Coronavirus has been sweeping around the globe, seeding fear and causing panic. With a total of 97,993 confirmed affected cases, 3,381 deaths, and 87 affected countries, The World Health Organization has taken matters into its own hands. WHO has already shipped a half a million sets of personal protective equipment to the frontline doctors, but the global supply is depleting.
People are taking all measures to protect themselves, causing a shortage of protective masks in many countries. As a result, some have turned to very creative mask ideas to keep themselves safe. But according to Leora Horwitz, a doctor and director at the Center for Healthcare Innovation, all the buzz is for nothing, because the masks don’t protect people from catching a virus. Plus, Horwitz shared her experience with a tedious face mask test that she is required to pass ever year, which suggests that most of us have no clue how to use them.
Let’s get into the doctor’s Twitter post, which will hopefully make some reconsider spending money on something you don’t need unless COVID-19 has already been detected in your system.
You can view a constantly-updated model of how much the virus has spread globally right here.
During the global COVID-19 crisis, protective masks have become a sort of luxury
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“Long thread ahead!” warned the doctor before explaining how face masks really work
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Image credits: leorahorwitzmd
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Image credits: leorahorwitzmd
Image credits: leorahorwitzmd
Image credits: leorahorwitzmd
Image credits: leorahorwitzmd
Image credits: leorahorwitzmd
Image credits: leorahorwitzmd
Image credits: leorahorwitzmd
Image credits: leorahorwitzmd
Image credits: leorahorwitzmd
Image credits: leorahorwitzmd
It turns out that the shortage of protective masks isn’t the only problem the US has to tackle amid the coronavirus. Stephan Hahn, Food and Drug Administration Commissioner, said that nearly a million coronavirus test kits would be ready by the end of this week at a press briefing on Monday. However, the White House admitted that the Trump administration will not be able to meet this objective. Mike Pence, who is in charge of the country’s response to the outbreak, made an unsettling statement: “We don’t have enough tests today to meet what we anticipate will be the demand going forward.”
More doctors showed how the tedious face mask fitting test looks
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Others blamed the flawed protective mask supply chain
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These Twitter users defended the practice of wearing masks
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And this guy took the anti-virus mask a tiny bit too literally
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This is what people had to say
Some considerations to put in perspective: Wearing a simple mask will not protect you 100% from virus but it will reduce the transmission for many other reasons. The first one being to avoid putting your finger in your mouth. We are not here to be as clean as a doctor, but reducing the risk is already a first step.
I started wearing a mask this week on the subway. I live in Toronto (Canada) and EVERY YEAR people sneeze on the subway without covering their mouths; 3 different times since this past November alone! I can still feel the spray on my neck when I think about it. The masks I use are ones I bought last summer when my mom developed pneumonia and I had to take care of her. I'm not taking anyone else's supply, and I always carry an extra to give to someone who is coughing/sneezing without one.
You should wear the mask. Some protection is better than no protection. The author is just mad that hospitals charging patients $20 for a Vicoden didn't bother to stock pile basic supplies. That's 20 masks at pre COVID-19 prices right there.
The person who sneezed right on you should be drawn and quartered.
You are the type of person this article is referring to. It's most likely that the person who sneezed on your neck, got you breathing in their germs because the masks rarely cover as well as you would think. So if you can feel the sneeze on your neck, you're breathing it in and completely covered in their germs anyways.
Use only respirator https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rKUawewnVD8
If you are just preventing yourself from touching your face, a decorative (washable) cloth mask will do just fine.
Considering how many people sneeze and cough without covering their mouths, yes, please, wear the mask. At least a simple cotton one.
No. It won't. Most people don't know how to wear them, and they're a cubic waste of money and time. Given that the most serious cases (so far ALL of them are over 70 and were sick before they got the virus) will end up in hospital, save them for nurses and physicians.
Sounds nice but not true, unfortunately. Numerous studies showed that N95 masks do protect regular people against "influenza-like" viruses. One of which I'll cite [1]. [1] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2662657/
The mask may protect, but it is saying that the protection is wasted because of mistakes when putting in the mask like improper fit that make the mask useless and waste it when doctor who are work near sick don't have access to the low supply of masks. Also, even if the seal is right, it would be hard to disinfect your body if you were wearing mask like hands, clothes and on the mask. It is better for the sick and doctor to use the limited supply
Some protection is better than no protection. BSL-4 lab workers would never dream of relying on a N95 mask, face shield and some scrubs to protect themselves so by you and the authors logic healthcare workers should just forget all that half measure stuff they are using and wear nothing. Positive pressure suit or nothing. As far as the low supplies, too bad. Hospitals gouge every patient who walks through the door. They should have put some of that cash toward PPE instead of a second summer home for the CEO. Fail to prepare and you pay the price.
