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Epidemiological improvement makes us expect more and more changes due to quarantine restrictions. According to the minister, they are still very fragile, so it is necessary to anticipate that the release plan can still be reviewed.
However, for the moment, the use of masks in open public spaces would be abandoned for only 14 days due to the incidence of 100,000. the population was reduced to 25 cases. It is currently just under 300.
“There is an argument that it is a fairly cheap tool and, according to the experts, quite effective: the value for money is good. However, as I said, the consideration of the plan of measures will be more and more intense, so I do not rule out the possibility that when we see the dynamics of numbers change, that debate, both about this measure and about other things, may return. But so far the most recent decision is that they should be before scenario A, ”explained Health Minister Arūnas Dulkys.
Mask protection – partial
As president of the Lithuanian Association of General Practitioners, prof. skilled. Dr. Julius Kalibatas, as soon as the virus invasion began, everyone realized that the only means of protection: take everything to prevent the virus from entering the respiratory tract, and if it stuck to your hands, clean it, etc. .
“So masks have become one of the main means of protection. However, it turned out that the penetration of the virus is very high. I am no longer talking about the British strain of the virus, which has up to 70% penetration and risk. infection. Higher. Therefore, protection measures have taken on special importance until we have all acquired the immunity of the population, “said the interlocutor.
However, the studies on the effectiveness of masks are mixed.
“What is mask protection? The research results are very different: some explain that the masks protect only 7-8%, other studies have shown that the protection of the masks is 40-60%. In any case, the protection of the masks is only partial. But when people ask if a mask is worth wearing, I always answer that partial protection is better than none, “said the doctor.
First, a safe distance
However, experts have repeatedly stressed that wearing a mask can give a person a false sense of security, because the most important thing to avoid transmitting the virus is to keep your distance. Among other things, the protective measure is primarily intended to stop the droplets secreted by the person himself and not to protect against the virus. Therefore, a much higher level of protection is required.
“Studies show that a patient can excrete up to 10 million per hour. virus particles. And they spread to a distance of 5 or even 7 meters when coughing and sneezing. Therefore, distance from people is very important. The greater the distance, the better, ”explained Kalibat.
Here he pointed out that, in reality, every stranger you come across should be viewed as a potential source of infection and try to get down as low as possible.
“And after passing by a person who sneezes and coughs in the street, it is advisable to hold your breath for at least 10 seconds,” added the specialist.
Using outdoors is always pointless
However, without major exceptions, the universal use of outdoor masks for people over 6 years of age. people ask professionals questions.
“It is very strange for me when I even see a man driving alone in a car and he is sitting with a mask. This is absurd. Or go out for a walk in the woods, when other people, less than 20 meters, and he is wearing a mask. Or the members of the family: it does not make sense that they take care of each other, because they are infected or not, ”said J. Kalibatas.
He noted that special care should be taken when trying to put masks on young children.
“Of course, the effect of the mask can also cause some fear and stress. I tell people if the mask bothers you and if you see that there are no other people on the street within 20 meters, take it off, walk part of the distance without it. I think there are enough ready police officers who will not pay attention if a person walks and is without a mask, “explained the interlocutor.
Among other things, he added, not all people can wear a mask due to a medical condition.
“If a person has obstructive pulmonary disease, there is respiratory failure, cardiovascular disease, when there is difficulty breathing, the mask in any case makes breathing a little difficult and can cause a feeling of panic. Then the person begins to breathe very hard, to suffocate, he needs to take all this into account. For some, it can provoke an attack of fear, so it is necessary to look very individually, “said J. Kalibatas.
Decrease efficiency
A virologist who has spoken more than once about the use of masks in the field, prof. Saulius Čaplinskas says it is a surplus measure when there are no swarms. He suggested reviewing these quarantine requirements.
“It can do more harm than good in some cases. After all, when you wear the mask outdoors for a long time, it gets wet and when you enter the closed room, its filtration properties are reduced, ”he noted.
The professor has also pointed out that the requirement to wear masks in the open has not and is not applied in many countries that have handled or are handling a pandemic better than Lithuania.
“The SARS-CoV-2 virus has been shown to spread mainly in closed and poorly ventilated rooms where people congregate close to each other for long periods of time (less than 1 meter). The probability of becoming infected in the field, when there is no meeting and communication at least one meter apart, the risk of virus transmission is practically minimal, ”said S. Čaplinskas.
He said he did not believe that the requirement to wear masks outdoors could make a significant contribution to managing the pandemic.
Masks are offered with respirators.
Experts, on the other hand, point out that in places where people interact indoors, more protection than a simple mask may be needed.
“Once we realized that the penetration of the virus is very high, many countries have already decided that masks need to be replaced by respirators, the most modern, which protect 90%.
Once again, at the beginning of the pandemic, I spoke about protecting our risk groups, at least with respirators. I suggested that masks should be purchased for those people who cannot afford it, this should be provided at the state level.
Right now, when a strain of the British virus has been registered in Lithuania, I think it is necessary to use respirators. Especially while there is no immunity of the population, which may only be in the fall, if the vaccine volumes are as planned, “said J. Kalibat.
S. Čaplinskas also mentioned the place of respirators at this stage of the pandemic.
“I will remind you that N95 masks (respirators) have a very high filtration efficiency of bacteria, viruses and other particles, which reaches 99.5-98.8 percent. Meanwhile, the effectiveness of cotton masks is almost half lower (50%).
For this reason, maximum effective protection measures must be applied where the risk of infection is greater and where, for example, the person himself cannot guarantee a safe distance from other people (public transport, shops, events, etc.). The use of respirators would strengthen the fight against the spread of coronavirus infection and would be an additional preventive measure in society by easing quarantine restrictions, “he explained.
The ministry is considering tightening procedures
The portal tv3.lt recalls that already with the rapid spread of the British strain of the coronavirus, some countries of the European Union, Austria and Germany, require only wearing medical masks in public places.
Our Ministry of Health is already half talking about this. This is considering whether Lithuania should also introduce a requirement to wear only a medical mask in public places.
“The cloth masks do not cover the nose well, they peel off, there is insufficient layer, but there are really different cloth masks. Here, too, we probably have to decide if we should all agree as a society: let’s all wear medical masks, then we will all agree on safety and efficiency, ”Vice Minister Živilė Simonaitytė told TV3 News.
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