Should Healthy People Wear Masks Or Not? Why Are Masks So Hard To Make? Here’s The Truth

As the Covid-19 epidemic spreads globally, not just doctors, nurses or others in the healthcare system, but common people on the streets can also be seen wearing a mask.

There has been a lot of brouhaha over the masks. As the panic spread, people started hoarding the masks, creating a global shortage.

A scramble for face masks is on in China. It is now making 200 million face masks a day— over twenty times than that at the start of February. And even that is not good enough.

In US, doctors and nurses are reportedly pleading for masks on social media.

Why the shortage?

Contrary to popular belief, face masks for protection from germs are hard to make. They require once-obscure material called melt-blown fabric.

The fabric consists of an extremely fine mesh of synthetic polymer fibers that forms the critical inner filtration layer of a mask. This allows the user to breathe while blocking the unwanted matter.

Apparently, one filament has a diameter of less than one micron, that is, one thousandth of a millimeter.

To make this material, a machine melts down the plastic material and blows it out in strands, like cotton candy, using hot air, into flat sheets of melt-blown fabric. This air needs to be in perfect condition over the width of the machine.

Else, either the strands will either be too close, making it difficult to breathe, or too far apart, allowing the germs to get in.

The precision machines required to do this are, therefore, hard to make.

Apart from the global shortage of melt-blown fabric, the process of adding ear-loops and metal strips that lets the mask bend and fit around the nose bridge also takes time.

Who should wear a mask?

According to WHO guidelines, a healthy person only needs to wear a mask if taking care of a person suspected to have 2019-nCoV infection.

One should wear a mask if they are coughing or sneezing.

Masks don’t give a 100 per cent guarantee against infection. However, they are effective at capturing droplets, which is a main transmission route of coronavirus.

The infection can still spread through the eyes and tiny viral particles, known as aerosols, that can penetrate masks.

Tiny droplets have a larger weight than these, and therefore, don’t travel far enough. So, a healthy person should use a mask only when in close vicinity of patients.

Also, a mask won’t work unless used in combination with personal hygiene. Frequent hand-cleaning with soap and water is a must.

Hands should be cleaned thoroughly before putting on a mask. There shouldn’t be any gaps between the face and the mask.

Once worn, the mask shouldn’t be touched again, unless the hands are cleaned again. For removal, one should grab the earloops and remove it from behind.

Single-use masks shouldn’t be used repeatedly, Once damp, the mask should be disposed into a closed dustbin.