Scroll down for two documents:
IS IT OKAY TO WEAR A HOME-MADE MASK? and REVIEW OF PUBLIC HEALTH MESSAGES ABOUT MASKS AND ESS MASK POLICY
IS IT OKAY TO WEAR A HOME-MADE MASK?
10th April 2020
KEY POINTS
- Covid-19 (coronavirus) is spread from person to person via close contact or droplets from an infected person(1).
- The main ways to protect yourself and others is to maintain social distancing and wash your hands regularly.
- Home-made face masks can slow the spread of Covid-19 if worn properly and washed regularly.
- A home-made mask can help an asymptomatic wearer from infecting others by reducing droplet spread.
- DO NOT BUY P2, respirator or surgical masks – our health workers need them.
- We can assume that any of us could carry the virus – sometimes symptoms don’t show up for 14 days.
SHOULD WE ASSUME WE COULD HAVE COVID-19?
Australian health authorities and the World Health Organisation (WHO) state that a person can carry the virus and be contagious for up to 14 days before they show symptoms. The typical incubation period is around five days(2).
Health.gov.au advises: “If you have COVID-19, wearing a surgical mask can help to prevent spreading it to others.”(3)
The Health Dept and Government of Czech Republic encourages members of public to assume they have Covid-19 and to wear a home-made mask to protect others.
OVERSEAS ADVICE
- The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines now recommend all Americans wear cloth or fabric face coverings when they’re in a public place.(4)
- The US CDC has produced a video featuring the US Surgeon General that shows how to make a face covering: https://youtu.be/tPx1yqvJgf4
- Czech Republic – Masks4All is an initiative backed by the Govt and Health Dept to get people wearing home-made masks: masks4all.org
- Dr Jeremy Howard and Rachel Thomas are data scientists and ethicists. Howard has been quoted worldwide about mask wearing and Covid-19 (5,6)
- Dr Mike Ryan from WHO said on 3/4/2020 that “the idea of using respiratory coverings or mouth coverings to prevent coughing or sneezing… that in itself is not a bad idea”. (7)
WHEN ARE HOME-MADE MASKS USEFUL?
Anytime you go out where you will meet others in close proximity.
Under current Australian restrictions a number of activities are allowed that can involve getting close to others.
ONLY leave home for activities that are permitted by the Australian Govt social distancing restrictions:
- Going to the shops, service station, bank (avoid these activities if possible by using home delivery or online services)
- Providing care
- Going to work – shop keepers, builders, mechanics and others are permitted to be out and about under the current restrictions.
- See the full NSW list of permitted activities: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-03-31/coronavirus-rules-explained-when-you-can-leave-house-in-nsw/12105782
WHO DO MASKS PROTECT?
- Wearing a P2 mask or respirator with face shield can protect the wearer from infection – save these masks for health professionals.
- DO NOT BUY P2 or surgical masks – hospitals and doctors need them more than you.
- A home-made mask is not as effective as a P2 for protecting the wearer.
- A home-made mask can help an asymptomatic wearer from infecting others by reducing droplet spread.
- Masks reduce droplet spread caused by coughing, sneezing and speaking.
- A home-made mask can also remind you not to touch your face. Studies suggest a human can touch their own face 16 times a day. (8)
THE BEST WAYS TO AVOID SPREADING THE VIRUS
- Social distancing
- Wash your hands regularly
- A home-made mask can help you not to spread the virus if you have it but are not yet showing symptoms.
IF YOU ARE GOING TO WEAR A MASK – DO IT RIGHT
In the same way as you do for any other protective equipment (seat belt, condoms, etc) – masks need to be worn and used correctly:
- Wash your home-made mask regularly in soapy water. After a trip to the shops where you’ve interacted with others would be a sensible time. Change and wash your mask more often if you are in frequent contact with others for work, shopping or a caring role.
- If you touch the outside of your mask (where water droplets from others might be sitting) consider your hands as now being contaminated – wash your hands regularly. This also applies to your bare face if you are not wearing a mask.
- Don’t touch the outside of your mask and then touch your own face under the mask, you’ve bypassed the protective barrier.
WILL WEARING A MASK KEEP ME SAFE FROM COVID-19?
- No, not on its own.
- The primary measures to keep you safe are to maintain a social distance and wash your hands regularly.
- However, mask wearing can help slow the spread in situations where you can’t avoid other people (shopping, work etc).
- An asymptomatic carrier who is wearing a mask is less likely to spread the disease to others or surfaces via expelled water droplets.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
I work in an allied health field, our staff need to wear masks in our first aid and medical work. As much as possible I have kept up with mask wearing guidance, best practice procedures and public health messaging.
Currently Australian health authorities have not made any recommendations requiring mask usage. Most of the public health messages in Australia are that masks are not required as long as other measures are adopted – social distancing and hand washing.
