!
Tue Mar 31, 2020, 01:08 AM
Mar 2020

I’m not kiddin, either!!!

Please tell him I said so, too!!

csziggy

(34,120 posts)
58. All you need to use is a running stitch
Tue Mar 31, 2020, 09:00 AM
Mar 2020


Or an overcast stitch:



There are instructions on YouTube for no-sew face masks but they would be hard to wash.

BusyBeingBest

(8,049 posts)
23. I've been looking at youtube how-to's for about a week now.
Tue Mar 31, 2020, 12:48 AM
Mar 2020

There's a lot of them out there now, and some no-sew versions too.

BusyBeingBest

(8,049 posts)
66. I saw one like that too--wonder if it would be better
Tue Mar 31, 2020, 11:32 AM
Mar 2020

to have an inner paper towel disposable liner (stapled on? safety pinned?) with an outer multi-layer cloth cover that's rewashable--will have to think about it.

MerryBlooms

(11,728 posts)
71. The tighter the weave the better...
Tue Mar 31, 2020, 11:48 AM
Mar 2020

and layers is better. I'm thinking for the inner disposable filter on ours, using a folded coffee filter? I'm thinking on it with you.

mwooldri

(10,291 posts)
11. WHO says yes if you're sick or taking care of someone who is sick.
Mon Mar 30, 2020, 11:57 PM
Mar 2020
https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019/advice-for-public/when-and-how-to-use-masks

Otherwise the choice is yours. If you want to assume you're sick with Sars-CoV-2 then go ahead and wear that mask. Bandana will work (better than nothing).

AlexSFCA

(6,137 posts)
31. everyone must assume they are carriers
Tue Mar 31, 2020, 01:17 AM
Mar 2020

with 14 days incubation period, you are carrying and spreading the virus unless you test negative. I wish we could get home tests like pregnancy tests so we could test ourself weekly at home.

LisaL

(44,962 posts)
48. Exactly.
Tue Mar 31, 2020, 05:05 AM
Mar 2020

And some people remain asymptomatic even if they do carry the virus.
So if you think about it this way, you have to wear a mask.

Greybnk48

(10,148 posts)
12. We are.
Tue Mar 31, 2020, 12:01 AM
Mar 2020

We're not going anywhere without one. And if you don't wear glasses, get some--lighter lensed sunglasses or one's you can keep on in a store. All mucus membranes covered.

BigmanPigman

(51,430 posts)
14. YES...here's why...
Tue Mar 31, 2020, 12:06 AM
Mar 2020

Sort of like saying to others, "Where is YOUR mask and aren't YOU ashamed of threatening my life and others with your selfishness and irresponsible behavior while living within our society".

Think of the people who are out there risking their lives for us. Be a responsible member of society or go live on a deserted island someplace!!! STAY the fuck HOME! If you HAVE to go out wear a mask, make one if you can't get one. A 4th grader can make one in 30 min.!

 

Hoyt

(54,770 posts)
15. I haven't, but they have to help, even if only marginally effective.
Tue Mar 31, 2020, 12:06 AM
Mar 2020

Can’t wait for designer and Vote Blue masks.

Ms. Toad

(33,915 posts)
37. The ones I'm making are designer . . .
Tue Mar 31, 2020, 01:50 AM
Mar 2020

with leftover fabric from ~1990-1995 when I was sewing hospital scrubs and baby carriers.

I think a lot of us are cleaning out our boxes of old fabric.

 

Hoyt

(54,770 posts)
50. Cool. How long will it be before America's wealthy will appear with Louis Vuitton surgical masks?
Tue Mar 31, 2020, 07:20 AM
Mar 2020

marlakay

(11,370 posts)
20. I was looking for something in garage today
Tue Mar 31, 2020, 12:27 AM
Mar 2020

And found a bag with 15 masks in it! OMG the way I whooped you would think I struck gold!

 

Steelrolled

(2,022 posts)
56. I found a few also
Tue Mar 31, 2020, 08:56 AM
Mar 2020

A little used but serviceable - industrial N95. Sometimes not throwing stuff away has its benefits.

I'll be using them if and when I have to go into stores.

BusyBeingBest

(8,049 posts)
70. We have some safety glasses, I'm planning to use them
Tue Mar 31, 2020, 11:45 AM
Mar 2020

to anchor the top of the mask to my face a little better. A little tiny bit of soap residue smeared around the inside lenses will keep them from fogging up.

