Can anyone recommend any masks please? Screwfix have rightly given theirs to key workers, Amazon's have bad reviews and eBay's are all the same as Amazon's.
Was going to have a look at B&Q and there's a 41 minute queue just to get on their website!
I wouldn't bother mate Wickes has ONE mask ( or did have) in the UK available click & collect in Glasgow. eBay is full of mouthall type people ie conmen scum & I think possibly the same on amazon, certainly some of the sellers appear to be. We're doomed Captain Mainwaring
Thanks, yeah I guess anything that's actually safe has already gone where it's most needed. The Amazon and eBay stock is all dodgy stuff that's largely for show, so I may as well adapt a snood.
Just figured that they will be necessary on public transport etc in a couple of months, so there'll be even more demand and price inflation.
I looked into masks a while ago and for decent personal protection against an infectious person spreading/shedding the virus close to you I think P3 is the level of moisture protection that would be best. Clearly there is a worldwide shortage of these and what is available should be given to those who are most likely to be exposed to high levels of the virus. Hospital and care home staff.
what is also becoming clear is that rather than you seeking to rely on your own selfish protection, you can have everyone else protect you by wearing any sort of nose and face covering.
it doesn’t work unless everyone does it and unless there is a stigma attached to going out without a face covering.
in my view any relaxation of lockdown should be accompanied by a period of time where everyone out of their house is wearing a face covering.
I found the video from the Czech Republic very persuasive
(and not only due to the quality of the presenters)
A family member working for BA had been ordered to work on a flight to NY next week. On a plane with 300 people where 2 metre distancing is impossible. Given the company has two tier contacts, I believe they are manouvering to sack staff. Irresponsible.
Gobsmacked that anyone on a flight from overseas is not quarantined for two weeks.
Honestly the level of debate in the UK around the masks is doing my head in. At least it gets me out of bed, I can't listen to the Today programme and just doze, when i hear such stuff. It seems that it is not just politicians who seem to think it is a weakness, or whatever, to concede that other countries have something to show them. So I'm going to try and tackle all the main arguments I'm hearing, as rationally as possible.
if we ask the public to wear masks, it will endanger supplies to essential workers. CZ didn't have an abundance of supply to the health service either. I ordered mine from Amazon UK late in Feb after finding that all local pharmacies and DIYs had run out here. However the campaign to make your own cranked into action, led spontaneously by the Vietnamese community, who often wear them anyway, and made their own, gave them out free to people, and made videos showing how easy it was. The majority of masks here are not surgical, and frankly I look and feel a bit of a berk in my FFP3 mask, as my neighbour's outbreak of laughter when seeing me yesterday demonstrated. Masks may make people feel too secure/complacent. There is no evidence of that here. On the contrary, the sight on the TV news of all concerned being masked up is a reminder of the serious nature of the epidemic. If people were starting to feel complacent, then why have we not seen a spike in our figues, even after Easter? It's true that Czechs have shown a self-discipline i did not previously appreciate, and the level of muppetry in the UK has shocked me. But even if the muppetry factor is 10%, that will leave 90% behind masks with resulting restriction of viral spread The evidence they make a difference isn't there. It's really important to understand that here, masks are not the key measure. They are part of the essential package of personal hygiene measures. Of course all the other advice about washing hands, etc, is also rigorously applied. So you cannot easily separate out the "mask effect" on our figures, from the other measures, including border lockdown. But we have a total of 196 deaths, in a country of 10.5m citizens. It seems beyond reasonable doubt to me that the masks are playing a role in this relatively very low figure. Sweden has the same population and a better resourced health service, and it now has 1,580 deaths.
My colleague in Hong Kong told me they are still going to work daily, using the busy transit (tube) system and even continuing to eat in restaurants with friends (albeit with social distancing measures).
This hit Hong Kong in January and so far they have had 1,000 cases and 4 deaths. The majority of new cases appear to be from those returning from abroad.
They are all wearing masks and those who don't are ostracised. They all have their temperatures taken when coming to the office, entering shops and restaurants.
They don't appear to be doing anything extra and do not have any lockdown measures compared to ours. (I think they are testing a lot more too but not 100% sure)
Would be good to get insight from any CL posters based over there.
