Prevention and treatment for novel coronavirus COVID 19

Recently I've been wondering whether the plastic face shields would be more effective than face masks, e.g. since they cover the eyes as well (a viral entry point) and prevent you touching your face.  I did a little research and found that an epidomologist is saying just this!  Also, see below for how to make a face shield!

https://www.dezeen.com/2020/04/14/face-shield-coronavirus-interview-epidemiologist-michael-edmond/


(I might adapt the foam strip to something else since I don't have this....it's just padding after all)

Edit:  Just made one with my adaption!  I used a punched pocket CLEAR plastic binding cover that I had (as per the link) and threaded elastic through the holes!  (A bit of stitching to further seal any top gaps).  Voila!

https://www.ryman.co.uk/ryman-punched-pockets-a4-50-micron-pack-of-20?_br_psugg_q=plastic+wallets+punched+pockets

Last week on our household grocery run.  We took turns going into the different stores and for the big grocery store I stayed in the car and people watched.  About 1/5th of the people were wearing masks.  Of those, maybe 1 out of 10 put their mask on in the car - first sanitizing their hands, put a mask on.  When they got back to the car, they first sanitized their hands and took the mask off in a safe way.

The other people who wore masks put them on as they approached the door.  Most of them wiped their nose and face first, then put the mask on.  When they left, they took the mask off poorly and touched their face immediately and excessively.  It didn't seem to matter what kind of mask they were wearing.  

The few people wearing both gloves and masks took off the gloves, scrunched them in their hand a bit, then touched their face before going in the car.

I suspect all this face touching was completely unconscious and mostly due to the novelty of wearing the mask.

For the non-mask people, most of them came out as if they were rubbing sanitizer on their hands (maybe a dispenser on exit like they are supposed to?) and about 1/3 touched their face within 6 steps of leaving the front door (the mask people, this is 9/10).  Most mask people were not rubbing their hands like they had used sanitizer.

This makes me feel that at this time, wearing masks (homemade or otherwise) isn't actually helping the people as the mask people were considerably more likely to engage in risky behaviour.  

I also want to note, that many of the people wearing homemade masks looked to have trouble breathing because the layer were too thick.  They were ashen or blue-ish and the mask would flap violently in and out with each breath.  The breaths were much deeper than non-mask people.  Oxygen starvation and inhailing unsafe particles from (not cotton) homemade masks are a big problem that Health Canada is worried about and promises guidelines on safe homemade mask materials.

This highlights the two big issues with masks
1. homemade masks made from the wrong materials, can make it difficult to breathe and reduce O2 to the body.
2. it is important to teach the population proper hygiene first, before recommending masks

all you ever wanted to know about covid

I know there's more to it than just this, but i found this quite informative about so many details of safety, origins, etc etc.

The purpose of cloth masks is not to prevent you getting covid, it is to prevent you spreading it unknowingly.

surgical masks protect the patient from the surgeon, the n95 mask with an air tight seal protects you from the environment.

This disease (another sars virus) is worse because it has an infectious period of several days before symptoms are noticed, allowing it to spread more widely.  Thus the primary  usefulness of masks is as a courtesy to others just in case you are carrying it and don't know it.

Of course the cloth mask may help a little in protection, but in my view all the hand washing and sanitizing, careful handling, etc etc is a mostly unnecessary level of complexity. By the way, the covid virus mostly only survives a few hours outside a  host, but can survive a week on a surgical mask  (read the link above)

What we know prevents spreading
- staying 2meters apart or more
- washing hands
- not touching face

Coughing into the elbow is also a good measure to prevent the spread of droplets and wearing a cotton mask is an even better way of preventing spreading droplets.

However, if wearing a cotton mask means not doing the first three, then it's actually increasing risk and spread.

Personally, I think the cotton mask is a good idea.  But I'm not going to wear one in a public setting until I can practice at home so I train myself to do the first three (avoid people, wash hands, don't touch face) so I don't put myself at risk by wearing a mask.  

bob day wrote:
The purpose of cloth masks is not to prevent you getting covid, it is to prevent you spreading it unknowingly.

surgical masks protect the patient from the surgeon, the n95 mask with an air tight seal protects you from the environment.

