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Face Masks - what are the best and where to get them?

AndyU said:
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.
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What you’re assuming is that the reason for introducing the rule to wear the mask is to reduce the spread of the infection. If that were the case, the type of mask would be quality controlled by the state, and the price would be controlled too.

More likely that the main reason for introducing this rule is to make people feel safer in shops and on public transport, and to make them feel that Boris is on the job. It’s a confidence inspiring measure, not a prevention measure.
 
mjw said:
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.
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There is evidence that surgical masks do protect the wearer, though not as much as N95 or FFP2/3 masks. See the paper in the Lancet:

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)31142-9/fulltext
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)31142-9/fulltext
If masks didn’t protect the wearer, hospitals would only put them on the patients.
 
@mandryka Mrs. Mick bought a couple of quite fetching bandanas stitched up from a very lightweight fabric. They’re elasticated over the nose but loose at the bottom edge so probably cooler to wear - almost certainly useless but compliant, apparently.
 
mjw said:
@mandryka Mrs. Mick bought a couple of quite fetching bandanas stitched up from a very lightweight fabric. They’re elasticated over the nose but loose at the bottom edge so probably cooler to wear - almost certainly useless but compliant, apparently.
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Excellent idea, thank you. I can see that some of them on amazon are described as “cooling.”
 
Owt covering your mouth and nose is better than nowt and if everyone inside is wearing owt that is better than some people wearing owt. We either want to get control of this or we don't. Do the best you can and stop whining.
 
mandryka said:
What you’re assuming is that the reason for introducing the rule to wear the mask is to reduce the spread of the infection. If that were the case, the type of mask would be quality controlled by the state, and the price would be controlled too.

More likely that the main reason for introducing this rule is to make people feel safer in shops and on public transport, and to make them feel that Boris is on the job. It’s a confidence inspiring measure, not a prevention measure.
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In Italy, where I live, mask wearing was made compulsory months ago, enforced by fines, which were abundant. Now we only have to wear masks in shops, not outdoors. Compliance is high. Surgical masks are the most commonly used, some were distributed free by local mayors, the government passed a law limiting the maximum price to €0.50. Despite a terrible start, Italy is now doing a lot better than the UK, both with respect to the new daily cases (100-200) and deaths. Despite substantially easing lockdown six weeks ago, the number of daily cases hasn’t increased; continued mask use has very probably contributed to that. It is just not a big deal wearing a mask, can’t understand why the English are getting so wound up about it. Ironically I suspect those huffing and puffing lardarses that moan that they “can’t breathe” in a mask are likely more susceptible to serious consequences from Covid-19. There are national and international standards for masks - CE Being the European one. Ah, forgot, the English want out of Europe and all those pesky rules.
 
FFP2 masks are about £5 a piece. They are specified to stop particles down to 0.3 microns - individual CV viruses are smaller than this so they will have limited effect on airborne particles. Please don't think masks will protect you come what may. In and out as quickly as possible and limit the time indoors. The purpose is to stop water droplets containing virus from being projected from a cough or a sneeze - especially when the wearer is asymptomatic and is unaware of the infection. In that sense any piece of material is going to do a similar job, multilayers obviously better than one - string vests don't count ;)
 
AndyU said:
In Italy, where I live, mask wearing was made compulsory months ago, enforced by fines, which were abundant. Now we only have to wear masks in shops, not outdoors. Compliance is high. Surgical masks are the most commonly used, some were distributed free by local mayors, the government passed a law limiting the maximum price to €0.50. Despite a terrible start, Italy is now doing a lot better than the UK, both with respect to the new daily cases (100-200) and deaths. Despite substantially easing lockdown six weeks ago, the number of daily cases hasn’t increased; continued mask use has very probably contributed to that. It is just not a big deal wearing a mask, can’t understand why the English are getting so wound up about it. Ironically I suspect those huffing and puffing lardarses that moan that they “can’t breathe” in a mask are likely more susceptible to serious consequences from Covid-19. There are national and international standards for masks - CE Being the European one. Ah, forgot, the English want out of Europe and all those pesky rules.
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Yes, this is how a friend of mine who lives in Hong Kong talks, where mask wearing has been ubiquitous for years.

