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Mask

May 28, 2020

It was in early March when he first read an article in the newspaper that read that the World Health Organization (WHO) announced their policy for the current coronavirus: normal people don't need to wear a mask in order to prevent the virus. People who need to wear a mask are those who are coughing or sneezing, or those who are caretaking patients. Even now in May, their announcement on their website states: ・If you are healthy, you only need to wear a mask if you are taking care of a person with COVID-19. ・Wear a mask if you are coughing or sneezing. ・Masks are effective only when used in combination with frequent hand-cleaning with alcohol-based hand rub or soap and water. ・If you wear a mask, then you must know how to use it and dispose of it properly. Originally he had wondered why some countries didn't recommend wearing masks. In his country, people normally wear masks if they have a cold or flu, or if they suffered from pollen allergies in order to protect from pollen and dust particles. He felt a contradiction in the WHO's announcement. First of all, the coronavirus is said that the virus carriers sometimes don't show any symptoms such as coughing and sneezing, or have a fever, so how does a "non-symptom" person decide if he/she should wear a mask or not? Secondly, if masks can protect caretakers from contracting the virus from their patients, why shouldn't normal people use them to protect themselves as a precaution? WHO might have been worried about the lack of masks for medical personnel, but in that case, they should just say so and ask for support worldwide. Because of the WHO's attitude, at the beginning stages of the coronavirus epidemic, many people didn't wear masks. At that time he became suspicious about the effectiveness of masks and researched himself. The results are as follows: One: Now unwoven textile masks are in the majority. For medical use, N95 masks are recommended. But it doesn't mean that masks for private use are not reliable. They are made under certain guidelines and they are made in order to protect against from relatively big particles like PM2.5 to small particles like viruses. Viruses are very small, normally 0.1 micro millimeters (or micron), 1 micro millimeter is 1/1,000 millimeter. Holes in unwoven textile are bigger than viruses themselves, so some misunderstandings have happened: masks can't stop viruses. But they can. Small particles move randomly, not like a pitcher's ball or sprinkles from a sprinkler, because they receive the effects of gravity and static electricity. Also modern masks have various elaborate measures to trap small particles like viruses. Of course, the rate of trapping particles differ from the quality of the masks, but generally speaking, they are trustworthy.   Two: If there are gaps between the mask and the face, when breathing, the particles come in through the gaps easily, it's like a fly entering from a gap in a door, so how to wear a mask is very important. Three: The quality of masks is determined by the material of the masks, so some handmade masks are not strongly recommended. But even so, they could catch a certain percentage of particles when someone sneezes or coughs. When the "social distance" idea became mainstream, he was skeptical about it. Because the Coronavirus is said to live long on the surface of metal, plastic, and other materials. In this case, if the Coronavirus carrier is talking to someone who is 2 meters apart, his or her spit would fall down in between them, for example on the table, chairs, or floor, etc. And if you are very unlucky, the virus might circulate upwards by the air, and come around your mouth or nose, and you breathe it in. He believed that wearing a mask was the best solution to protect from this contagion. There was an extreme case that happened about wearing masks. A man who didn't follow the guard's instructions to wear a mask in a supermarket was furious, and shot the guard to death. Another story appeared in the paper. In an airplane, a columnist asked the person who was next to his seat to wear a mask. He knew that if the person had the coronavirus, the possibility of transmitting it to him was pretty high: considering the closed space and being together for more than a couple of hours. The person refused and the airline company couldn't force it, so the columnist had to give up. He suggested that wearing a mask in those situations should be compulsory. Actually, in some countries, wearing a mask has become compulsory under some circumstances, such as being in some public buildings like museums or libraries, or, commercial buildings like supermarkets and movie theaters. A few strict countries have adopted it for all places, except for in their houses.

*current :現在の、目下の
*prevent :防ぐ
*sneeze :くしゃみをする
*caretaking :看護している
*dispose :廃棄する
*particle :粒子
*contradiction :矛盾
*symptom :症状
*contract :うつる
*precaution :予防
*medical personnel :医療職員
*epidemic :流行
*unwoven textile :不織繊維
*reliable :頼れる
*static electricity :静電気
*trustworthy :信用できる
*determine :決定する
*skeptical :疑いの
*spit :つば
*circulate :循環する
*solution :解決法
*contagion :感染
*transmit :伝染する
*considering :考慮して
*compulsory :強制的
*except for :除いて