From: ABC - The World Today - Wednesday, 2022-01-12
Starting from 8:33 mark at https://www.abc.net.au/radio/programs/worldtoday/warnings-half-of-europe-could-soon-be-infected-with-omicron/13696768 (ends at 12:42)
TRANSCRIPTION:
SALLY SARA: The author of the world's biggest study on the effectiveness of face masks is urging Australians to ditch their cloth and surgical masks and buy N95s. The US Centers for Disease Control is reviewing its guidance on masks, considering recommending N95s or medical respirators as the only real solution to prevent the spread of the Omicron variant. Isobel Roe reports.
Two years into the pandemic and most people would own a bunch of fabric face masks and perhaps a spare packet of disposable surgical masks in the glove box. But according to data scientist Jeremy Howard, they're no longer very useful.
JEREMY HOWARD: My guess is that the current mask mandates in Australia actually do nothing at all, because they don't mandate masks that actually work against Omicron.
ISOBEL ROE: In 2020, Brisbane-based scientist Jeremy Howard did the world's largest review of evidence on face masks and their ability to stop aerosol spread of COVID. He lobbied governments around the world to introduce mask mandates as the pandemic took hold. In the era of Omicron, he says evidence is evolving.
HOWARD: So ditch your cloth masks and also ditch your surgical masks - those are those blue and white ones that many of us use - those have big holes in the sides, and so because Omicron is so aerosolised, so it's such tiny particles that float in the air, when you breathe in, you are sucking in those respiratory particles - they're too small to see.
ROE: Now, he's among a growing group of scientists who say medical respirators, or N95 masks are the only mask that can actually prevent the transmission of Omicron. While they've previously been reserved for medical professionals, that's no longer the case.
HOWARD: So there's two very frequently misunderstood things about medical respirators - like N95s and KF94s. The first is that they have to be professionally fit-tested to be useful, and the second is that they can only be used once. Both of these have been shown in scientific papers to be wrong. In fact, these respirators like N95s can be worn until basically the straps wear out. The actual filter material is tested according to a standard that requires that it continues to be effective after 200 days of 24-hour a day use.
ROE: The Centers for Di
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I know we're all tired of hearing about masks so feel free to ignore me.
If you're so bothered by a mask, either it's your biggest problem in life, in which case I don't feel sorry for you at all, or you complain about everything and even if we stop wearing masks you'll find 5 other things to bitch about by the end of the week.
Honestly, the worst thing about masks is probably that it can make your glasses fog up.
It has been specially proven that medically approved masks (3 ply ones that come in big packs) are the way to go with regards to decreasing the chances of contracting the virus simply due to their filtration efficacy! If you really wanna protect yourself or others, do it right.
basically— in 2020 i was already making cloth face masks. i ordered a lot to keep up with demand in mid-2020, and now i have a lot of them left over, so i’d like to donate some (probably something like 200) locally since they’re still useful, especially with new variants around.
they have printed designs on them (some horror/sci-fi based) and most have three layers including a filter pocket. individually packaged, etc…
