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Covid-19: The reasons why Germany or France have restricted cloth masks
Prevention: why wearing a double mask does not protect more
Measures: Germany bans the use of cloth masks in public spaces
Last week it was Germany and France who, by announcing a change in their recommendations, began to cast doubt on whether we need FFP2 masks even to go to the bathroom.
Then came Fernando Simón, who, with good intention, tried to clarify it in front of the media ... but it turned out to be regular and has achieved the opposite effect by throwing half of Spain into the
arms of the FFP3
, which until now were the great unknown.
This week it was the turn of Núñez Feijóo, who from Galicia has decided to add fuel to the fire by requesting the central government to make the FFP2 mandatory, at least in certain contexts.
Meanwhile, the semi-confined citizen, who already has enough to survive teleworking, ERTE or whatever may have been his luck in this pandemic, looks with one eye at the headlines of the press and with the other at his cloth mask and wonders.
What the hell am I doing?
Will FFP2 masks be mandatory in Spain in the wake of Germany?
Although, in general, we live with a certain complex with respect to our European neighbors, in this case, and without serving as a precedent, we Spaniards have gone one step ahead in terms of mask regulation.
In Germany until this very month of January it was enough to cover your mouth with Grandma Erika's curtains or Grandpa Hans's underpants.
Now they have established the obligation to use surgical masks and FFP2 in closed public spaces, going from zero to 100. However, since April we have a regulation, which is in fact more restrictive than in other European countries, for hygienic masks.
It is the UNE 0065 standard, which indicates what requirements fabric masks must meet to guarantee protection in the circumstances in which they are indicated.
I do not have the crystal ball to know what will happen here ... you would have to be crazy to make predictions with the history that we have in this pandemic, but if we are attentive to the signs, Fernando Simón has appeared twice before the media from all over this "German thing" explaining
which mask to use in which situation
.
He has clarified that it is not the same to use a homemade mask made with the remnants that one has at home, than a mask according to the UNE 0065 standard, which meets certain parameters and whose filtration is greater than 90%.
Do we always need to use FFP2 masks?
My question is: does someone wear the same clothes to ski as to go to the beach?
In the same way that we are not going to ski in a bikini or put on the feathers to go to the beach, we must assess which mask to use for each situation.
In crowded places with little ventilation
, such as public transport, or a crowded class with 25 students who constantly raise and lower the mask shaking the teacher, it would be advisable to use FFP2 (remember the importance of using CO2 meters for these circumstances) .
Personally, the few times that I have traveled by AVE or by plane since March, I have taken FFP2.
As much as some means of transport guarantee ventilation (and this should be seen) we are not exempt from the fact that the man who sits next to us removes his mask at a given moment or wears a mask with pellets from the month of September.
However, for the vast majority of everyday activities, unless they take place in crowded and poorly ventilated places,
wearing a surgical mask or a compliant hygienic may be more than sufficient
.
In the first place, because surgical or hygienic masks that meet the standard filter more than 90%.
And second, an unimportant detail, because the price of the FFP2 masks (about 2) is not affordable for all budgets.
As long as there are no aids for this (and giving once in a while is not an effective help since its use is eight hours) forcing them to use them indiscriminately is a toast to the sun.
What is happening in Germany would happen: people buy an FFP2, give it a name, take a liking to it ... and already keep them lovingly for the whole week or for the month in some cases.
I insist: after eight hours of use, the effectiveness of the FFP2 masks cannot be guaranteed.
Fernando Simón and the FFP3, the story of a nonsense
Last week, during an appearance before the media, Fernando Simón made a statement in which he affirmed that the most effective masks to protect oneself were the FFP3 type.
Immediately afterwards, I suppose that when he realized the effect his words could have, he clarified that the FFP2 masks were highly effective and that we had plenty of them.
But it was too late.
His words have triggered an avalanche of requests for FFP3 masks by ordinary citizens.
In pharmacies they have been sold out and in some online stores their price has mysteriously skyrocketed.
Hopefully it will be clarified publicly and in a more forceful way that FFP3 is not necessary for the general population because I am afraid that for a time we will carry this "FFP3" effect.
Is it better to use FFP2 or FFP3 masks?
FFP3 masks filter 98% of particles larger than 0.3 microns while FFP2 masks filter 92%.
It is true that there is a 6% difference.
But for us, even to go by plane or by subway, using FFP2 we have plenty, as Simón later clarified.
The FFP3 are masks that have never been part of the recommendations for the general population by the authorities.
They are used to intubate in the ICU, in patients who are 100% known to be positive for COVID-19 and in a context in which the patient is open-mouthed, generating aerosols.
In this circumstance and other very specific ones within the hospital environment, it may be useful to use an FFP3.
But not to go buy bread.
When a small child plays in a pool, he does so using inflatable sleeves or floats and with that he has enough.
A child does not need the lifeguard float to protect himself, although there is no doubt that the latter is safer.
Can we then forget the FFP3?
It is not that we can, but that we must.
In the first place, because it could generate shortages and that these masks do not reach the hospitals, where they are really necessary.
And secondly, because if the FFP2 masks cost about 2, the FFP3 are around 3 or 5 per mask and that there is no pocket to hold it.
We have already spoken on numerous occasions about the environmental impact of the indiscriminate use of single-use masks and it is another factor that we should not ignore.
In short: what masks do we have to use?
The recommendations in Spain by the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Consumption have not changed.
To make ordinary life, in little crowded spaces, the indicated masks are masks that filter more than 90%, such as surgical or hygienic ones that comply with UNE0065.
For people who are in contact with the virus or use in
public transport and other poorly ventilated places, the ideal would be to use FFP2.
And please, let's forget about the FFP3 because the masks are not an iPhone.
At this rate there will be demand for FFP4 for the month of June ...
According to the criteria of The Trust Project
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