Do we really have face Masks that can block COVID-19? How much would be their efficiency?
Surgical masks are effective at capturing droplets which is main Transmission route of corona virus.
Where as N95 masks are tight fitting and more effective, designed for medical setting to filter small particles, airborne viruses.
Dear V Veera Nagireddy, Thank you for the answer. What if we use a fabric with less pore size than the N95? Is the N95 developed at the possible minum breathability? Could minimizing the pore size cause an uncompromised discomfort?
The discussion in the US and in the EU is clear: Virologists and Epidemiologists and authorities today are all giving advice to use self sewn face masks in order to slow down the spread of COVID-19 (not as self protection, but as measure of slowing its spread down)...
COVID-19 has no clear set of symptoms and it is nicknamed the vicious virus because some do not have any and are happily spreading without knowing it.
We know of 90 year old elders and 3 year old youngstrs tested positive on COVID-19 without symptoms. But in case you have some the may be consisting out of a dry cough, fever but also sneezing (to a lower amount) and also the loss of smell and taste... (data from Germany on the base of more than 44,000 cases)
https://de.statista.com/infografik/21302/die-haeufigsten-symptome-von-covid-19/
Our Learned Friend Yuan-Yeu Yau has shared the following research:
"More and more studies have shown the benefit of wearing masks. Most recent paper indicates the importance of wearing mask, published in 'Nature Medicine' (4/3/2020)**.
**Journal Metrics: a high-ranked Medicine journal [SCI indexed, Impact Factor: 23 (pretty high)]. Paper is Free access.
Title: Masks could cut spread of COVID-19 virus
"Surgical face masks effectively block the spread of seasonal coronaviruses in respiratory droplets, suggesting that masks could prevent transmission of SARS-CoV-2.
Seasonal coronaviruses are one cause of the common cold. Benjamin Cowling at the University of Hong Kong and his colleagues had ill volunteers who were infected with seasonal coronaviruses sit in an enclosed booth and place their faces in a sampling device, called the Gesundheit-II, that captures airborne particles (N. H. L. Leung et al. Nat. Med. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-020-0843-2; 2020).
The scientists detected coronavirus RNA in both coarse droplets and finer ‘aerosol’ droplets emitted by volunteers who were not wearing masks. Mask reduced detection of viral RNA in both types of droplet. Larger particles are carried by sneezes and coughs, whereas exhaled breath can spread aerosol droplets, which have a diameter of five micrometres or less."
Report source: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-00502-w
Paper: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-020-0843-2"
Granch Berhe Tseghai N95 is good, if you have it, wear it. If you don't have N95, use blue-type surgical mask. If you don't have or not able to buy both N95 and surgical mask. You can make your own. CDC from U.S. has a guide now to teach people how to make their own mask. The guide provides protocols for either people know how to sew or people don't have sewing skill. See below.
CDC Guide: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/prevent-getting-sick/diy-cloth-face-coverings.html
one of my all time favourites in terms of infographics: how to Mundschutz, see
https://interactive.zeit.de/2020/starterkit/static/grafik-mundschutz-1-breit.83a1fc36aab69224398d355a3eb29244.cached.png
Dear all, repeatedly I have stated that there is no clear set of COVID-19 symptoms because some get infected and over it without showing any symptoms...
But here I am shareing an infographic that displays most common symptoms (which are more than just fever and a dry cough)...
A new infographic depicts five different types of face masks and their benefits...
I think N95 mask would be better if it is used by healthy and ill persons.
Have a look at this useful link.
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamainternalmedicine/fullarticle/2774266