This. 👏👏👏👏👏👏

one interesting link found in the material cited above is a pre-print of an article showing that alcohol in concentrations exceeding 30% is effective in killing coronavirus *as long as it is in contact for at least 30 seconds* (which seems to be the caveat for all disinfectants).
This is good news for people who are having trouble finding >67% alcohol formulations.
https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/26/7/20-0915_article

Hawaii Proactive Fight Against Coronavirus Epidemic--

The State of Hawaii started out a bit too slow in the beginning of this epidemic, and is now paying the price with persistent coronavirus cases in certain parts of the state. But public uproar and demands via email and social media pressured the State and counties to take stronger steps. Yes, the public demanded protective action. Parks were closed, tourist attractions closed, beaches closed, all non essential businesses closed, schools closed. Social gathering is banned except under certain conditions, and in those situations social distancing is enforced. Violation of the social distancing order results in citation, often arrest, and a $5000 fine. People entering the State are subject to a mandatory 14 day quarantine, enforced with arrest and a $5000 fine if violated. Travelers without hotel reservations are offered a choice at the airport : arrest or turn around and go back where they came from. All B&Bs, time shares, airbnbs, and any other type of short term rentals are banned from operating. Travel between the islands is restricted to essential travel only. Most of those travelers are required to self quarantine for 14 days. The only exceptions to the travel regulations are essential workers, such as nurses, doctors, military, etc. The military personnel quarantine on their bases. All cruise ship dockings/passengers are banned. Plus the entire State is on lockdown. Violations result in citations, fines, and sometimes arrests.

Today the State tightened up the rules in an effort to knock down the epidemic. The majority of the public appears to be embracing the new regulations with approval in hopes that their particular island will rid itself of the scourge. (Lana'i & Ni'ihau have zero cases and have entry to the island locked out, Molokai'i has had two cases and aggressively contained the virus site thus resulting in no new cases to date, Kaua'i new cases momentarily have stalled,  Hawai'i island cases have slowed though recently there has been a cluster event at McDonald's among the employees and their families.) Coronavirus is still not contained on Mau'i and Oahu. So new mandates have gone into effect. Social distancing is now required to be enforced, where before people were asked to do it but it wasn't mandated. Facial masks are now required not only inside businesses but also while outside waiting to enter a business. Group outdoor hiking is banned. Even boat fishing is now limited to two persons unless they live together as a household. At the same time the Governor provided protection against eviction.

Hawai'i has been the hardest hit State when it comes to financial. The entire tourist industry is shutdown, which has killed all supporting industries. All non essential businesses are shuttered. The State has a large number of self employed day work type people  who now have no income. A significant portion of business employees have no income since unemployment applications are dragging in getting approved. Cargo transport to and from Hawai'i has been affected.

And yet, the public patiently waits, watching the daily numbers carefully. They are demanding more testing. More efforts to contain the epidemic. They cannot understand the mainland demonstrations to lift restrictions. They see it as insanity and suicide.

Some of the Hawaiian islands are in a very good position when it comes to this epidemic. What they are doing is called preventative measures. Two of the islands need to catch up and the other islands are cheering them on, willing to sacrifice in hopes that they too will contain this monster well enough until a vaccine is available.

Here in Hawai'i we are working hard on preventing the spread of coronavirus.

BRAVO HAWAII! Please, please, please share and do your best to convince the mainlanders how critical SLOWING the spread is to prevent the overwhelming of medical systems, and unnecessary deaths.

Yes, restrictions suck, but every cloud has it's silver lining - i'm sure you are all secretly enjoying the peace and quiet, along with the ability to enjoy your state minus outsiders. Stay strong!

Lorinne, I don't think there is anything we could say that will change the way mainlanders are dealing with their crisis. Hawai'i has a unique culture which incorporates aspects of Old Hawaiian and oriental cultures. And here there is a lot of respect issues when it comes to ohama (family), Aunties, Uncles, and Tutus (the elderly who culturally are given respect). So although we of course have our rogue elements in our society, in general there is an obedient respect for authority........as long as it doesn't counter Hawaiian cultural tradition or values.

One thing that drove the State of Hawai'i to action was the fact that we have few hospital beds, few ICU units, and very few ventilators. There is no way the State could deal with a major outbreak without massive suffering and deaths at home. That, plus the call from the public to take serious action, forced officials to act. Our governor dragged his feet initially, but a major call for action by the public forced him to act. One thing that really impresses me here in Hawai'i is the the public has significant power to sway officials. Not on every issue that's for sure, but they really can often swing things in their favor.

Restrictions really suck. No doubt about it. On with most of the islands here, our communities are small. It didn't take long before communities themselves were impacted, and it really hurt to see a favorite town Auntie dying from this virus. It got personal. It wasn't just some faceless statistic that got the disease. So while people grumble a bit about the restrictions, we don't hear many loud complaints. When such complaints get aired, some respected elder within hearing range speaks up, shaming or berating the complainer. End of story.

Do we enjoy the peace and quiet? I haven't heard anyone here say that. In general the Hawaiian residents enjoy their tourists. They are friendly with them, help them out. Hawai'i is very much an Aloha state. And of course, much of the State relies upon the tourists to financially survive. While there are things that are annoying about tourists (they litter horribly, leave messes behind in their hotel rooms, and are awfully rude by Hawaiian standards), people here still welcome them to our islands.

