WHY MASKS #1

At MasksforIndia we sat down together(not literally-social distancing remember) and looked at reports of problems,medical research and examples in other places.In Czech Republic it was made mandatory for all residents to wear masks.Not necessarily N95 repirators but cloth masks as well and an instant downturn in the rate of infection was seen with them being able to flatten the curve dramatically.

Recently scientists have changed sides saying anybody who can should get a mask. In India this is not happening to conserve masks for the frontline fighters,health workers,doctors and nurses etc.But no one expected that a country would be able to produce millionns of masks in a few days like the Czech Republic did.

Thus we stepped in to provide professional masks to hospitals with and ensure other homemade masks get to those who need to go outside to earn their keep and to vulnerable people with comorbidities.We ensure disinfection of all masks before use!

“There are a lot of reasons to believe that homemade masks would help a lot. In Hong Kong, Mongolia, South Korea and Taiwan, all of which have covid-19 largely under control. (A lot of the people here used homemade masks)They are all near the original epicenter of the pandemic in mainland China, and they have economic ties to China. Yet none has resorted to a lockdown, such as in China’s Wuhan province. In all of these countries, all of which were hit hard by the SARS respiratory virus outbreak in 2002 and 2003, everyone is wearing masks in public. George Gao, director general of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, stated, “Many people have asymptomatic or presymptomatic infections. If they are wearing face masks, it can prevent droplets that carry the virus from escaping and infecting others.

Jeremy Howard’s research institute, fast.ai, has found 34 scientific papers indicating basic masks can be effective in reducing virus transmission in public — and not a single paper that shows clear evidence that they cannot. “source.

In the US the CDC has recommended using bandannas and homemade mask for health professionals who can’t find N95 respirators or surgical masks.If it’s good enough for hospitals,it’s good enough for us. For example,the Israeli Prime Minister has asked all Israelis to wear masks and many European countries have made it mandatory for residents to do so.

The WHO recommends masks for those infected with COVID-19 or those taking care of people infected with COVID-19.

But about 50% of people who have COVID-19 are don’t show symptoms. It’s common sense that if we don’t know who has it and anyone who has it needs to wear a mask, then we should all wear masks.Especially in a country like India with an extremely high [population density.

We should prioritize all medical masks to healthcare workers for obvious reasons. In the meantime, for yourself, you can make your own mask which is 90% effective.The pandemic doesn’t end when the lockdown ends,so we need to be careful.To the same effect the Indian and American governments have asked people to wear cloth masks.

“A double layer of 100% cotton cloth is about 70% as effective as a surgical mask at capturing small particles (up to five times smaller than coronavirus).” And homemade masks are reusable. –Office of the Principal Scientific Advisor to the Government of India (study #1 & study #2)

1. Protect others by not spreading the virus if you have it.

2. Protect yourself by reducing your chances of catching the virus when you go outside.

3. Reduce face touching by wearing something that covers your face.

Source: Covid-19: Why We Should All Wear Masks – There Is New Scientific Rationale

Some experts have argued that non-medical fabric masks might make a dent in transmission risk. “Something doesn’t have to be 100% effective to be beneficial,” –Dr. Anthony Fauci, the US director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases