ravan

I've been collecting links, including to scientific papers, about masks:


https://www.craftpassion.com/face-mask-sewing-pattern/

https://www.craftpassion.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/face-mask-pattern-1.pdf

https://smartairfilters.com/en/blog/best-materials-make-diy-face-mask-virus/

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/258525804_Testing_the_Efficacy_of_Homemade_Masks_Would_They_Protect_in_an_Influenza_Pandemic

https://www.instructables.com/id/DIY-Cloth-Face-Mask/

Thailand masks https://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2020/03/12/world/asia/12reuters-health-coronavirus-thailand-masks.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/17/opinion/coronavirus-face-masks.html

https://youtu.be/hVEVve-3QeM - Why we need #Masks4All, and how to make your own mask

https://annals.org/aim/fullarticle/2764367/effectiveness-surgical-cotton-masks-blocking-sars-cov-2-controlled-comparison - conclusion is that masks don't work, but data says cloth masks cut output by 1/3.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-020-0843-2 - Respiratory virus shedding in exhaled breath and efficacy of face masks

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22188875 - The use of masks and respirators to prevent transmission of influenza: a systematic review of the scientific evidence.

https://newsroom.wakehealth.edu/News-Releases/2020/04/Testing-Shows-Type-of-Cloth-Used-in-Homemade-Masks-Makes-a-Difference

https://youtu.be/HhNo_IOPOtU - Masks for all, from Czechs

https://www.bmj.com/content/369/bmj.m1442 - Covid-19: should the public wear face masks?

COVID-19 is the Schrodinger's virus: You don't know you have it until you come down with symptoms, but you are contagious right from the start, and can often spread it for 3 or more days before you have any suspicion that you are sick!!

Given that, I am going to go out on a limb and ask you to do one, simple, easy thing, along with all the handwashing and social distancing: Wear a cloth mask when you go out, remove it like it was contaminated when you get home, and wash it carefully.

Why cloth? Because it will leave the professional grade N95 masks for medical professionals and caregivers dealing with known infections, while still helping to reduce the spread of coronavirus.

Cloth masks are about half as effective as a properly worn N95 mask.

So if you wear a mask, that is 50% less chance that you get contaminated if you don't have it, and 50 % less that you contaminate someone else if you do have it. If *both* people are wearing masks? It drops your risk to 25%, or maybe more because of the reduction in spray radius (my crude term for how far people spray microdroplets when they talk.)

Think I'm nuts, or spreading baloney? Listen to some others, then:

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/17/opinion/coronavirus-face-masks.html

https://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2020/03/12/world/asia/12reuters-health-coronavirus-thailand-masks.html

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/258525804_Testing_the_Efficacy_of_Homemade_Masks_Would_They_Protect_in_an_Influenza_Pandemic

Got a sewing machine, maybe some old pillowcases?

https://www.instructables.com/id/DIY-Cloth-Face-Mask/

Make each person *three*. One to wash, one to wear, one for spare (and maybe one to share)