Mask Researcher Comment “Places where cloth masks are fine, places where nonwovens should be used” Fabric is also acceptable for ventilated commuter trains PRESIDENT Online



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A mask that suddenly became a daily necessity due to the crown. What is the effect of using it and why can you protect yourself and others from infection? Yukiko Iida, a mask researcher who also appeared in “The World Matsuko Doesn’t Know,” explains.

* This article is a reissued version of the “Textbook of Masks in the Age of Infectious Diseases” by Yukiko Iida and Yoko Manabe (Shogakukan).

On April 7, 2020, people crossing the rioted intersection in Shibuya wear masks uniformly.

Photo = iStock.com/rockdrigo68

※ The photograph is an image

What you can and cannot do with a mask

In an era where the risk of infectious diseases is imminent, how should we think about how to deal with masks?

Despite the evolution of science, the current countermeasures against infectious diseases when the influenza epidemic occurred in the Taisho era are basically the same “wash hands, gargle, wear a mask.” It may not change much in the future.

Also, wearing a high-performance mask does not mean that it is 100% safe and infection-free.

Therefore, I will once again explain what the most commonly used non-woven masks can and cannot do.

The first thing we can do is “suppress the droplets that contain viruses that are spread by coughing and squeezing.” This effect of the mask was evaluated in this new coronavirus infection. Coughing or squeezing “splashes” refer to particles with a diameter of 5 µm or more.

Yukiko Iida and Yoko Manabe

Yukiko Iida and Yoko Manabe “Textbook of Masks in the Age of Infectious Diseases” (Shogakukan)

The second is “to protect against virus-containing droplets that are spread by coughing and squeezing.” The droplets, such as coughing and squeezing, are said to disperse about 2 m on average. Also, if you wear a mask, even if the drops come out of the fountain, you can block them with the mask you wear.

It also has the effect of “preventing dryness of the nose and throat”. Inhaling a virus is not an infection. It develops when immunity fails to suppress the growth of the virus. Preventing the mucous membranes of the throat and nose from drying out facilitates the functioning of immunity and makes it difficult for viruses to multiply. Even if you inhale the virus, wearing a mask will help control the infection.



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