Face Masks - what are the best and where to get them?
- Thread starter Eyebroughty
- Start date
mjw
pfm Member
Other than the fact that you risk a £100 fixed penalty for non-compliance. Also, and this does have some plausibility, a mask might protect others if the wearer is infected and is the gobby, shouty, heavy breathing type.
zarniwoop
hoopy frood
I bought some from mymaskie.com. They are washable and can be augmented with extra filters if you want to introduce more layers. They don't meet the spec to provide full protection but I think they are useful in conjunction with social distancing in shops. My only criticism is that they are on the small side compared to some I've seen but they do cover the mouth and nose and stay in place.
Here is a peer reviewed systematic review and meta-analysis of the evidence for the effectiveness of face masks published in The Lancet.
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)31142-9/fulltext
Among the conclusions:
“Face mask use could result in a large reduction in risk of infection with stronger associations with N95 or similar respirators ..
compared with disposable surgical masks or similar Eye protection also was associated with less infection”
There are different standards for face masks. the European Standard rates masks as FFP1, FFP2 or FFP3 with FFP3 being the most effective, the Chinese standard is KN95 and the American Standard is N95.
There are many scammers. A good place to buy masks is RS components. Just do a search for FFP2 or FFP3. They are not easy to get. But in my opinion they are very much worth having. If wearing a dirty rag half over your mouth for days at a time was effective this thing would be over. Wear the best mask you can get and change it frequently. Don’t touch your mask except by the ear loops. Make sure it covers your mouth and nose and fits tightly to your face. Consider wearing a visor if you or the situation your are in is high risk.
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)31142-9/fulltext
Among the conclusions:
“Face mask use could result in a large reduction in risk of infection with stronger associations with N95 or similar respirators ..
compared with disposable surgical masks or similar Eye protection also was associated with less infection”
There are different standards for face masks. the European Standard rates masks as FFP1, FFP2 or FFP3 with FFP3 being the most effective, the Chinese standard is KN95 and the American Standard is N95.
There are many scammers. A good place to buy masks is RS components. Just do a search for FFP2 or FFP3. They are not easy to get. But in my opinion they are very much worth having. If wearing a dirty rag half over your mouth for days at a time was effective this thing would be over. Wear the best mask you can get and change it frequently. Don’t touch your mask except by the ear loops. Make sure it covers your mouth and nose and fits tightly to your face. Consider wearing a visor if you or the situation your are in is high risk.
2ManyBoxes
pfm Member
They'll be running out of them at a store near you soon.
People* will be thinking "best to get in now - it's only what everyone else will be doing".
And so without apparent effort or thought this government* creates another problem that could have been avoided.
* Shitwits
People* will be thinking "best to get in now - it's only what everyone else will be doing".
And so without apparent effort or thought this government* creates another problem that could have been avoided.
* Shitwits
billo
pfm Member
I saw a guy 2 weeks ago in Tesco, he had a large handkerchief tucked into his glasses. It just hung down somewhere near his face. I almost forgot what I had gone in for.
I have just ordered some from these people
https://www.thebigbloomerscompany.co.uk/
Maybe you could get other things while there
I have got some paper disposable ones which I bought from and advert in the back of the Guardian
I have just ordered some from these people
https://www.thebigbloomerscompany.co.uk/
Maybe you could get other things while there
I have got some paper disposable ones which I bought from and advert in the back of the Guardian
Yank
Bulbous Also Tapered
i find this meets the needs of shop keepers around here.
2020-06-05_04-27-26 by uh_simon, on Flickr
If anyone what to buy one let me know and i'll share the link
That photo looks like Jar Jar Binks got into S&M.
TheDecameron
Unicorns fart glitter.
blossomchris
I feel better than James Brown
^^^ that one or a clown one for me
The best are FFP3, followed by FFP2. To be effective they have to be face fitted (that's the FF bit) and you need to have no facial hair. You won't find FFP3, they are in use by people who really need them. P3 gives 95% reduction in dose, that's the standard.
US N95 is equivalent to FFP2, their standard isn't as good.