The more I see this the more I think the government is still gambling on herd immunity. (HK) have been able to carry on with minimal disruption (compared to past few weeks in UK and past couple of months in Spain and Italy) whilst keeping deaths in the tens then that will have been remarkable and will pose serious questions as to why this country has not adopted the same method and suffered tens of thousands of deaths amid economic catastrophe.
Yes, @RodneyCharltonTrotta, we've never actually been on lockdown here. And no new cases yesterday.
They are testing anyone who needs testing. You do get temp checked before you walk into any shop. EVERYONE is wearing a mask. A lot of companies are still working from home, however. Restaurants are open but at 50% capacity (new measure taken a few weeks ago).
And they are tagging people at the airport to track them, or making them sign up to agreements that mean they will check in their location to police to show they are quarantining themselves. Anyone who doesn't is being shipped off to a quarantine center.
The death ratio (for want of a better word) seems very good here, no doubt because the health service is well-funded and not overstretched.
ed - on the flip side, the government (who have a massive budget surplus) is offering no support to people who have lost their jobs.
My colleague in Hong Kong told me they are still going to work daily, using the busy transit (tube) system and even continuing to eat in restaurants with friends (albeit with social distancing measures).
This hit Hong Kong in January and so far they have had 1,000 cases and 4 deaths. The majority of new cases appear to be from those returning from abroad.
They are all wearing masks and those who don't are ostracised. They all have their temperatures taken when coming to the office, entering shops and restaurants.
They don't appear to be doing anything extra and do not have any lockdown measures compared to ours. (I think they are testing a lot more too but not 100% sure)
Would be good to get insight from any CL posters based over there.
The more I see this the more I think the government is still gambling on herd immunity. (HK) have been able to carry on with minimal disruption (compared to past few weeks in UK and past couple of months in Spain and Italy) whilst keeping deaths in the tens then that will have been remarkable and will pose serious questions as to why this country has not adopted the same method and suffered tens of thousands of deaths amid economic catastrophe.
Interesting item on this mornings 'Wake up to money', guy talking in some detail as to the requirements of masks. It starts at around 30 minutes.
Another grim fact is that the basic material which was 15 dollars a few weeks ago and is now 57 dollars and rising. Very sobering to realise the depths that fat cats can reach when there is some profiteering to be made while front line workers are putting their lives on the line.
But it is a good question, and we are waiting for the answer in CZ, as they will re-open pubs and restaurants which have gardens on May 25, yet there is no talk yet that the general mask requirement will be lifted. Our local - which has a wonderful garden - presumes that it will be required to provide distanced seating, which is a problem when half their capacity are bench tables, like you get in Germany. And then, what, when you go to the loo? Masks back on? Cubicles only?
So it would be interesting to know how HK keeps social distancing in such places
If you are on your daily walk and keeping a big distance from anybody else and not touching anything, you almost certainly don't need to wear a mask. But when there are times you have to get closer to people, like shopping, everybody should absolutely be wearing one.
But they should in the knowledge that they are protecting others from themselves rather than the other way round. They should be wearing home made masks that catch coughs and sneezes, not clinical masks that are need on the front line. And public information films could tell people all they need to know so they use them safely, including making them in 2 to 3 minutes.
But it is a good question, and we are waiting for the answer in CZ, as they will re-open pubs and restaurants which have gardens on May 25, yet there is no talk yet that the general mask requirement will be lifted. Our local - which has a wonderful garden - presumes that it will be required to provide distanced seating, which is a problem when half their capacity are bench tables, like you get in Germany. And then, what, when you go to the loo? Masks back on? Cubicles only?
So it would be interesting to know how HK keeps social distancing in such places
Here big chain restaurants are working at a much lower capacity than normal, meaning that tables directly around you are empty.
However many ‘under the radar’ types of places exist here that just seem to be back to business as usual with no masks or social distancing. I don’t eat at those places, sadly i have no idea if someone I’m working with has done, which is a problem, if there is a second wave here I fear it will be bad, as complacency has seem to have set in, big time.
