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Old 01-31-2020, 12:43 PM
 
Location: South Carolina
14,785 posts, read 23,953,955 times
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I have fabric masks because a nurse told me those are good because you can wash them in soap and bleach .
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Old 01-31-2020, 12:59 PM
 
2,122 posts, read 1,237,990 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Parnassia View Post
Unless you are planning airline travel or spend time around people who have recently arrived from China, probably needless overkill. Do what you do now to avoid flu or the common cold. Wash your hands with soap. Keep your immune system healthy. Eat well. Stay rested. If you are really going to fret about this ask your local pharmacist what disposable masks they have. I bet we'll be seeing all sorts of scare fare advertising face masks any day now if they aren't offering them already.
Where I am now, and we only have one confirmed case in the city.
Drugstores are selling one piece of single-use mask for $10. A box of 50 generic masks normally $10 is now going for $60.
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Old 01-31-2020, 03:03 PM
 
Location: New Jersey
16,848 posts, read 10,478,662 times
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I would use an N95 to be safe. Make sure it fits properly.
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Old 01-31-2020, 04:39 PM
 
21,649 posts, read 9,208,537 times
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I just read something that said the coronavirus molecules are smaller than the mask can contain to the won't help. I don't know.
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Old 01-31-2020, 04:41 PM
 
15,435 posts, read 10,359,984 times
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https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/npptl/topi.../n95list1.html
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Old 01-31-2020, 05:04 PM
 
Location: Georgia, USA
36,969 posts, read 40,910,095 times
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https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsan...ng-coronavirus

"MacIntyre's research has shown that N95 respirators offer far superior protection. But in one study, she did find that family members who wore surgical masks when caring for a sick child at home had a lower risk of getting infected. But the benefit only occurred if people wore the masks 'all the time when you are in the same room as the infected person,' MacIntyre says — something many families in the study found difficult to do. 'But if they did wear it, yes, they got protection.'"

"Experts note that how you remove a mask — be it a surgical mask or an N95 respirator — is also important. If you touch the front when taking it off, you could end up contaminating yourself."

"Sexton says wearing a surgical mask is a good idea if you have a respiratory illness and need to see the doctor. But that's really so you won't infect other people."

"Some infectious disease experts have also suggested that wearing a face mask may have some value if it keeps you from touching your face and nose."

The article concludes with wash your hands and get a flu shot.
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Old 01-31-2020, 09:28 PM
 
8,495 posts, read 4,122,097 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by elan View Post
N95 is great, sorry I wasn't clearer.
Thanks, elan!

Quote:
Originally Posted by elan View Post
When I went to the bank this morning, I totally forgot and touched my mouth. How stupid was that, so dumb on my part. And, since the flu is going around, I had been so good about washing my hands. I could kick myself, seriously. I just washed my mouth off with antibacterial soap, lol.
No, don't beat yourself up about touching your mouth. I did the same thing with my eyes, sometimes we don't catch ourselves doing things like that, it's almost a natural movement. You are doing a lot of the hand washing and that cuts down on the germs and goes a long way in preventing illness. It's just really harsh on your skin though, I noticed that I have to constantly moisturize my hands.
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Old 01-31-2020, 11:19 PM
 
Location: San Francisco Bay Area
7,665 posts, read 5,378,100 times
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If you can find R95, and you probably can't anymore, it is at least as good as an N95.

When I went through our stash of masks, (Old Scout here and our motto was "Be Prepared"), I found one of the masks was labeled R95, so I called our local Hardware Expert. He explained the difference:

The "N" stands for not-resistant-to-oil
The "R" stands for resistant-to-oil

According to him, the 95 refers to "95% effective against whatever the mask is supposed to protect against," for example "blocks out 95% of dust particles, etc."

Viruses are smaller than dust particles, of course, but out in public at certain places, such as picking up a prescription at a pharmacy where there are possibly a lot of ill people waiting in a crowded location, it can't hurt to wear the best mask you can find and feel comfortable wearing. It helps to have a one-way air valve in the front of the mask if you wear eyeglasses, so that the air escapes out and forward instead of up into your eyeglasses. That way you'll not only breathe more easily, but your eyeglasses won't fog up.

He said they ran out of masks right away (a huge number of native Chinese came in and bought most of them), and the store's back order is overdue. He can't find masks for anyone, anywhere.

We agreed that the best thing to do is to stay home and chill. So my suggestion is to go out and buy a bunch of groceries and then watch DVD's, sports events, etc. And yes, washing our hands often (as we always do anyway) is very important.
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Old 02-01-2020, 12:54 AM
 
Location: Townsville
6,616 posts, read 2,811,470 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by orbiter View Post
Where I am now, and we only have one confirmed case in the city.
Drugstores are selling one piece of single-use mask for $10. A box of 50 generic masks normally $10 is now going for $60.
There is nothing quite like the virus of human greed. And, there is no effective vaccine for this as far as I know.
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Old 02-01-2020, 01:25 AM
 
5,989 posts, read 6,715,102 times
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Interesting point about the masks selling out to Chinese. My daughter's college roommate and roommates boyfriend, both students from China, recently returned to the University from winter break back home in China, although not in Hubei, about two weeks ago. The first thing they did was run out to buy all the N95 masks they could find - they had to drive to a town far from the college, because other Chinese students had already bought out every mask from every pharmacy or home renovation store near the college. And this was the weekend before classes restarted, about two weeks ago.

The good news is that the Chinese kids are largely in touch with each other on social media platforms, and my daughter reports that so far, no one has been confirmed to have brought it back to any college campus (although I just read that there is a confirmed case at ASU in Tempe, but not in a person who lives on campus). If this were to happen, there would be no way to stop the epidemic here, because all the kids would leave school and go home to their families. Surely, some would be carrying it home to their families, and it would be spread all over.
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