Unexpected way a mask could save you
Masks are now commonplace throughout Melbourne metro areas and the Mitchell shire and may soon be commonplace throughout the country.
Fingers crossed that doesn't have to be the case.
And while it took a while for Australia to embrace face masks to hinder coronavirus outbreaks, it turns out the wearing a mask comes with an extra benefit – it helps us stop touching our faces.
A study published by the Journal of the American Medical Association has found that face masks have been linked to a reduction in people touching their eyes, nose and mouth – one of the key ways of protecting yourself from the coronavirus.
COVID-19 is a respiratory illness that can get into your body through your eyes, nose and mouth.
Touch an infected surface like a door handle then immediately touch your face, be it itching your nose or rubbing your eye, and the virus can pass on to you.
The research, , used footage recorded in public transport stations and parks in China, Japan, South Korea, the United States and western European countries like England, France, Germany, Spain and Italy.
Scientists compared how often people touched their faces before the coronavirus pandemic, from January 2018 to October 2019, and during it, from February to March 2020. The study found that fewer people touched their faces in countries face masks were mandatory in public.
“An increasing number of governments have enacted mandatory mask-wearing policies for the general population in public areas,” said the researchers.
“However, the mechanisms of the preventive effect associated with masks are poorly understood, which has contributed to limited public acceptance of mandatory mask-wearing policies.”
Have you been wearing a mask in public, regardless of the state in which you live?
They also are not required to wear masks in Sweden
but they have had more deaths with their herd immunnity programme.
But are currently doing well
There is thought that wearing a mask will cause people to stop handwashing and social distancing.
Gas Mask Developer Invents COVID-19 Mask
In an apparent attempt to address the ineffectiveness of standard medical and cloth masks against airborne viruses, Noam Gavriely, an Israeli gas mask innovator, is now promoting ViriMASK, a new type of mask said to block 99.25% of particles with a diameter of at least 0.087 microns.
SARS-CoV-2 is a beta-coronavirus with a diameter between 0.06 to 0.14 microns.13 The device looks like a cross between a diver’s mask and a square gas mask. So far, the company has sold about 10,000 of these masks. As reported by Times of Israel:14
“Gavriely, ViriMASK CEO, told The Times of Israel: ‘Unlike other products, this is sealed all around the face, like gas masks and diving masks. And the filter is much more dense than the N95 mask and surgical masks, meaning that fewer particles penetrate.’
He said this can give peace of mind to hospital workers and other medical professionals, including dentists, and others who are at a higher risk of being exposed to the coronavirus.
The mask straps around the head and covers the eyes, nose and mouth, meaning that all points currently believed to be channels for coronavirus infection are protected. ‘In this sense, you’re covering yourself completely and also protecting the environment around you from any infection you may have,’ said Gavriely …”
Denmark stands out for its fast and effective response to the virus, leaving it with a death rate that’s roughly a fifth that in neighboring Sweden. But Danes aren’t required to wear face masks, and local authorities generally advise sick people to wear masks if they have to leave their home to go to the doctor. People who go to the airport also need to don a face covering. But Danes can go to shops, restaurants and gyms, and use public transport without masks.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-07-26/face-mask-photo-op-adds-to-bewilderment-over-non-use-in-denmark