JCMach1

(27,544 posts)
77. I have my mowing glasses which form a shield on all sides
Tue Mar 31, 2020, 02:37 PM
Mar 2020

Blocks things, but maybe more importantly keeps me from touching my eyes

musette_sf

(10,184 posts)
87. Thanks for the suggestion!
Tue Mar 31, 2020, 05:19 PM
Mar 2020

It occurred to me that I could use my night vision fitover glasses in the daytime as safety glasses. I'm not anywhere near leaving the house yet, but in the new world, when I finally get sprung, I suspect we still might need to wear some kind of protective gear. Also, one of my favorite cosmetic lines has just started shipping their slip-over bandanas that can be pulled over the nose and mouth, so I ordered a few of those. I'll be a sight to see come Q3...

ProudMNDemocrat

(16,483 posts)
27. I wore mine to the Post Office today...
Tue Mar 31, 2020, 01:05 AM
Mar 2020

Out of fabric I bought in Australia I made a dress out of. The clerk asked what was I shipping. I pointed to my mask and said...."120 of these in different prints thst I made."

PoindexterOglethorpe

(25,746 posts)
34. I am not convinced that's necessary.
Tue Mar 31, 2020, 01:31 AM
Mar 2020

I also see things about disinfecting your shoes after you've been somewhere. Really?

Also, I don't sew. I don't have random fabric at home.

And I'm the healthiest person I know, plus I'm constantly amazed at all the health problems my age mates have. What the fuck is wrong with them?

I'm 71 years old, and a lot of 40 year olds aren't as healthy as I am.

 

hangaleft

(649 posts)
38. Better to wear it and not need it than to need it and not wear it
Tue Mar 31, 2020, 02:39 AM
Mar 2020

I’m gonna wear a surgical mask on those rare occasions I leave the house. I don’t know how much, if at all, it protects me and others, but I’ll wear one anyway. Better to be safe than sorry. Hopefully, in the not too distant future we’ll be able to obtain sure fire protective masks easily and inexpensively online.

uponit7771

(90,225 posts)
74. +1, I've been saying for years my parents generation had a gift of toughness. Every generation has .
Tue Mar 31, 2020, 12:11 PM
Mar 2020

... something to give

Captain Zero

(6,714 posts)
40. did you grow up on a farm far from mcdonald's
Tue Mar 31, 2020, 03:02 AM
Mar 2020

I think people growing up on a farm until age 20 or so aare generally a lot healthier than their age group, but only assuming the well water is good. My grandfather lived to 93. In the summer he stood in his garden and ate lunch there.

PoindexterOglethorpe

(25,746 posts)
42. Well, I did spend part of my childhood, from age 7 to 14 out in the country.
Tue Mar 31, 2020, 03:19 AM
Mar 2020

It was dairy country in upstate New York.

I am also one of 6 kids, and came of age when we didn't yet have vaccines for measles, mumps, chicken pox, or rubella (known back then as German Measles). I was born in 1948.

For what it's worth, I was only a few months old when my older sister got chicken pox. My mom brought me to a doctor who gave me a shot of gamma globulin, something relatively common back then. According to my mom, while my older sister got a very bad case of chicken pox (and had scars on her forehead the rest of her life) I had other symptoms, but never got the actual poxes. However, being exposed to it over the years makes it clear that I am immune.

Some years later, before the vaccine was available, I was anxious that my sons get chicken pox. My older son had already been through three rounds of it in elementary schools in two different states. I was planning a spring break trip to my sister in another state, who called me up and said, "You may want to postpone this trip because one, there's a winter storm between us you'll have to drive through, and two, my oldest has just broken out in chicken pox."

I said, "I'm on my way." The winter storm was a mild hitch in the travel. Two weeks after we got home both of my sons broke out in chicken pox. Yes!

Please do not interpret that as anti-vaxx. This was before the chicken pox vaccine.

But back to your basic question. What a lot of people don't understand is how the human immune system works. We are designed to be confronted with lots of diseases in our early years. If we survive to age ten or so, we are highly likely to live through the next forty or fifty years (barring tragic accident), reproduce, perhaps become an elder of our tribe, and then die.

I do know that research has been done that indicates kids who grow up with dogs, and secondarily cats, have more robust immune systems than those who don't have those animals in their childhoods.

Polio was essentially a disease of affluence. Kids who were sheltered from disease were more likely to get certain diseases, such as polio.

