Austria to make basic face masks compulsory in supermarkets & will supply them

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-h...-idUSKBN21H16A

Austria will require shoppers to wear basic face masks in supermarkets in a bid to slow the still too-rapid spread of the coronavirus, Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said on Monday.

Austria has closed schools, restaurants, bars, cultural venues and other gathering places, including non-essential shops. People have been told to stay at home and work from there if possible.

The country has reported 108 deaths and more than 9,000 cases so far, fewer than its neighbors Italy and Switzerland and within its health system’s capacity for now, but Kurz said its intensive care capacity could be exceeded by mid-April.

“As of the moment these masks are handed out in front of supermarkets it will be compulsory to wear them in supermarkets,” Kurz said, adding that the aim in the medium-term was for people to wear them in public more generally as well.

The so-called MNS masks are below medical grade and aimed at preventing the wearer from spreading it to others by coughing or sneezing, he said, adding: “Currently the infections are far too high.”

The masks will be handed out probably from Wednesday.

Austria is also carrying out tests on a representative sample of 2,000 people to get a clearer understanding of how much of the population has been exposed to the virus, Kurz said, adding that Austria was one of the first countries in Europe to do so. The results will be available at the end of the week.

There's some good sense!

Meanwhile in America, boneheaded neocon comedian Jesse Watters tells everyone that masks don't help. It's only hand washing and not touching your face. 99% he claims. Scientifically invalid claim, there is no way to know that at this point.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rPHLnTyOaFo

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Brian4Liberty

There's some good sense!

Meanwhile in America, boneheaded neocon comedian Jesse Watters tells everyone that masks don't help. It's only hand washing and not touching your face. 99% he claims. Scientifically invalid claim, there is no way to know that at this point.

---

That guy should be sued together with FOX, the CDC and the surgeon general.

Not all Doctors agree with the WHO and the Surgeon General about the value of masks.

https://twitter.com/SteveYChungMD1/s...81223823761409

https://twitter.com/ScottAdamsSays/s...87965144625152

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Brian4Liberty

There's some good sense!

Meanwhile in America, boneheaded neocon comedian Jesse Watters tells everyone that masks don't help. It's only hand washing and not touching your face. 99% he claims. Scientifically invalid claim, there is no way to know that at this point.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rPHLnTyOaFo

---

What a turnaround. The officials and politicians told us that masks don't help, and it's all about washing your hands. Now they have done a 180 on both of those positions. Now there is no surface transmission, and masks are important. I;ll agree with that, because it has been my position the entire time.

https://twitter.com/USAB4L/status/1263676606150778886

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Brian4Liberty

What a turnaround. The officials and politicians told us that masks don't help, and it's all about washing your hands. Now they have done a 180 on both of those positions. Now there is no surface transmission, and masks are important. I;ll agree with that, because it has been my position the entire time.

https://twitter.com/USAB4L/status/1263676606150778886

---

Do masks prevent you from getting it or rather prevent you from spreading it to others? Maybe early on it wasn't seen as an effective measure or that policy was a clumsy way of preventing a shortage for healthcare workers.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Brian4Liberty

There's some good sense!

Meanwhile in America, boneheaded neocon comedian Jesse Watters tells everyone that masks don't help. It's only hand washing and not touching your face. 99% he claims. Scientifically invalid claim, there is no way to know that at this point.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rPHLnTyOaFo

---

You must have watched a different clip. He has a doctor on saying the most important thing is wash your hand. Transmission is primary from hand to face. They don't say don't wear a mask.

Here is a study about mask wearing
https://www.acpjournals.org/doi/10.7326/M20-1342

Effectiveness of Surgical and Cotton Masks in Blocking SARS–CoV-2: A Controlled Comparison in 4 PatientsFREE

Seongman Bae, MD
, Min-Chul Kim, MD
, Ji Yeun Kim, PhD
, Hye-Hee Cha, BS
, Joon Seo Lim, PhD
, … View all authors
Author, Article and Disclosure Information
https://doi.org/10.7326/M20-1342

Comments

PDF
Tools
Share

Background: During respiratory viral infection, face masks are thought to prevent transmission (1). Whether face masks worn by patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) prevent contamination of the environment is uncertain (2, 3). A previous study reported that surgical masks and N95 masks were equally effective in preventing the dissemination of influenza virus (4), so surgical masks might help prevent transmission of severe acute respiratory syndrome–coronavirus 2 (SARS–CoV-2). However, the SARS–CoV-2 pandemic has contributed to shortages of both N95 and surgical masks, and cotton masks have gained interest as a substitute.

