Mixed messages over facemasks
Even a poorly made mask is still better than no mask in the coronavirus pandemic, says
Will facemasks help prevent the spread of coronavirus? The short answer is yes. You’d be forgiven for being confused about this, though. The messages coming from health professionals are mixed.
One such message is not to bother with a facemask if you’re not showing symptoms.
The logic is that the virus can get in through the eyes anyway and that the public usually wear facemasks incorrectly.
But then you might have also heard it said that facemasks help prevent infection that could have come from touching one’s face.
We’ve been assured that the Government has stockpiled nine million facemasks for the health sector, which suggests that facemasks are useful – that they do work. This is confusing for the public.
Speaking as a nanoparticle scientist working in the field of filtration systems, any suggestion that facemasks are essentially useless or unworthy of consideration for preventing the spread of Covid-19 is wrong.
It’s common knowledge that such viruses have great success by entering through the nose and mouth.
Your eyes produce teardrops that go some way to mitigating the invasion, but drawing air into the body and exhaling is an unavoidable human reality. Facemasks provide a large barrier that reduces the likelihood of becoming infected.
The degree of effectiveness of a facemask comes down to the quality of the filter, how well the mask is fitted, and an individual’s behaviour around removing and replacing it.
When used across the community, facemasks offer a collective hygiene that stymies the spread of infection and protects the most vulnerable. It’s a similar principle to vaccinating the majority of a population against infectious diseases such as measles.
It was just such an approach that helped keep Sars under control in Hong Kong in 2003. Leading infectious disease experts, such as Professors Yuen Kwok-Yung and Gabriel Leung, both of whom spearheaded Hong Kong’s Sars response, advocate for the widespread use of facemasks to fight
Covid-19.
In fact, since the first Hong Kong case was discovered in late January, the large, densely populated city of
7.5 million has, at time of writing, just 167 infected people and four fatalities.
I’d also encourage health officials here to consider Singapore and Taiwan’s responses to Covid-19, which included the widespread distribution of facemasks and a regional commitment to manufacture millions more per day.
Both these countries have low incidences of Covid-19, which is remarkable considering their proximity to the disease epicentres.
For the average Kiwi, it might seem a bit unnatural to wear a facemask in public. Those who have done so have likely experienced some funny looks, as I have myself.
However, right now we are on a war footing with an invisible enemy. We know from overseas experience that the widespread use of facemasks does lower the probability of being infected and infecting others.
Facemasks are all the more relevant in the case of Covid-19, where an infected person may not show symptoms for several days, but be infectious.
The downplaying of the effectiveness of facemasks for the public, while stocking up the health sector’s supply, is somewhere between ambiguous and disingenuous.
I’m sure there are opportunistic manufacturers churning out poorly fitting masks with practically no filter inside to make a quick buck from a frightened public. However, I’d be disappointed if it turned out that the downplaying of masks was motivated by the global shortage.
Having any type of facemask is better than not having one.
Even if it is the ‘‘leaky’’ rectangular mask with just tissue paper as a filter, it still presents a physical barrier for up to 50 per cent of droplets from sneezes or coughs.
If history is anything to go by, Covid-19 will not be the last such virus.
In recent times, there have been the likes of Sars, Mers and H1N1. Some still to come may be milder than Covid-19, while others may be much worse.
You should consider having goodquality, well-fitted facemasks in your emergency kit at home.
We’re openly encouraged to have the right supplies at the ready in case of natural disaster, but what about biological emergencies, such as the one we’re in now?
We feel safer and better prepared when we carry hand sanitiser or disinfectant wipes with us during these times.
Is a facemask really so different in principle?
We should come up with solutions for the shortage of available facemasks.
Companies found the wherewithal to ramp up toilet paper production. Why not produce goodquality, disposable facemasks that actually help to reduce infection in the community?
There’s still time to act – even to lead.
Dr Sam Yu has a PhD and BSc(Hons) from the McDiarmid Institute of Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology of the University of Canterbury, and has published more than 20 scientific papers. He has worked in fields including biotechnology and medical diagnostics with clients such as the US Army, the Mayo Clinic, and Aeras vaccines.
Facemasks are all the more relevant in the case of Covid-19, where an infected person may not show symptoms for several days, but be infectious.