Does Wearing a Mask Protect You from the Flu and Other Viruses? #coronavirusnz, #covid19nz, #nzlockdown @davidlim

Does Wearing a Mask Protect You from the Flu and Other Viruses?

When the United States experienced an outbreak of the swine flu in 2009, everyone was talking about how to reduce the spread of the virus.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)Trusted Source, vaccine availability was limited that year because the virus wasn’t identified until manufacturers had already started producing the annual vaccine.

So, people started doing something most of us hadn’t really seen before to stop transmission: wearing surgical face masks.

But with the recent spread of the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, people are again looking to surgical face masks as a way of protecting themselves and others from the virus, which causes the disease COVID-19.

But does wearing a face mask really prevent the spread of viruses, such as the flu or SARS-CoV-2?


We’ll look at recommendations from experts, unpack the research on which masks are most effective, and explain how to use masks properly.

See full article at the link.

What Really Works to Keep The Coronavirus Away? #Covid19virus, #coronavirusnz, #drmobileslimited, #iphonerepair

What Really Works to Keep The Coronavirus Away?

BRIAN LABUS, THE CONVERSATION6 MARCH 2020

The World Health Organization has declared that COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus, has a higher fatality rate than the flu. As of March 4, 2020, nine deaths have been reported in the US.

Brian Labus, a professor of public health, provides essential safety information for you, from disinfectants to storing food and supplies.

1. What can I do to prevent becoming infected?
When people are sick with a respiratory disease like COVID-19, they cough or sneeze particles into the air. If someone is coughing near you, the virus could easily land on your eyes, nose or mouth. These particles travel only about six feet (1.8 meters) and fall out of the air rather quickly.

However, they do land on surfaces that you touch all the time, such as railings, doorknobs, elevator buttons or subway poles. The average person also touches their face 23 times per hour, and about half of these touches are to the mouth, eyes, and nose, which are the mucosal surfaces that the COVID-19 virus infects.

We public health professionals can't stress this enough: Proper hand-washing is the best thing you can do to protect yourself from a number of diseases including COVID-19. While hand-washing is preferred, hand sanitizers with at least a 60 percent alcohol concentration can be an effective alternative to always using soap and water, but only if your hands are not visibly soiled.

Read the full article here.

How long does the coronavirus live on surfaces?#Covid19virus, #coronavirustips, #coronavirusNZ,

Coronavirus can survive on common materials for hours or even days. Here's what you need to know and how to protect yourself.  George Petras, Ramon Padilla, and Karina Zaiets, USA TODAY

Tiny, infected water droplets that drift in the air or land on surfaces have multiplied into a global pandemic. 

Typically, an infected person's cough or sneeze spreads SARS-CoV-2 – the coronavirus that causes the disease COVID-19, a highly contagious respiratory illness.

To slow the rising number of infections – tens of thousands of Americans have been infected since Jan. 20 – researchers are looking for the coronavirus' limits. Just how long can it last outside the human body?

According to the New England Journal of Medicine, here's how long the virus could live on a variety of surfaces. 

The report also noted the half-life, or rate of decay, of the virus on various materials. That's the time it took for half of the virus sample to die.

The decay rate is important because though the virus may linger on surfaces for days, people are less likely to become infected as the virus dies.

Source:  USA Today.

Our face mask future: Do they really help beat flu, coronavirus and pollution? #coronavirusnz, #covid19nz, #facemasks, #masksprotection, #n95mask, #kn95masks, @davidlim, #davidlimnz

Huge numbers of people are wearing face masks – in Japan and South Korea there have been reports of stores selling out. But experts are divided on how effective they are

Masks may not be great against viruses or pollution, according to experts.
 Masks may not be great against viruses or pollution, according to experts. Photograph: d3sign/Getty Images
As the death toll from coronavirus steadily rises, east Asian countries such as Taiwan have stepped up production of surgical face masks to meet demand. In the Chinese city of Wuhan, at the centre of the outbreak, it is mandatory to wear one in public places, and there have been reports of stores in Japan and South Korea selling out.
Please read the full article here....

#Covid-19 Update: Sunday, 29th March, 2020

#Covid-19 Update:  Sunday, 29th March, 2020

Sources: WHO, CDC, ECDC, NHC of the PRC, JHU CSSE, DXY, etc

http://shorturl.at/hlwQR

	Country	Total Confirmed	Total Recovered	Total Deaths
	USA	123,750	3,231	2,227
	Italy	92,472	12,384	10,023
	China	81,439	75,448	3,300
	Spain	73,235	12,285	5,982
	Germany	57,695	8,481	433
	France	37,575	5,700	2,314
	Iran	35,408	11,679	2,517
	UK	17,089	135	1,019
	Switzerland	14,076	1,530	264
	Netherlands	9,762	3	639
	S. Korea	9,583	5,033	152
	Belgium	9,134	1,063	353
	Austria	8,271	225	68
	Turkey	7,402	70	108
	Canada	5,655	396	60
	Portugal	5,170	43	100
	Norway	4,032	7	23
	Brazil	3,904	6	114
	Australia	3,809	170	14
	Israel	3,619	89	12
	Sweden	3,447	16	105
	Czechia	2,631	11	11
	Ireland	2,415	5	36
	Malaysia	2,320	320	27
	Denmark	2,201	1	65
	Chile	1,909	61	6
	Luxembourg	1,831	40	18
	Ecuador	1,823	3	48
	Japan	1,693	404	52
	Poland	1,638	7	18