One of the problems with this whole Corona Virus thing is that there are a fuck of a lot of people around who would not have been around 50 or 70 years ago. They are highly susceptible to this. A number of them will get this virus, and some of them will die. That is genuinely sad, but not really unexpected. I recall reading decades ago concerns about the fact that even then (and this is probably at least 50 years ago) that people were living and reproducing who would not have lived, let alone reproduced in earlier eras.

Another thought. I think almost all of us would agree that the planet is already overpopulated. Okay, so how do you propose the excess population be culled?

On the up side, there are soon going to be lots of jobs for grave diggers.

rzemanfl

(29,540 posts)
55. When I posted a thread here about parents deliberately exposing their
Tue Mar 31, 2020, 08:49 AM
Mar 2020

kids to common childhood illnesses before there were vaccines, I got some interesting responses. I will post the link when I find it.

On edit-link: https://www.democraticunderground.com/100213037109

 

HockeyMom

(14,337 posts)
57. I'm 71 and grew up in Manhattan
Tue Mar 31, 2020, 08:59 AM
Mar 2020

McDonald's first opened in the MidWest in the 50's. There weren't any in NYC when I was young.

I had all those diseases before the age of 2. Scarlet Fever at 6. Not a disease of the 1800's! It comes from strep. I had strep a lot as a young child. Yes, we had antibiotics then, but as we now know if given too much they become ineffective. Both the other poster and I lived through the 1957 and 1968 Flu Pandemics.

Maybe living on a rural farm made one healthier but NYC certainly wasn't very healthy back then. We played on sidewalks. Turned on fire hydrants and went barefoot in the streets along with dogs, and police horses, doing their business. Many apartments did not have toilets in their units. Community toilets in the hallways. Exposed to a LOT of germs all around. Much worse in those days than today.

I think the point the other poster was trying to make was that we survived all that and have lived into our old age. As the saying goes, "What doesn't kill you makes you stronger". Our immune systems were working on overload.

Totally Tunsie

(10,885 posts)
35. Everyone needs to be responsible for their own safety.
Tue Mar 31, 2020, 01:47 AM
Mar 2020

I've said this from the beginning, and I'm pleased to see that some of the experts are beginning to broadcast their agreement.

Originally, the idea of wearing one only if you were ill was the viewpoint. I heartily disagree. No one can put your health as their responsibility. Tell me that the guy who just lost his job, with a stay-at-home wife and an infant and a toddler is saying to himself "Screw food for the family. I need to buy masks to protect my fellow man." Mmmmmm - no. Protect thyself, especially if the other guy isn't.

PoindexterOglethorpe

(25,746 posts)
43. So as someone with zero underlying conditions, who is easily
Tue Mar 31, 2020, 03:39 AM
Mar 2020

as healthy as those twenty years or more younger than me, what should I do?

BusyBeingBest

(8,049 posts)
69. For me, as a healthy (so far as I know, don't go to doctor very often) 50 year old
Tue Mar 31, 2020, 11:40 AM
Mar 2020

I know I'll be looking like I'm overreacting compared to the rest of the crowd at my local Walmart/Safeway, where most people aren't even wearing gloves let alone masks, but I'm going to force myself to wear them because I'd rather look silly than drown in my own lung fluids. I'm trying to convince my husband and my adult sons to see it the same way--finally persuaded my husband to wear gloves at the store and gas pumps, so that's some progress I guess.

kentuck

(110,950 posts)
49. We should wear masks to protect others, not necessarily ourselves.
Tue Mar 31, 2020, 05:54 AM
Mar 2020

My wife had a few leftover masks from the hardware store, when she bought some paint.

I have heard that a coffee filter, inside a handkerchief, could make a fair mask.

mitch96

(13,817 posts)
60. I see it the other way. If you protect your self you are protecting others
Tue Mar 31, 2020, 09:11 AM
Mar 2020

Covid gets into our system via the NOSE MOUTH AND EYES. I wear a mask and glasses to stop
ME from touching my MOUTH NOSE AND EYES and contracting the virus , if I have inadvertently touched something. Wash, wash wash your hands. When out and about sanitize. If I don't get it I don't pass it on. Yes the glasses and mask stop airborne transmission and for me it also prevents me from touching my MOUTH NOSE AND EYES... YMMV...
m

Freddie

(9,231 posts)
52. I found a box of painter's masks
Tue Mar 31, 2020, 07:26 AM
Mar 2020

Would that work if i augmented it with some kind of cloth or bandage gauze?