The way Hawai'i is slowing this epidemic is via forced social distancing (including lockdown), sanitation, and facial covering. Only three of the islands have things under control. Two more are almost there. And two need help. As I stated before, we are hoping for an early release of a working vaccine.

I too live on an Island, Vancouver Island, so I get Island mentality - and you are right, we do see things differently from Mainlanders - fortunately, here in BC the mainlanders are all pretty much playing by the rules.  

We locked down, gradually, starting way back in early March, it makes SUCH a huge difference in flattening the curve and preventing health care systems from crashing...even a week or two of delay makes SUCH a difference in spread, contraction, hospitalizations and deaths. It breaks my heart watching those who delay too long or who are planing too quickly to re-open. Our health authority has suggested some gradual relaxation of SOME measures, perhaps by end of May, but warned this is not the beginning of the end, BUT, perhaps, the end of the beginning and to be prepared for 12-18mths before any true normalcy can be considered.

I am grateful to our fabulous Dr. Bonnie Henry and her staff for being so proactive and literally, saving our province.

Su Ba wrote:Lorinne, I don't think there is anything we could say that will change the way mainlanders are dealing with their crisis. Hawai'i has a unique culture which incorporates aspects of Old Hawaiian and oriental cultures. And here there is a lot of respect issues when it comes to ohama (family), Aunties, Uncles, and Tutus (the elderly who culturally are given respect). So although we of course have our rogue elements in our society, in general there is an obedient respect for authority........as long as it doesn't counter Hawaiian cultural tradition or values.

One thing that drove the State of Hawai'i to action was the fact that we have few hospital beds, few ICU units, and very few ventilators. There is no way the State could deal with a major outbreak without massive suffering and deaths at home. That, plus the call from the public to take serious action, forced officials to act. Our governor dragged his feet initially, but a major call for action by the public forced him to act. One thing that really impresses me here in Hawai'i is the the public has significant power to sway officials. Not on every issue that's for sure, but they really can often swing things in their favor.

Restrictions really suck. No doubt about it. On with most of the islands here, our communities are small. It didn't take long before communities themselves were impacted, and it really hurt to see a favorite town Auntie dying from this virus. It got personal. It wasn't just some faceless statistic that got the disease. So while people grumble a bit about the restrictions, we don't hear many loud complaints. When such complaints get aired, some respected elder within hearing range speaks up, shaming or berating the complainer. End of story.

Do we enjoy the peace and quiet? I haven't heard anyone here say that. In general the Hawaiian residents enjoy their tourists. They are friendly with them, help them out. Hawai'i is very much an Aloha state. And of course, much of the State relies upon the tourists to financially survive. While there are things that are annoying about tourists (they litter horribly, leave messes behind in their hotel rooms, and are awfully rude by Hawaiian standards), people here still welcome them to our islands.

The way Hawai'i is slowing this epidemic is via forced social distancing (including lockdown), sanitation, and facial covering. Only three of the islands have things under control. Two more are almost there. And two need help. As I stated before, we are hoping for an early release of a working vaccine.

I live in Kona, and I see two types of people here at the moment.  There is the first group which holds all the recommendations as serious and abide by them the best they can.  There is a second group that lives basically the same way they did three months ago.  Though businesses are only supposed to be open if they are essential, the definition is so broad that almost every business is still open.  You can wake up in the morning and go to Starbucks for your latte, head over to Home Depot or Lowes or Ace Hardware and browse the garden section or maybe shop for new kitchen cabinets, head to Target and see what new shoes might have come in recently, then stop at any restaurant in town for lunch.  After lunch you can head to Safeway and grocery shop (almost everything is back in stock now).  On the way home stop for gas and run by the bank to get some cash from the ATM.  Later in the afternoon you grab your surfboard and head out for an hour or two catching some waves and on the way home grab dinner at a local restaurant.  I know people that basically still live this way...a lot of them.  

Perhaps there is some sort of herd protection going on where those taking things seriously are protecting everyone else.  Maybe we have it better since it is warm here and homes have good mauka and makai breezes.  All I'm saying is that there is a huge mixed bag of what people are and are not doing in abiding by regulations, weeks after they were imposed.  Not sure what (if anything) the solution is to this.

Please remember!

This thread is in the "medicinal herbs" forum.  Please keep comments focused on things related to herbs or "food as medicine".  

This thread has some good information, but is wandering around a bit on all sorts of aspects of the topic of Coronavirus including masks, viral biology, and medical equipment. So I created a Wiki https://permies.com/wiki/139026/kitchen/Resources-Herbal-Medicines-related-coronavirusthat is where I will be gathering posts related to the medicinal herbs discussed. Come over to the Wiki thread and make suggestions.  Anne Miller has a post how to sew a Face Mask that also has lots of discussion about masks in general.