Old research supported by Nobel prize-winning virologist Harold Varmus has resurfaced online, which clearly states that placing a layer of cloth in front of a person’s face stops 99% of infection droplets. Following which the reputed journal Nature recently discovered that a simple non-fitted mask blocked 99.9% of Coronavirus droplets and aerosol. But are key leaders across the globe willing to take up what science has to offer? Do we see masks as a portable preparedness measure for our fight against COVID-19? Complete Coverage: Coronavirus
Crux of the Matter
Show Us What You Have Got! There are three major types of masks available in the market currently to combat Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 or SARS-CoV-2. Commonly known as COVID-19, it spreads from person to person and recently discovered, human to animals via the main transmission route of small respiratory droplets.
1. Surgical Masks are disposable and loose-fitting two or three-layered face masks that provide coverage to nose, mouth, and chin. They prevent the spread of potentially infectious respiratory secretions like large-particle droplets, from the wearer to others and vice versa. On the flip side, air leakage can occur through the sides of the mask during normal inhalation.
2. N95 respirator is a well-fitted face mask. Besides providing 50% more protection against splashes, sprays, and large droplets than it’s counterparts, this respirator can also filter out 95% of tiny particles like viruses and bacteria. Being the most effective of the lot, it may provide the right sense of security to every individual at risk of contracting COVID-19. However, they are least readily available as well, making them the first priority of healthcare workers and first respondents to date.
3. Homemade cloth face mask – The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has recommended the usage of these face masks, in case of the absence of the aforementioned two. In addition to proper hygiene practices, they are especially helpful in preventing transfer of SARS-CoV-2 from asymptomatic people in public places, where it’s difficult to maintain the required 6-foot social distance from others. Additionally, there would never be a dearth of the material required to weave it and would be easy for the common public to make it.
For India, By India: Says the Govt After declaring face masks and hand sanitisers as essential commodities for the next 100 days up to June 30, 2020, under the Essential Commodities Act, 1955, the Indian Government banned the export of surgical and disposable masks. The Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) imposed this rule with immediate effect after the nation observed a black day earlier this week, with the highest one day rise of 693 new cases and the total reaching 4858, as per Worldometer’s updated sources (as of 7th April).
Apart from the prohibition of all ventilators and textile raw material export, items including gloves, ophthalmic instruments, surgical blades, gas masks with chemical absorbents for filtration and biopsy punch, were clarified to be freely exported. This move is set to empower the state governments to regulate production, distribution and prices of these items and prevent unnecessary hoarding and black marketing along the way.
DIY Guides to the Rescue! Fearing mandatory reservation of medical masks for health professionals and consequent unavailability for the general public, India’s science and technology (S&T) ministry recently released a detailed guide on how to make DIY, homemade masks.
When to Use a Mask? If you are healthy, you only need to wear a mask if you are taking care of a person with the suspected #COVID19 infection. OR Wear a mask if you are coughing or sneezing.@MoHFW_INDIA #IndiaFightsCorona #StayHomeStaySafe pic.twitter.com/4PLkPgX4XL — Dr Harsh Vardhan (@drharshvardhan) March 31, 2020
Dr Shailja Vaidya Gupta, an advisor to the government’s Principal Scientific Adviser, says “Washable and reusable masks can lower the spread of COVID-19 amongst residents of densely populated areas.” After all, something less perfect is still better than continuing to use nothing.
Trend of Maskmakers and Mask Donations in the Country In Mizoram, 400 tailors have kept themselves productive in these bleak times, by making protective gears, as per the directions of nurses and doctors, for truck drivers, police personnel, and the members of the civil society who formed the Local Task Force to undertake the delivery of these products. Meanwhile the UP government has decided to distribute 66 crore washable khadi masks to the poor in different parts of the state while Self-Help Groups in Odisha are making 50,000 masks everyday under the Mission Shakti programme, having distributed 1 Million Masks already.
4. Mask production: Yes, jail inmates in Kerala State jails are producing masks and guess what? so has Tihar, Jabalpur, Aligarh, MP, Rajasthan jail inmates. Their govt aren't thumping their chest in doing their jobs. https://t.co/mu4W8fgVeAhttps://t.co/mPau0NYQ1L — Dinakar B R (@DinakarBR) March 20, 2020
Amidst all this goodwill work, there have also been reports by prison officials at Tihar and Mandoli jails, that inmates have stitched 75,000 face masks since March 2020, for Delhi Traffic Police, fellow prisoners and miscellaneous organisations. Following this, Inmates of Central Prison in Hyderabad started stitching masks for IT companies while Kerala jails welcomed visitors to motivate the cell members to join hands in supplying handmade masks nationwide.
Unmasking: What’s Going on in Other Parts of the World? As if being the epicentre of COVID-19 wasn’t enough bad publicity for them, China has continued to stay in the redlight, with last month’s reports of Spain sending back 50,000 faulty testing kits worth £382million including ventilators, masks and gloves, to the dragon land. A White House source even claimed that the Chinese were making the Italians buy back the same masks and PPE (personal protective equipment) that the latter had donated at the height of the Wuhan Outbreak. After even the Dutch government recalled 600,000 face masks made in China that did not meet the CDC approved standards, Beijing told countries to recheck the instructions ‘carefully’ that were sent along with the masks.
The US government is ill prepared to deploy the Cold War–era law to deliver gear to strapped US hospitals. On the global market for medical gear, America is just another buyer on a long list. https://t.co/jU3w5OmXuM — WIRED (@WIRED) April 7, 2020
On the medical front, voluntary use of non-medical masks has been recommended in the US as WHO continues to advise healthy people to wear surgical masks/N95 Respirators only if they are caring for suspected patients. Other than that, there have been speculations of officials trying to bribe their way out of an impending shortage of masks in the country, by hijacking shipments going to worst hit areas of France.
meanwhile, #Taiwan sent 3 tonnes of materials used to make mask to Australia https://t.co/FmiPa1rdso #DontTrustRedChina #trusttaiwan #TaiwanCanHelp — Kevin (@EKEVCHU) April 6, 2020
To Wear or Not to Wear Masks? The world cannot function forever in a lockdown. South Korea has already achieved this nirvana with no economic crisis looming on their heads and controlling the Italy like trajectory by widespread covid-19 testing kits and provision of masks to every citizen in the country.
So while hotspots may continue to be under isolation for a longer period of time internationally, other areas can open up cautiously and masks can be made a mandatory accessory. This can ensure people stay alert to the health risk posed by COVID-19 even in public places. We can do all it takes to end this pandemic.
Curiopedia
Many manufacturing companies have stopped their core operations and have started manufacturing masks.
Bauer, Brooks Brothers, Carhartt, Eclipse International, Gap Inc and MyPillow are some of them.
The history of protective respiratory equipment can be traced back as far as the first century, when Pliny the Elder (circa A.D. 23-79) described using animal bladder skins to protect workers in Roman mines from red lead oxide dust.
Curated Coverage
Livemint – Government bans export of masks and ventilators to fight Covid-19
India Today – Masks help fight against Covid-19, Govt shows you how to make one
Arstechnica – Face masks for COVID-19: A deep dive into the data
The Economic Times – COVID-19: Since March, 75,000 masks stitched by Tihar, Mandoli jail inmates
The Guardian – US hijacking mask shipments in rush for coronavirus protection
CDC – Recommendation Regarding the Use of Cloth Face Coverings
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