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ARCHIVED - Video demonstrates the ineffectiveness of homemade facemasks
The Spanish government now recommends facemasks for shopping
This week the regional health service in Murcia has asked generous donors to refrain from making their own facemasks and offering them to medical staff, explaining that the masks do not provide the required level of protection for use in hospitals and health centres, and a video prepared by the volunteer firemen of Tortuguitas in Argentina demonstrates this clearly.
Clarísimo este video de los Bomberos de Tortuguitas sobre la (no) utilidad de los barbijos caseros 👇 pic.twitter.com/QAMIp4etzd
— Leandro Cahn 💚 (@leandrocahn) April 2, 2020
They show using an aerosol spray how substances simply pass through a mask despite the spray being far weaker than a sneeze, whereas a surgical mask is far more resilient.
This has come to light on a day when the Spanish government has changed its policy and now recommends the wearing of a facemask for people going out to the shops, although for many that will prove impossible as there are none on sale in many pharmacies and there is a general shortage of masks anywhere.
Scientists continue to maintain that masks are no good for preventing the wearer from catching the virus, but only for preventing its further spread, as the mask can catch droplets should a contagious wearer sneeze. As most of thoise who are contagious are unaware of this fact, wearing masks is now considered a sensible precaution.
Due to the lack of masks in pharmacies, many people have resorted to making their own masks from material available at home, but it must be emphasised that these home-made masks do not offer protection against catching the virus.
Furthermore, home-made masks can be a health risk in themselves, particularly if they are not made by the wearer who can validate the source of the fabric from which they are made and the person who has made them.
Fabric can carry the virus, and the person who made the mask could also be contagious; if that person, or someone in the room with them was to sneeze at any point during the manufacture, or distribution of the mask, the mask could actually infect the wearer, rather than protect them.
And how do you know that the manufacturer of a home-made mask, who could be contagious, hasn´t tried on the mask before handing it on to somebody else???
Furthermore, it is illegal to drive around delivering or selling home-made masks, and anyone caught doing so is in breach of the State of Emergency and faces a fine.
So in short, unless you have made the mask yourself and are absolutely sure that the fabric has not come in contact with the virus, don´t wear a mask given to you by anybody else unless it is surgically clean. Masks should only be worn once before being discarded as they could contain traces of the virus.
If at all possible, use pharmaceutical-standard masks and discard them after use.
New research indicates that coronavirus may travel further than we believed during a sneeze.
An interesting study
Meanwhile, further insights into the nature of the Covid-19 virus and why it has spread so rapidly have been provided by research performed in Germany. An in-depth study of nine young people who contracted the virus concludes that it multiplies 1,000 times more quickly than the SARS virus which appeared in China in 2002, when it claimed almost 800 lives before the outbreak was curbed.
The nine cases studied were detected in Munich on 27th January, making them the first coronavirus patients in Europe after they were infected during a training course also attended by Chinese nationals. Among the conclusions reached by Doctor Clemens Wendtner is that the virus multiplies not only in the lungs, as did the SARS virus in 2002, but also in the throat, where it is incredibly active during the first week in which symptoms are apparent.
The research also finds that the peak of contagion is reached before the fifth day and that the virus remains active for only 8 days in mild cases, but although these timespans are shorter than in the 2002 SARS virus the presence of the infection in the throats of patients with few symptoms helps it to spread rapidly through the population: for this reason the WHO recommends that anyone experiencing a cough should wear a facemask.
Another startling finding is that once it is inside a human cell a coronavirus can produce as many as 100,000 copies of itself in just 24 hours.
The ease with which Covid-19 is transmitted from one person to another without the transmitter being aware that he or she is a carrier explains how single events such as the football match played by Valencia against Atalanta in northern Italy on 19th February helped to cause the spread of the outbreak in Spain. Various journalists and fans returning to Spain tested positive soon afterwards as enthusiasm regarding the Champions League brought the virus to eastern Spain, and soon it was established in all parts of the country.
Similarly, it can be said with hindsight that massive events like the marches on 8th March (International Women’s Day) were probably instrumental in Spain becoming one of the worst affected countries during the pandemic. It is impossible to calculate how many people were infected during the events held across the country, but it is unlikely to be mere coincidence that the number of cases in Madrid began to shoot up over the following days, the patients including prominent political leaders who attended demonstrations.
Remember: LOCKDOWN MEANS LOCKDOWN. STAY AT HOME. STAY SAFE AND DO YOUR BIT TO REDUCE THE SPREAD OF CORONAVIRUS.
Follow Murcia Today on Facebook to keep up to date with all the latest updates locally for the Region of Murcia and the main information for the rest of Spain: https://www.facebook.com/MurciaToday/.
Our local area groups are as follows. These are designed to filter locally specific information and may be used by clubs, charities, any of the businesses who work with us to ensure information is available to residents in English and for those living in the specific areas. They are not buy and sell groups, do not accept any bickering or argumentative so and so's, are not "open for any old rubbish" pages, and are not trying to compete with your local comunity groups, they are specifically for sharing good, relevant local information and we hope you will use them for that during this difficult time.
Around Mazarrón news, events and local info: Click to join
Mazarrón, Fuente Álamo, Águilas, Lorca, Totana, Puerto Lumbreras, Camposol, Alhama de Murcia. Click to join (all within a half hour drive of each other)
Mar Menor news, events and local info. Click to join (this includes all the Mar Menor municipalities and Cartagena)
North-west Murcia: Bullas, Mula, Cehegin, Caravaca, Cieza, Calasparra, Jumilla, Moratalla info. Click to join
What to do if you are in the Region of Murcia and believe you may have contracted the virus
The regional government has set up a special helpline to supply information to members of the public (900 121212) if they suspect that they may have contracted the virus rather than going straight to hospital or to a medical centre.
Sensible precautions
The advice being issued to members of the public by medical authorities all over the world coincides on the following points:
- Wash hands frequently with either soap and water or a sanitiser gel
- Catch coughs and sneezes with disposable tissues – and throw the tissues away immediately after use before immediately washing your hands!
- If you don’t have a tissue, use your sleeve – and wash the item of clothing used at the next opportunity
- AVOID touching your eyes, nose and mouth with unwashed hands
- AVOID close contact with people who are unwell
- Don´t panic!
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