Facemasks - fitted or pleated for speech?

[mrcharly-YHT]

Hmm, i'm not sure where I read the bit about triple-layers. Might be peculiar to the outer Hebrides.

[Sergeant Pluck]

Trending on Twitter now: #nomasks and #muzzles. 

Everyone knows they are not the be-all and end-all. But the evidence that they help is accumulating. How hard is it to grasp?

[ian]

I'm not super-bothered either way. I don't think there's much, if any evidence, that they're very effective so there's an element of theatre, go about your business you'll be fine, you're wearing a facemask after all.

[Cudzoziemiec]

I've also got a black cloth mask with a plastic vent on the front. Highly theatrical. It has a pouch inside to hold a filter. The filter it came with is marked PM2.5 but who knows what, if any, testing went into that? Actually, I was a bit annoyed because it was supposed to come with two filters but when I opened the packet there was only one. Not sufficiently annoyed to go back and complain though. I've only worn it once, briefly, in a shop. It was rather hot and my voice sounded very muffled even to me. It was also smelly, which I think is the cloth itself. I should probably have washed it before use. I've been told it looks Joe Biden-style but I reckon it's more like an extra from a dystopian sci-fi apocalypse B-movie.

[Sergeant Pluck]

I'm not super-bothered either way. I don't think there's much, if any evidence, that they're very effective so there's an element of theatre, go about your business you'll be fine, you're wearing a facemask after all.

There’s none at all that they are veryeffective. But I think we should be doing all we can, including things that look as if they may help even to a limited degree. Add that to all the other things that work to a limited degree...

[Jaded]

I'm having some masks made by our Tailor. 

[fimm]

...

After each use, you must wash the face covering at 60 degrees centigrade or dispose of it safely."

What? We've just been washing our (made with TLC by my mother) cloth masks along with our hands when we get home. 60 degrees C water does not come out of the tap. How come soap and tap water kills virus on your hands but not on a mask?

[Cudzoziemiec]

Because of the different properties of skin and fabrics? Dunno. But at a guess one of the functions of skin is keeping things out, on the surface where they are accessible to be killed by soap and water, whereas with fabrics any virions landing on the fabric might be within the weave?

Or could be it's not to do with viruses but bacteria which would otherwise grow in a warm, moist environment. Dunno...

[Lightning Phil]

Not according to this from gov.scot
After each use, you must wash the face covering at 60 degrees centigrade or dispose of it safely."

I am using my Buffs but Buffwear says that original Buffs should not be washed hotter than 30°C, so that rules out Buffs as masks in Scotland as I will not be disposing them after I have worn them.

Doesn’t really matter if you have enough buffs. The virus only lives for so many hours (72 hours ish) on the fabric, so can wash one buff as normal, then leave it, and use another etc.  So three or four buffs rotated over a week, would be fine if just using to go into shops etc.

The other thing you could do is use a miox water purifier to create a solution that’ll kill the virus. Put buff in that before its main wash. I still have one from when I travelled round the world, and about same size as a large penlight torch!

[ian]

Textiles are woven, fibrous materials. If you're the size of a virion or bacterium, there's plenty of spaces to hide. Skin is a mostly impermeable tissue coated with lipids and salts.

Don't mess. Buy an autoclave.

I remember my gran used to boil-wash tissues on the stovetop. With hindsight, it explains the distinctive taste of her soups.

[Mrs Pingu]

The first of my masks has arrived. A rather natty shaped version with a wire (etsy 'Masked Machinist' shop). Not used in anger but seems to foul the lip area less than my buff effort.
2020-07-14_05-23-08 by The Pingus, on Flickr

[rafletcher]

...

After each use, you must wash the face covering at 60 degrees centigrade or dispose of it safely."

What? We've just been washing our (made with TLC by my mother) cloth masks along with our hands when we get home. 60 degrees C water does not come out of the tap. How come soap and tap water kills virus on your hands but not on a mask?

Actually, I’d recommend dunking in boiling water, or steaming, for 10 minutes. That’s should sanitise most things 

More soberly, it would seem the advice in Scotland is as random as it is in the UK.

[ian]

Or just wrap it around a small ball of cobalt-60.

[Andrij]

Then again, half the people I've seen appear to have missed the bit about covering their noses...

There's a image doing the rounds (which of course I can't find now) comparing wearing masks as stated above with wearing underwear (for men).  I'm sure everyone can come up with a mental picture.

[phantasmagoriana]

Then again, half the people I've seen appear to have missed the bit about covering their noses...

There's a image doing the rounds (which of course I can't find now) comparing wearing masks as stated above with wearing underwear (for men).  I'm sure everyone can come up with a mental picture.

I've been thinking about printing that one out and putting posters of it out and about!

[De Sisti]

Is the yacf still selling buffs?

[LittleWheelsandBig]

Is the yacf still selling buffs?

https://sites.google.com/site/paudax/ as per https://yacf.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=94501.0 for Audax buffs.

I thought YACF buffs were long gone.

[Andrij]

Then again, half the people I've seen appear to have missed the bit about covering their noses...

There's a image doing the rounds (which of course I can't find now) comparing wearing masks as stated above with wearing underwear (for men).  I'm sure everyone can come up with a mental picture.

I've been thinking about printing that one out and putting posters of it out and about!

 

[Kim]

Or could be it's not to do with viruses but bacteria which would otherwise grow in a warm, moist environment. Dunno...

Yes, I think that's generic advice based on killing somewhat hardier bacteria.  (There's a reasonable case for not cultivating non-COVID nasties on your mask, especially if they're being shared between users in a healthcare setting.)

FWIW, I've been washing my Buffs at 40C with no ill effect.

[andrewc]

I've been sticking the "disposable" Tyvek ones in a sink of dilute dettol   & leaving them to dry.  They smell vile anyway.  The elastic cords are a weak point,  I've snapped a couple.

[Cudzoziemiec]

FWIW, I've been washing my Buffs at 40C with no ill effect.

On them or you? 

[Shreds]

Even going to this extreme:

https://www.jspsafety.com/link/en/respiratory-protection/powercap-infinity-papr/powercap-infinity-complete-unit/a/?parm=NOM041%20%20%20%20%20aeabab&cat=JSP

Currently favoured by dentists!

Does not entirely protect you, and differing filters are relevant for vapours and gases. The size of the Covid 19 virus is 0.12 microns. That is pretty small, much smaller than the holes in a scarf wrapped around your face, although how many of these microns are necessary to infect and cause the disease, is another question?

[mrcharly-YHT]

covid 19 is tiny, yes, but it doesn't float around by itself. Carried by droplets of water - these are captured quite well by fabric masks.

[MikeFromLFE]

FWIW, I've been washing my Buffs at 40C with no ill effect.

I believe the scullery maid washes the staff Buffs here at 60c and the Buffs are still fine.
I have a good choice of designs from the trendy YACF design through to the popular and babe-magnet EU flag for days when I'm feeling a bit bold.
Pity I never splashed out on a AUK buff.

[phantasmagoriana]

I don't wash anything at 60°C. Most things (Buffs included) get washed at 40°, stuff like lycra at 30°.