Objective: To evaluate the effectiveness of surgical and cotton masks in filtering SARS–CoV-2.

Methods and Findings: The institutional review boards of 2 hospitals in Seoul, South Korea, approved the protocol, and we invited patients with COVID-19 to participate. After providing informed consent, patients were admitted to negative pressure isolation rooms. We compared disposable surgical masks (180 mm × 90 mm, 3 layers [inner surface mixed with polypropylene and polyethylene, polypropylene filter, and polypropylene outer surface], pleated, bulk packaged in cardboard; KM Dental Mask, KM Healthcare Corp) with reusable 100% cotton masks (160 mm × 135 mm, 2 layers, individually packaged in plastic; Seoulsa).

A petri dish (90 mm × 15 mm) containing 1 mL of viral transport media (sterile phosphate-buffered saline with bovine serum albumin, 0.1%; penicillin, 10 000 U/mL; streptomycin, 10 mg; and amphotericin B, 25 µg) was placed approximately 20 cm from the patients' mouths. Patients were instructed to cough 5 times each onto a petri dish while wearing the following sequence of masks: no mask, surgical mask, cotton mask, and again with no mask. A separate petri dish was used for each of the 5 coughing episodes. Mask surfaces were swabbed with aseptic Dacron swabs in the following sequence: outer surface of surgical mask, inner surface of surgical mask, outer surface of cotton mask, and inner surface of cotton mask.

The median viral loads of nasopharyngeal and saliva samples from the 4 participants were 5.66 log copies/mL and 4.00 log copies/mL, respectively. The median viral loads after coughs without a mask, with a surgical mask, and with a cotton mask were 2.56 log copies/mL, 2.42 log copies/mL, and 1.85 log copies/mL, respectively. All swabs from the outer mask surfaces of the masks were positive for SARS–CoV-2, whereas most swabs from the inner mask surfaces were negative (Table).
Table. SARS–CoV-2 Viral Load in Patient Samples, Petri Dishes, and Mask Surfaces

Discussion: Neither surgical nor cotton masks effectively filtered SARS–CoV-2 during coughs by infected patients. Prior evidence that surgical masks effectively filtered influenza virus (1) informed recommendations that patients with confirmed or suspected COVID-19 should wear face masks to prevent transmission (2). However, the size and concentrations of SARS–CoV-2 in aerosols generated during coughing are unknown. Oberg and Brousseau (3) demonstrated that surgical masks did not exhibit adequate filter performance against aerosols measuring 0.9, 2.0, and 3.1 μm in diameter. Lee and colleagues (4) showed that particles 0.04 to 0.2 μm can penetrate surgical masks. The size of the SARS–CoV particle from the 2002–2004 outbreak was estimated as 0.08 to 0.14 μm (5); assuming that SARS-CoV-2 has a similar size, surgical masks are unlikely to effectively filter this virus.

Of note, we found greater contamination on the outer than the inner mask surfaces. Although it is possible that virus particles may cross from the inner to the outer surface because of the physical pressure of swabbing, we swabbed the outer surface before the inner surface. The consistent finding of virus on the outer mask surface is unlikely to have been caused by experimental error or artifact. The mask's aerodynamic features may explain this finding. A turbulent jet due to air leakage around the mask edge could contaminate the outer surface. Alternatively, the small aerosols of SARS–CoV-2 generated during a high-velocity cough might penetrate the masks. However, this hypothesis may only be valid if the coughing patients did not exhale any large-sized particles, which would be expected to be deposited on the inner surface despite high velocity. These observations support the importance of hand hygiene after touching the outer surface of masks.

This experiment did not include N95 masks and does not reflect the actual transmission of infection from patients with COVID-19 wearing different types of masks. We do not know whether masks shorten the travel distance of droplets during coughing. Further study is needed to recommend whether face masks decrease transmission of virus from asymptomatic individuals or those with suspected COVID-19 who are not coughing.

