The most effective ways to prevent
coronavirus is to refrain from going out and wash your hands frequently and
correctly.
When it comes to masks, even among experts,
there is a controversy over whether it is necessary to wear a face mask to
prevent coronavirus.
However, if it is worn correctly, such as
not touching the inside of the mask with contaminated hands, a face mask can be
a great help in preventing coronavirus infection and spread.
1. It prevents you from touching your nose and mouth.
You can be infected with coronavirus if you
touch something that is contaminated by the virus and then touch your mouth,
nose, or eyes.
Public officials have warned people not to
touch their faces to prevent infection, but some of them touched their faces
even during the speech.
It is difficult to fix habits in a short
time, and most people habitually touch their faces with their hands often. Masks
helps prevent you from touching your mouth and nose with contaminated hands.
2. It blocks the vehicles for the transmission of coronavirus
The diameter of the virus particles is around
120 to 125 nm, or 0.00012 to 0.000125 mm. Particulate respirators, such as
FFP2, KF94 and N95 respirators, are known to block particles of approximately 4
to 6 ㎛, or 0.004 to 0.006 mm. Therefore, no matter how
good a mask is, it can’t block the virus itself.
However, Particulate respirators block the vehicles
for the transmission of coronavirus. It is known that viruses can’t travel on
their own. Even if they can move, it is too far away for viruses to move among
people.
Assuming that the virus needs to travel 1
meter to transmit the disease, and converting it into human size, the length is
as follows.
The diameter of the virus particles
120nm = 0.00012mm
Height of human
1.8m = 1800mm
∴
The ratio of height of human to the diameter of the virus particles is
1800mm/0.00012mm = 15,000,000 = 1.5 x 107
∴
1m x 1.5 x 107 =
15000 km
A meter to the virus equals 15,000km to
people. It is similar to the average east-west length of the Pacific Ocean of
16,000 km. Just as humans need ships or planes to cross the Pacific Ocean,
viruses also need vehicles to cross the air and infect other people, such as
droplets and aerosols.
Particulate respirators block these
vehicles of the virus. The size of the drops exhaled by sneeze, cough and
speech is known as approximately 5㎛, so the higher
rated masks are worn, the more these particles can be blocked.
3. It has a similar effect to herd immunity.
When a sufficient number of the population has
become immune to a contagious disease, it is called herd immunity. If the
majority of the group members wear face masks, it has a similar effect to herd
immunity.
Wearing face masks not only prevents the vehicles for the transmission of coronavirus from entering the body, but also prevents people infected with the virus from spreading the disease.
Awesome Article! Indeed we need to wear face masks whenever we go outside. Must try PPE here - Number One Drager Distributor in the Philippines
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