If we are all that dumb and don't know how to use those masks, especially how to take them off, which was emphasized so heavily, then maybe make a post EDUCATING people, instead of pointing out how stupid they are. Because they will still buy them - they are on the market and are not exclusive only to medical workers. If regular people knew how to use them, it would be a benefit in the long run.
it did educate, it was just emphasizing how the proper way is very labor intensive that normal people don't or cant do such as the sugar test above. I understand your frustration of lack of education to people who buy masks, but it is saying not to waste time/money if you are healthy. The protocols are difficult to execute and unnecessary if you are not around sick people all the time. The supply is limited for professional and citizens so use masks if you are around the sick or are sick yourself.
You and the author's logic is non existent. If masks protect around sick people then they protect around sick people you do not necessarily know are sick. If masks fit well enough to stop virus from escaping then they likely fit well enough to stop it from entering. Saying sick people around healthy people should wear masks but healthy people around sick people shouldn't is ridiculous. The bottom line is the medical "professionals" are mad because their medical facilities bought their CEOs another vacation house instead of stock piling PPE and most of them failed to do it themselves too and now they have to compete with the rest of the world for it. Too bad, that's the way the cookie crumbles. Should have taken some of the $ from selling those $10 a pill asprin and $20 a pill Vicoden and put it into stock piling supplies. Now they will just have to suck it up.
Some considerations to put in perspective: Wearing a simple mask will not protect you 100% from virus but it will reduce the transmission for many other reasons. The first one being to avoid putting your finger in your mouth. We are not here to be as clean as a doctor, but reducing the risk is already a first step.
I started wearing a mask this week on the subway. I live in Toronto (Canada) and EVERY YEAR people sneeze on the subway without covering their mouths; 3 different times since this past November alone! I can still feel the spray on my neck when I think about it. The masks I use are ones I bought last summer when my mom developed pneumonia and I had to take care of her. I'm not taking anyone else's supply, and I always carry an extra to give to someone who is coughing/sneezing without one.
You should wear the mask. Some protection is better than no protection. The author is just mad that hospitals charging patients $20 for a Vicoden didn't bother to stock pile basic supplies. That's 20 masks at pre COVID-19 prices right there.
The person who sneezed right on you should be drawn and quartered.
You are the type of person this article is referring to. It's most likely that the person who sneezed on your neck, got you breathing in their germs because the masks rarely cover as well as you would think. So if you can feel the sneeze on your neck, you're breathing it in and completely covered in their germs anyways.
Use only respirator https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rKUawewnVD8
If you are just preventing yourself from touching your face, a decorative (washable) cloth mask will do just fine.
Considering how many people sneeze and cough without covering their mouths, yes, please, wear the mask. At least a simple cotton one.
No. It won't. Most people don't know how to wear them, and they're a cubic waste of money and time. Given that the most serious cases (so far ALL of them are over 70 and were sick before they got the virus) will end up in hospital, save them for nurses and physicians.
Sounds nice but not true, unfortunately. Numerous studies showed that N95 masks do protect regular people against "influenza-like" viruses. One of which I'll cite [1]. [1] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2662657/
The mask may protect, but it is saying that the protection is wasted because of mistakes when putting in the mask like improper fit that make the mask useless and waste it when doctor who are work near sick don't have access to the low supply of masks. Also, even if the seal is right, it would be hard to disinfect your body if you were wearing mask like hands, clothes and on the mask. It is better for the sick and doctor to use the limited supply
Some protection is better than no protection. BSL-4 lab workers would never dream of relying on a N95 mask, face shield and some scrubs to protect themselves so by you and the authors logic healthcare workers should just forget all that half measure stuff they are using and wear nothing. Positive pressure suit or nothing. As far as the low supplies, too bad. Hospitals gouge every patient who walks through the door. They should have put some of that cash toward PPE instead of a second summer home for the CEO. Fail to prepare and you pay the price.
If we are all that dumb and don't know how to use those masks, especially how to take them off, which was emphasized so heavily, then maybe make a post EDUCATING people, instead of pointing out how stupid they are. Because they will still buy them - they are on the market and are not exclusive only to medical workers. If regular people knew how to use them, it would be a benefit in the long run.
it did educate, it was just emphasizing how the proper way is very labor intensive that normal people don't or cant do such as the sugar test above. I understand your frustration of lack of education to people who buy masks, but it is saying not to waste time/money if you are healthy. The protocols are difficult to execute and unnecessary if you are not around sick people all the time. The supply is limited for professional and citizens so use masks if you are around the sick or are sick yourself.
You and the author's logic is non existent. If masks protect around sick people then they protect around sick people you do not necessarily know are sick. If masks fit well enough to stop virus from escaping then they likely fit well enough to stop it from entering. Saying sick people around healthy people should wear masks but healthy people around sick people shouldn't is ridiculous. The bottom line is the medical "professionals" are mad because their medical facilities bought their CEOs another vacation house instead of stock piling PPE and most of them failed to do it themselves too and now they have to compete with the rest of the world for it. Too bad, that's the way the cookie crumbles. Should have taken some of the $ from selling those $10 a pill asprin and $20 a pill Vicoden and put it into stock piling supplies. Now they will just have to suck it up.