In conclusion, both surgical and cotton masks seem to be ineffective in preventing the dissemination of SARS–CoV-2 from the coughs of patients with COVID-19 to the environment and external mask surface.

This article was published at Annals.org on 6 April 2020.

I don’t care whether masks are preventative or not, I would mistrust a mask given to me by a retail establishment. They already do enough from a marketing point of view to sabatoge my desire to eat and clean economically. What is on that mask that might erode my ability to do that?

Sorry friends. I woke up feeling very skeptical of everything today.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Mike4Freedom

Here is a study about mask wearing
https://www.acpjournals.org/doi/10.7326/M20-1342

Effectiveness of Surgical and Cotton Masks in Blocking SARS–CoV-2: A Controlled Comparison in 4 PatientsFREE

...

---

That was put out a while back. A propaganda piece. Not scientific and discredited.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Brian4Liberty

That was put out a while back. A propaganda piece. Not scientific and discredited.

---

Link?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by VIDEODROME

Do masks prevent you from getting it or rather prevent you from spreading it to others? Maybe early on it wasn't seen as an effective measure or that policy was a clumsy way of preventing a shortage for healthcare workers.

---

Both. Some masks are more effective, respirators even better.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Danke

You must have watched a different clip. He has a doctor on saying the most important thing is wash your hand. Transmission is primary from hand to face. They don't say don't wear a mask.

---

CDC now says that pretty much no COVID-19 transmission is hand to face. Its possible, but in reality, transmission was all airborne. That clip was when the establishment was trying to tell people not to wear masks. The implication is clearly that masks do not help.

As for the Doctor, just because he has a title doesn’t mean he knows what he is talking about, or isn't pushing some hidden agenda. I prefer Doctors who aren’t all weepy.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Danke

Link?

---

No links. I remember that one at the time. Four participants, poorly designed, no bearing on actual transmission. It was propaganda, and highly cited at the time.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Brian4Liberty

CDC now says that pretty much no COVID-19 transmission is hand to face. Its possible, but in reality, transmission was all airborne. That clip was when the establishment was trying to tell people not to wear masks. The implication is clearly that masks do not help.

As for the Doctor, just because he has a title doesn’t mean he knows what he is talking about, or isn't pushing some hidden agenda. I prefer Doctors who aren’t all weepy.

---

hmm...

From today on CDC website:

Protect yourself and others

The best way to prevent illness is to avoid being exposed to this virus. You can take steps to slow the spread.

• Maintain good social distance (about 6 feet). This is very important in preventing the spread of COVID-19.
• Wash your hands often with soap and water. If soap and water are not available, use a hand sanitizer that contains at least 60% alcohol.
• Routinely clean and disinfect frequently touched surfaces

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Brian4Liberty

What a turnaround. The officials and politicians told us that masks don't help, and it's all about washing your hands. Now they have done a 180 on both of those positions. Now there is no surface transmission, and masks are important. I;ll agree with that, because it has been my position the entire time.

https://twitter.com/USAB4L/status/1263676606150778886

---

WHO with Mike Ryan said the virus could stay with us and wont burnt itself out and what happens if it does burn itself out?

I do most of my shopping at Meijer and they don't kick people out for not wearing masks.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Danke

hmm...

From today on CDC website:

Protect yourself and others

[FONT="]The best way to prevent illness is to avoid being exposed to this virus. You can take steps to slow the spread.[/FONT]

• Maintain good social distance (about 6 feet). This is very important in preventing the spread of COVID-19.
• Wash your hands often with soap and water. If soap and water are not available, use a hand sanitizer that contains at least 60% alcohol.
• Routinely clean and disinfect frequently touched surfaces

---

They can put an ad in there for Campbell’s soup too. “Don't forget to drink your Ovaltine.” “Be sure to get Professor Bill Gates’ magic vaccine.” Bullet points for sale.

Doesn't have anything to do with how COVID-19 is actually transmitted in the real world.

Quote:

---

Person-to-person spread
The virus is thought to spread mainly from person-to-person.

Between people who are in close contact with one another (within about 6 feet).
Through respiratory droplets produced when an infected person coughs, sneezes, or talks.
These droplets can land in the mouths or noses of people who are nearby or possibly be inhaled into the lungs.
COVID-19 may be spread by people who are not showing symptoms.

---