> I do wish US politicians would tell people to go back to work, but wear operation masks.
Surgical masks, as well as N95 respirators, are already in short supply for medical use. Encourage further non-medical use would exacerbate the supply shortage and hasten the rapidly-approaching catastrophic collapse of the healthcare system.
The current recommendation (and, increasingly frequently, mandatory order) that non-essential work that cannot be done remotely should be suspended is correct.
A vacuum cleaner bag is over 80% effective at catching virus size particles, a tea towel/dish cloth 70%, a surgical mask 90%. There’s no tea towel shortage. Western governments should be encouraging use of makeshift masks.
> Professional and Home-Made Face Masks Reduce Exposure to Respiratory Infections among the General Population
I ordered cotton masks from Etsy. They are supposed to arrive by the end of the month. Select vendors in the US for speed. Amazon has lots of cotton masks, but they all seem to be shipped from China, which means they will take awhile to arrive. (Am assuming US buyers. Looks like Etsy vendors are all over though so you can probably find a vendor locally in many countries.)
There are plenty of patterns for cotton masks online and I think ways to use a 3D printer to make one. I would much rather just buy one, myself.
“Cotton masks” from Etsy are almost certainly not the same thing as the medical/operation/surgical masks being suggested, which typically have a melt-blown polymer filter layer between non-woven fabric exterior layers.
It's true that even medical providers are turning to these type of masks as emergency supplies (and calling on hobbyists to make them for medical use!) because actual proper surgical masks are in short supply, but that doesn't mean that they are as effective and, moreover, it means that mass public use would lead to supply shortage into what has become the necessary fallback for actual medical use.
They aren't the same thing as medical masks. I'm well aware of that. But if people start making their own or get them from providers that aren't supplying medical needs anyway, it could very well reduce spread without taking masks from medical providers.
Why is Japan an outlier? One thing they do differently from most of the rest of the world is wear masks. Not perfectly but certainly more than in the US. And many Japanese are making their own now as they can't find professionally made ones either.
Yes it's a desparate measure but this is becoming more serious by the day.
I did have the opportunity to ask a Japanese person his opinion on why the rate of increase is lower than in the US. One reason he gave is wearing masks. Another one is the practice of taking shoes off when entering one's home (you bring in fewer pathogens that way). He did preface his answer with the statement that he is not a medical professional and that he was stating that it was his opinion only. But maybe something to consider.
Editing to see that the question I answered might suggest that I was saying those types of cotton masks are medical grade. I didn't mean to suggest that and agree that it's not responsible for someone to use a medical grade mask now without a medical need. My apologies for any misunderstanding I created.
I order lots of stuff from Japan, from Amazon US from Japan-based sellers. It's taken anywhere from a few days to two months (my last purchase). So I didn't want to risk it. Didn't find Japanese sellers of masks anyway.
I wasn't clear; I meant some kind of reusable 3D mask, not cotton.
I know nothing about 3D printing, so if you do you might want to search and see if what you find looks workable. I got many results that indicate it is possible.
There are a lot of misconceptions about masks. They are not effective for protection if not paired with eye protection. Plus viruses and bacteria actually cling to it, and lay people not used to wearing one will end up touching it way too often (try it, you’ll immediately realize how hard it is to not touch it).