PunkinPi

(4,870 posts)
53. 'Mask countries' vs the 'no mask' countries - graph
Tue Mar 31, 2020, 07:59 AM
Mar 2020


OK, so we've just listed some recent studies. But what might have caught your attention is this intriguing graph markup by @jperla. Look at the 'mask countries' vs the 'no mask' countries. 10/15:


CottonBear

(21,596 posts)
54. The mask countries also do massive testing & track you w/ cell phone apps.
Tue Mar 31, 2020, 08:46 AM
Mar 2020

South Korea does mobile testing. You must download an app and a message is sent to app with result. They know where you are and you are also alerted as to where others who have tested positive are. They (public health officials) know where all tested (negative) and tested (infected) persons are and can remind/require them to self-isolate.

This public health strategy is part of South Korean law.
I doubt Americans would go this route, even though it is highly effective.

As far as masks are concerned, a scarf or bandana will suffice for the average person, because the main thing is that it keeps you from touching your face. Wash and sterilize your hands frequently and after touching anything in public that could be contaminated.

Only medical professionals need medical grade PPE.

MissMillie

(38,454 posts)
61. It's probably ideal
Tue Mar 31, 2020, 09:15 AM
Mar 2020

But I think given the lack of availability, it would be wiser to save the masks for those who are on the front-lines of this (doctors, nurses, other hospital workers, police and other first-responders, etc.).


Stepping outside the house isn't all that risky. Being in contact with other people is. Avoiding others is the key.

At this point I think having a mask to go to the grocery is a good idea.

LisaL

(44,962 posts)
67. You can make a cotton mask or you can purchase on-line.
Tue Mar 31, 2020, 11:36 AM
Mar 2020

In fact the more we as a population stop the spread, the more help to medical professionals we are going to be.

duforsure

(11,882 posts)
62. Yes we all should
Tue Mar 31, 2020, 09:18 AM
Mar 2020

But the shxt for brains fake president will never promote that. He already has undermined mass production of masks , ppe's , ventilators, testing kits, you name it and trump has undermined the response to this virus. Was he doing this for Putin? If he tries to get oil sanctions lifted now you can bet Putin is behind trumps actions , and inactions on this. For all we know trumps in debt to him for maybe billions.

Alex4Martinez

(2,180 posts)
63. Without question. The more people who wear them, the more people WILL feel obliged to
Tue Mar 31, 2020, 11:03 AM
Mar 2020

When only one in 20 wear them, we feel it's unnecessary.

When 15 of 20 have them, we feel naked without.

We should all be wearing masks, scarves, neck gaiters, balaclavas or whatever we can find.

I wear a neck gaiter over my nose and mouth, it keeps in place a square of paper HEPA filter from a vacuum bag.

Act_of_Reparation

(9,116 posts)
79. A coronavirus particle is 70-90 nm.
Tue Mar 31, 2020, 02:44 PM
Mar 2020

You need an N95 respirator to filter that out, and we don't have nearly enough of them. Our doctors and nurses need them way more than you do.

shanti

(21,670 posts)
83. Yes, I belive so
Tue Mar 31, 2020, 04:04 PM
Mar 2020

True, it's not going to stop micro droplets, etc., but if it keeps one from touching their face, then it's done its job, homemade or otherwise.

Buckeye_Democrat

(14,846 posts)
93. Yes!
Tue Mar 31, 2020, 05:42 PM
Mar 2020

Unfortunately, I’m in the extreme minority in my part of Ohio. I bought groceries this morning, and I was the ONLY person wearing a mask among the 100+ people that I saw in the store. Most of the other shoppers were elderly too.

Some people noticed the mask and seemed to scurry away (usually women), like I MUST be infected if I’m wearing a mask, so that was nice — i.e., they helped give me the social distancing that I desired!

AlexSFCA

(6,137 posts)
96. that's terryfing
Tue Mar 31, 2020, 06:46 PM
Mar 2020

It would not surprise me if this pandemic will be even worse than feared. You really need to have national mandates not state by state, localities by localities. People travel by car and they will also travel after lockdown. They will kill the economy if the lockdown continues for several months.

roamer65

(36,739 posts)
95. We should wear masks if we have them to help protect elderly and immunocompromised people.
Tue Mar 31, 2020, 06:09 PM
Mar 2020

Our bugs should be kept to ourselves as much as possible. Main place to wear them is where ever people congregate.

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