It’s good to see that in Italy masks are price controlled, though 0,50€ seems very high (these things used cost less than 10p before COVID) and being distributed by municipalities. Is any type of face covering permissible, or does it have to be a surgical one?

France is about to make face coverings required in all closed environments, the prices of surgical masks are controlled there too.

In the UK I think it’s a bit different. Any face covering is compliant and people can charge what they want.
 
As a side issue, Home Bargains have some washable items. I think that’s the way to go for me because the millions of disposable jobs might well become next year’s dolphin and turtle food.
 
mjw said:
As a side issue, Home Bargains have some washable items. I think that’s the way to go for me because the millions of disposable jobs might well become next year’s dolphin and turtle food.
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PPE litter is already becoming quite visible round our way.
 
mandryka said:
Is any type of face covering permissible, or does it have to be a surgical one?
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Any face covering is permissible - the govt has specifically avoided using the word 'mask' because the official line is still that surgical masks and respirators should be reserved for healthcare workers.

As others have already stated on this thread, the idea is not to protect the wearer from infection. It's to reduce the risk to those around you in case you are asymptomatic and infectious.
 
Hi,

A friend sent this info a while back on the virus and about the use of masks.

Virus size is 160 nanometer.
RNA gene us 32 kilbases.
That is 32 k pairs of nucleic acid base, not even 32KB in computer speak, more like 32 kilobits, or 4 kilobytes to code its gene.
Now another interesting thing they will never say in the papers is FFP3 EN149 mask will filter up to, rather down to 0.6 micron, 0.6 micrometer.
It will let individual virus through, 160 nanometer is 0.16 micrometer, 3 viruses can go in together.
Of course a mask will protect a lot of them coming straight through.

Interesting, think I might have posted this way back.

From what I can gather the masks are more to stop someone who has Covid-19 spreading the virus as their mask will collect a lot of the virus as they breathe.

Time will tell if they will be well used or not and effective, interesting what @AndyU said about Italy.

Cheers

John
 
Normal face masks may not stop every single virus particle. But it may stop X% of them and it seems to be agreed that the level of exposure is significant.
In any case several countries have already proved they work.
 
I think it is a mistake to argue that the virus is smaller than the holes in masks, so therefore the masks are useless. I believe the more useful FFP2 and 3 masks have a layer which works by electrostatic attraction, and it is this that captures the virus which is zipping about all over the place in Brownian motion. Here is a paper that supports that, and here is a similar argument from a manufacturer of simple surgical masks.

3M, who make a wide variety of masks say here that there are several different capture methods:

“Particles are trapped, or captured, when flowing through the layers of filter media, and that capture can happen through several different mechanisms. These are gravitational settling, inertial impaction, interception, diffusion, and electrostatic attraction”
 
Eyebroughty said:
From what I can gather the masks are more to stop someone who has Covid-19 spreading the virus as their mask will collect a lot of the virus as they breathe.
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You need a very tight fitting non-valved mask to significantly filter exhaled breath, and even then it’s hard to get a really good seal around your nose. Normal surgical masks don’t filter exhaled breath very effectively at all, a lot of the air you breath out takes the path of least resistance and comes out the sides by your cheek or round your nose. But I guess they will attenuate stuff you might cough or exhale forwards.
 
Another thing I would suggest, one that perhaps does not get enough attention, is to carry a small bottle of hand sanitizer with you and use it on your way in and out of shops/buses/trains etc. Think how many people might have touched that door handle/POS terminal/supermarket trolley/hand rail/bus seat. There was a case reported in China where 70 people became infected after one infected person used a lift on her way to self-isolate. It is believed that the spread was initiated by contact with surfaces in the lift, rather than the air. See here. It takes 30 seconds to sanitize your hands.
 
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