We have been around the houses here on the effectiveness of untrained people using something that concentrates infectious particles and isn't wholly effective in any circumstances but the rules are coming so off we go. If we are lucky then the vast majority will simply be a waste of time, some will be moderately effective if people are asymptomatic carriers, and those infected or infecting others because they are using something that concentrates the infective dose will not outweigh the benefits from the other cases. *If we are lucky*. The medical consensus is probably now shifting to "probably beneficial, if everybody carries on following all the other rules." Which they won't, but there you go. Masks are easy to police, you either have one or not. Like speed limits in cars. Bad driving is hard to police, but speed is easy.
US N95 is equivalent to FFP2, their standard isn't as good.
We have been around the houses here on the effectiveness of untrained people using something that concentrates infectious particles and isn't wholly effective in any circumstances but the rules are coming so off we go. If we are lucky then the vast majority will simply be a waste of time, some will be moderately effective if people are asymptomatic carriers, and those infected or infecting others because they are using something that concentrates the infective dose will not outweigh the benefits from the other cases. *If we are lucky*. The medical consensus is probably now shifting to "probably beneficial, if everybody carries on following all the other rules." Which they won't, but there you go. Masks are easy to police, you either have one or not. Like speed limits in cars. Bad driving is hard to police, but speed is easy.
Paul R
pfm Member
Neither of your links tell us anything about the efficacy of face coverings in reducing the spread of COVID19. The continuous failure to reason is wearing.
Watch anybody using a face covering, how long before they touch it or fiddle with it? If they are infected, and the covering is catching the infection, it's now on their fingers. Back in April I was at our local pharmacy, now operating through a window to the outside in a reasonably safe way. There was a woman with baggy plastic gloves and a face mask. She touched every public surface, the pharmacy supplied pen and then fiddled with her mask. I decided that people who are overtly into latex gloves and medical masks are probably more dubious as those who keep their fetishes private.
I have an obsolete Arai full face helmet for when the law requires asininity.
vuk
\o/ choose anarchy
i work with experts in healthcare in the capacity of managing research projects and doing statistical analyses. i wear a mask, even though i hate it to the point of wanting to emulate a crazy american and rip it off in a loud fury at the grocery store. paul R is playing the sort of contrarian game he does with climate science research. masks are not perfect, which is all he has to say (and we all know), but they are effective. you can believe him or believe me and the medical scientists i work with. please wear a mask, for your own sake (as we now seem to understand) and that of others.
DuncanF
pfm Member
The problem with masks is ingress vs. egress protection. The common surgical mask/scarves/diy etc are used to provide some limited defence against the wearer spready the lurgy in the form of droplets, as will be found close to the mouth, when they cough or breathe. Once the droplets travel further they aerosolise and these types of mask provide little defence against that.
Conversely the FFP2/3 type masks do provide some defence against the aerosolised transmission, but they are free flowing/valved on egress and provide no defence against droplet transmission from the wearer. So if I go to the supermarket riddled with the plague and wearing an FFP3 mask and you are all wearing surgical masks, you will not be protected.
Edit to add: I'm not proposing that this is a reason not to wear face masks. Rather I'm pointing out the incongruity of not aligning everyone to the same type of ingress/egress protection.
Conversely the FFP2/3 type masks do provide some defence against the aerosolised transmission, but they are free flowing/valved on egress and provide no defence against droplet transmission from the wearer. So if I go to the supermarket riddled with the plague and wearing an FFP3 mask and you are all wearing surgical masks, you will not be protected.
Edit to add: I'm not proposing that this is a reason not to wear face masks. Rather I'm pointing out the incongruity of not aligning everyone to the same type of ingress/egress protection.
Not all FFP2 or FFP3 masks are valved. You can wear a surgical mask over a valved FFP3 mask if you want to reduce transmission through the valve, or a visor.
mjw
pfm Member
On the Coronavirus podcast there was a brief discussion about whether or not the ‘surgical’ masks that most resort to, have any one-way capability, i.e. blue in or out? To my shame I can’t remember how that concluded but I mention it in the context of the many who still labour under the misapprehension that they’re protecting themselves from others.
