face masks...

A proper mask can provide protection (until it gets damp, at which point its useless). Trouble is, if its working, you get the virus all over the outside of it. Removal needs to be done carefully, into a suitable receptacle. Then wash your hands. 99.9% of the population will not be able to do this properly I can guarantee, so it just gets smeared somewhere and picked up then instead. They are also not that comfy to wear properly (tight for a good seal) so lead to lots of on and off and fiddling with the face, which isn't helpful. So all a proper mask does is delay the point the virus enters the body by a short time for the bulk of the untrained population.

Other lower quality masks (or other things repurposed as masks) are okay for keeping the virus in - i.e. to stop people violently sneezing and infecting a crowd of people. This is how they are traditionally worn in the far east - i.e. the sick person wears them to help stop spread. Careful disposal is still key, otherwise you just smear the virus somewhere new instead.

So yes, masks might be the answer if everyone could be trusted to wear them properly and dispose of them, and there were an abundance of them that weren't needed by fully trained professionals trying to save peoples lives. This is what Public Health England is saying - there is no evidence that for most people they wear them well enough to make any difference.

But in the meantime, just stay at home whenever possible and if you do venture out stay 2m from everyone and you won't need a mask. Simples. Although you mustn't forget the tinfoil hat....

 

If the issue is that people keep touching their faces, then surely the logical answer we chop of peoples arms and then we can all get back to normality at last.

 

When a Harvard epidemiologist says "he assumed the reports of the UK strategy were satire" and many other renowned experts (including those employed by WHO) question the veracity and reasoning behind it, it begs a big question, but I guess it depends on which reports we read and what information we have access to. That said, I hope the combined measures and decisions made prove to be effective and lives are not squandered as a result. Regarding PPE and in particular, the appropriate use of face masks to reduce transmission, I stand by my original question. If the benefits are negligible, why is it that they are being recommended (and made available) to non frontline staff in many other countries but not here in the UK?

 

Did Donald trump attend Harvard , are we doing anything so significantly different to the other countries other than those clever Americans ?

 

Good guess!

 

Indeed, those clever Americans who have perhaps the worst record of dealing with the virus on the planet!

 

Yes. the UK government's strategy differed markedly from those deployed by countries which had a head start on us in terms of information and practical experience. Remember 'herd immunity'? Fortunately we are now more aligned to measures demonstrated to be effective elsewhere, but delay in implementing these changes will have repercussions.

 

They questioned Herd immunity as a strategy.

Haven’t seen anything on facemasks.

 

I wear a Respro Techno charcoal lined neoprene face mask, when I go into busy shops like supermarkets and clear safety glasses. I’m not chancing anything.

 

The herd immunity will have to be the eventual outcome otherwise everyone will get it next time ,

 

Agreed, (based on the premise that it won't be totally eradicated) but it's what you put in place in the meantime to attenuate the impact

 

Lothar Wieler, president of the Robert Koch Institute, the German government’s main public health advisory body, said on Tuesday a distinction had to be made between mouth and nose protection and the filtering facepieces worn by medical personnel, which hold viruses back.

“Mouth-nose protection serves to protect other people, so that if you as the wearer are infected yourself and you cough or sneeze, the droplets don’t travel so far, which makes sense,” Wieler said. “We recommended it from the very start [of the outbreak] and continue to do so.”

Particularly salient to those who are asymptomatic. Plenty of industries and customer-facing businesses insisting that people entering the premises sanitize hands and wear a mask.

Now a real cynic might argue that a manufacturer of face masks would obviously advocate their use...I'm waiting for Fred Done to claim that online gambling reduces the spread of infection

 

Cut and Paste from a daily^^^

 

You referenced Harvard and WHO as stating our approach was wrong.....if it’s some German fair enough, but they don’t carry the gravitas of the aforementioned institutions and consequentially take a little of the impact from you original point.

I don’t know anything about facemasks other than the very best ones need to go to those frontline resources and the rest of us need to stay at home or socially distance.

 

This is better than Newsnight .

 

Yesterday, 3 builders in a van, shoulder to shoulder, wearing masks, bless.

 

The one job that I have seen done that was pointless and dangerous was the wheely bin cleaner who turns up and sprays the residual contents of a wheely bin all over the place with a pressure washer after the bins are emptied.

The one I saw was sneezing 2 weeks ago into a dust mask and he didnt turn up this week at the neighbours bin..

 

Damp masks.
Providing they have no meter strip, microwave them to kill bacteria.
If they have a strip, put them on top a source of heat for a while. (Be careful that it didn’t burn).
Just an idea...

 

The red one is carbon lined anti pollution mask. This lasts for 66 hours. The white valves ones are good, but only meant for one time use, however, if they get damp, I can dry them close to the fire. And a ‘buff’ or neck tube, is handy for when I’m close to people, but not too close.
At the moment, the BBC are recommending wearing masks in supermarkets. I’ve been wearing them since before lockdown. Where a mask? Yup, when I go shopping in places with other people.

 

Do you have a link for the BBC recommendation please? Can’t find that anywhere on their website.