Australian public health authorities discourage mask use because of a fear it will lead to a shortage of masks for use by health workers. Australia’s Deputy Chief Medical Officer Prof Paul Kelly was quoted as saying he did not think (mask wearing) was “a good idea”, given there was a shortage of supply for frontline workers and no evidence confirm they are effective. However, in answer to a media question he went on to say “The key point… is masks can be useful to stop the spread from a person with the disease to other people. If the mask is used correctly, that’s true,” (9)
I wear a home-made mask when close to others. I work on the cautious assumption that any of us could be carrying the virus but not yet showing symptoms and I don’t want to pass it on. For me this is when shopping and when working close to others.
Lucas Trihey, 10th April 2020
www.eventsafetyservices.com.au
REFERENCES AND ADDITIONAL BACKGROUND
2.https://www.who.int/news-room/q-a-detail/q-a-coronaviruses
4. https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/prevent-getting-sick/diy-cloth-face-coverings.html
5. https://youtu.be/BoDwXwZXsDI
6.https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/02/face-masks-coronavirus-covid-19-public “The primary transmission [of coronavirus] is now known to be droplet-based, and we now know that that transmission largely occurs in the first seven days after infection, when people are largely asymptomatic. So that means that if you’re highly infectious, you probably won’t know it. So we should all assume that we are potentially lethal to people around us. The way we are potentially lethal to people around us is when we speak: that’s when these micro droplets get ejected up to six feet.
If you’re speaking, and you put a couple of layers of cotton or paper towel in front of your mouth, the droplets go into that and not into the face of the person you’re speaking to. That’s why masks dramatically help reduce the spread of the virus.”
A concern by some public figures is that homemade masks should not be used because they might not be used properly:
Howard’s reply: “When we found that seatbelts keep people safe, we required people wear them. When we realized that condoms can protect you from disease, we told people to avoid unprotected sex. If there’s something that could dramatically slash the transmission of disease, and our response is to tell people not to use it because they might do it wrong, that’s incompatible with any other kind of policy decisions we make.”
Jeremy Howard is a research and data scientist at the University of San Francisco who has specialised in medical statistics. His data research institute found 34 scientific papers indicating that even rudimentary masks can be effective in reducing virus transmission in public – and none showing clear evidence that they do not.
8. https://www.healthline.com/health-news/how-to-not-touch-your-face
REVIEW OF PUBLIC HEALTH MESSAGES ABOUT FACE MASKS IN AUSTRALIA
After reviewing recent announcements by health and medical authorities and advisers in Australia I believe that there’s a recognition that face masks can slow the rate of infection of Covid-19. However policy statements by most Australian authorities are not recommending that the public should wear face masks. I think their reasons can be summarised:
- A lot of people would need to wear masks in public areas to have a noticeable effect on infection numbers. The Norman Swan interview below summarises this issue well.
- If the public go out and buy masks they are making masks harder to source by medical workers.
Swan acknowledges that home-made masks can be effective in reducing droplet spread and that it’s one of the tools likely to be used as social distancing restrictions are eased at a later date.
Mask policy at ESS sites:
- Wearing home-made masks can help us avoid spreading the virus if we are infected (yet not feeling ill and not showing symptoms)
- We encourage staff to wear a mask when in close proximity to others (shopping, working close to others, talking with a client etc).
- Some activities that ESS undertakes including building work, landscaping and general contracting are permitted under current restrictions – and hence wearing a home-made mask allows us to keep working in these environments in greater safety and with less risk of passing the virus on.
- It’s easy to carry and wear a home-made mask and most staff are happy to do so if it means they are less likely to pass on the virus to a fellow worker or client.
- Home-made masks should be washed regularly.
Lucas Trihey
Event Safety Services
10/4/2020
Recent statements about face masks from health and govt authorities and advisers:
6th April 2020
“So I think there is no question that if everybody was to wear an effective mask in public, we would reduce the rate of spread of asymptomatic disease because there is people walking around who don’t know they’ve got COVID-19.” Dr Norman Swan on ABC Coronacast (click the TRANSCRIPT button for the text).
https://www.abc.net.au/radio/programs/coronacast/do-masks-help-protect-you-from-coronavirus/12123574
10th April 2020
“If you have COVID-19, wearing a surgical mask can help to prevent spreading it to others.” Health Dept.
5th April 2020
Australia’s Deputy Chief Medical Officer Prof Paul Kelly was quoted as saying he did not think (mask wearing) was “a good idea”, given there was a shortage of supply for frontline workers and no evidence confirm they are effective.
“The key point… is masks can be useful to stop the spread from a person with the disease to other people. If the mask is used correctly, that’s true,” (9)
April 2020
In most cases, it takes up to 14 days for symptoms to appear after a person has been infected with the coronavirus (COVID-19). The period is also known as the ‘incubation period’. HealthDirect website
10th April 2020
So if you’ve got COVID-19, you should be wearing a face mask so your droplets from your sneezing and coughing don’t go onto surfaces or onto somebody else. My Doctor website
7th April 2020
On the ABC’s Coronacast podcast, physician Dr Norman Swan says the decision to wear a face mask must balance benefit with supply.
“If everybody were to wear an effective mask in public, we would reduce the rate of spread of asymptomatic disease… [but] there aren’t enough masks to go around at the moment,” he says.