Comments
what is also becoming clear is that rather than you seeking to rely on your own selfish protection, you can have everyone else protect you by wearing any sort of nose and face covering.
it doesn’t work unless everyone does it and unless there is a stigma attached to going out without a face covering.
in my view any relaxation of lockdown should be accompanied by a period of time where everyone out of their house is wearing a face covering.
(and not only due to the quality of the presenters)
Gobsmacked that anyone on a flight from overseas is not quarantined for two weeks.
if we ask the public to wear masks, it will endanger supplies to essential workers.
CZ didn't have an abundance of supply to the health service either. I ordered mine from Amazon UK late in Feb after finding that all local pharmacies and DIYs had run out here. However the campaign to make your own cranked into action, led spontaneously by the Vietnamese community, who often wear them anyway, and made their own, gave them out free to people, and made videos showing how easy it was. The majority of masks here are not surgical, and frankly I look and feel a bit of a berk in my FFP3 mask, as my neighbour's outbreak of laughter when seeing me yesterday demonstrated.
Masks may make people feel too secure/complacent.
There is no evidence of that here. On the contrary, the sight on the TV news of all concerned being masked up is a reminder of the serious nature of the epidemic. If people were starting to feel complacent, then why have we not seen a spike in our figues, even after Easter? It's true that Czechs have shown a self-discipline i did not previously appreciate, and the level of muppetry in the UK has shocked me. But even if the muppetry factor is 10%, that will leave 90% behind masks with resulting restriction of viral spread
The evidence they make a difference isn't there.
It's really important to understand that here, masks are not the key measure. They are part of the essential package of personal hygiene measures. Of course all the other advice about washing hands, etc, is also rigorously applied. So you cannot easily separate out the "mask effect" on our figures, from the other measures, including border lockdown. But we have a total of 196 deaths, in a country of 10.5m citizens. It seems beyond reasonable doubt to me that the masks are playing a role in this relatively very low figure. Sweden has the same population and a better resourced health service, and it now has 1,580 deaths.
Anyway, that's enough from me. Just watch and listen to Marketa:-)
I know, I know...
This hit Hong Kong in January and so far they have had 1,000 cases and 4 deaths. The majority of new cases appear to be from those returning from abroad.
They are all wearing masks and those who don't are ostracised. They all have their temperatures taken when coming to the office, entering shops and restaurants.
They don't appear to be doing anything extra and do not have any lockdown measures compared to ours. (I think they are testing a lot more too but not 100% sure)
Would be good to get insight from any CL posters based over there.
The more I see this the more I think the government is still gambling on herd immunity.
(HK) have been able to carry on with minimal disruption (compared to past few weeks in UK and past couple of months in Spain and Italy) whilst keeping deaths in the tens then that will have been remarkable and will pose serious questions as to why this country has not adopted the same method and suffered tens of thousands of deaths amid economic catastrophe.
They are testing anyone who needs testing. You do get temp checked before you walk into any shop. EVERYONE is wearing a mask. A lot of companies are still working from home, however. Restaurants are open but at 50% capacity (new measure taken a few weeks ago).
And they are tagging people at the airport to track them, or making them sign up to agreements that mean they will check in their location to police to show they are quarantining themselves. Anyone who doesn't is being shipped off to a quarantine center.
The death ratio (for want of a better word) seems very good here, no doubt because the health service is well-funded and not overstretched.
ed - on the flip side, the government (who have a massive budget surplus) is offering no support to people who have lost their jobs.
Another grim fact is that the basic material which was 15 dollars a few weeks ago and is now 57 dollars and rising. Very sobering to realise the depths that fat cats can reach when there is some profiteering to be made while front line workers are putting their lives on the line.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m000hhfl
So it would be interesting to know how HK keeps social distancing in such places
But they should in the knowledge that they are protecting others from themselves rather than the other way round. They should be wearing home made masks that catch coughs and sneezes, not clinical masks that are need on the front line. And public information films could tell people all they need to know so they use them safely, including making them in 2 to 3 minutes.
However many ‘under the radar’ types of places exist here that just seem to be back to business as usual with no masks or social distancing. I don’t eat at those places, sadly i have no idea if someone I’m working with has done, which is a problem, if there is a second wave here I fear it will be bad, as complacency has seem to have set in, big time.