Coronavirus and Masks - A Rant
This is, as the title says, a rant. I'm throwing any claims of objectivity, balance and calm out the window. I'm angry. In fact, I'm fucking furious.
I'm furious about the way the government has responded to the coronavirus pandemic. And this isn't because I'm a liberal leftie who would be furious with anything a Conservative government does. The Australian right-wing government - currently headed by a man who once brought a lump of coal to parliament in a strange attempt at allying the concerns of opponents of fossil fuels, and who handled the bush fires so badly he was told to "piss off" by victims - has managed to successfully lead their country through the pandemic with only 102 deaths and around 7,000 cases out of a population of about 25 million. This isn't about Left vs Right, this is about Competent vs Incompetent. And our government has been incredibly incompetent. That's not just my opinion, statistics bear this out. We currently have the third highest death toll in the world, the highest death toll in Europe. As I write we stand at 303,110 confirmed cases and a staggering 42,589 deaths. And yet despite us not being anywhere close to being out of the woods the government is pressing forward with their "getting back to normal" campaign, with non-essential shops opening and pubs soon to follow.
I'd have a brief rant about the ever-changing legislation but honestly I'm passed caring. Are we still in lockdown? I don't know. The law keeps changing so much and it's done through those stupid press conferences with no parliamentary oversight that it seems that no-one - not the public, not the politicians, and certainly not the police tasked with enforcing the law, know where they stand any more. The Prime Minister told us to use our common sense and my common sense tells me to not listen to the government on how to keep safe.
But the focus of my ire today is masks. I'm not going to get into the scientific evidence for or against. Everything I've seen suggests that it's equivocal and no-one really knows how effective they are in non-clinical settings. But the government has made face masks mandatory on public transport and when visiting hospitals and so masks are now a part of public life. What has made me angry is the lack of guidance on masks and the way we have been left to fumble around and work everything out for ourselves.
Masks are normally considered personal protective equipment (PPE). PPE, and health and safety legislation in general, are some of the unsung heroes of modern life. PPE is covered under the The Personal Protective Equipment Regulations 2002 and should have a CE mark to indicate that it conforms to a set of standards. CE marks are all over the place, once you start looking, and they're a sign that the item is safe to use and will, in the case of PPE, protect you from harm if you wear it correctly.
So, given that we're dealing with a global deadly pandemic you'd think the government would be wanting everyone to protect themselves as much as possible and if masks are required those masks should have CE marks so that we all know they're effective at blocking spit and other droplets that may contain coronavirus. But that's not what's happening. Instead we're being told to make our own masks, with no quality standards at all. It's make-do-and-mend for the 21st century.
The government's advice is to use an old te-shirt. I wish I was joking. They also offer the alternatives of "a scarf or bandana that ties behind the head". I have, in the winter, when it's been really cold, put my scarf over my mouth and nose. I've lasted a minute, maybe two, before it got uncomfortably hot. It is currently summer. It's 20°C today and is due to get up to 27°C later in the week. No-one is going to be wearing a scarf, let alone trying to breathe through it. Those aren't legitimate alternatives, that's someone scrabbling for an answer to the "but what if I can't sew?" question.
So fabric masks are clearly the way to go. The government provides a set of instructions on how to make your own but makes it clear that,
This is an incredible cop-out. It's basically saying that these instructions come with no guarantees and if you get sick despite wearing one of their masks that's tough luck, nothing to do with them.
YouTube
is full of videos of various different mask designs. The choice is
overwhelming. None of them have any independent accreditation to say
they're effective. We have to take it on trust that these YouTubers know
what they're doing and that we can follow their instructions correctly.
Etsy is also full of handmade masks, again with no way of judging the efficacy before (or even after) you purchase them.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) offer advices on making your own mask. They explain that,
A non-medical mask is neither a medical device nor personal protective equipment. (page 8)
But note that,
a non-medical mask standard has been developed by the French Standardization Association (AFNOR Group) to define minimum performance in terms of filtration (minimum 70% solid particle filtration or droplet filtration) and breathability (maximum pressure difference of 0.6 mbar/cm2 or maximum inhalation resistance of 2.4 mbar and maximum exhalation resistance of 3 mbar). (page 8)
While they don't have a pattern they do have an analysis of fabrics and situations where fabric masks are suitable, and where they are not. They go into a level of detail that I've not seen from the government at any stage during this crisis. They note that,
The lower filtration and breathability standardized requirements, and overall expected performance, indicate that the use of non-medical masks... should only be considered for source control (used by infected persons) in community settings and not for prevention. They can be used ad-hoc for specific activities (e.g., while on public transport when physical distancing cannot be maintained), and their use should always be accompanied by frequent hand hygiene and physical distancing. [my emphasis] (p9)
This is particularly worrying given that frequent hand washing hasn't been emphasised by the government for a long time and they are actively trying to reduce the physical distancing regulations.
The WHO explain that an effective mask should have three layers:
- Innermost layer of a hydrophilic material such as cotton to absorb moisture from the breath
- Middle layer of hydrophobic material such as polypropylene to enhance filtration and retain droplets
- Outermost layer of a hydrophobic material such as polypropylene or polyester to limit external contamination
They also instruct that masks should not leak air around the edges or be shared and that they should be washed at 60°C with soap or laundry detergent.
Contrast this with the current government advice which is to make a two-layered mask out of the same material and to wash it with the rest of your laundry, making no mention of temperatures.
The UK went into lockdown on 23rd March, that's almost 3 months ago. Even if they couldn't sort out supplies of medical-grade masks (and given this is a global problem that's a fairly big ask) the government could at least have sorted out simple guidelines on fabric masks that meant people knew what they were doing with them.
Instead we've had to turn to handicrafts. Fucking handicrafts. It's the 21st century! We have the internet, electric cars, incredible medical technology and we're having to rely on people getting out the needle and thread to protect us from the most deadly pandemic in a hundred years. I'm sure the government will, in time, try and sell this as a wonderful example of plucky Brits and the can-do spirit previously invoked in the World Wars that led women to knit socks and other items for soldiers at the front. Johnson is, after all, keen to evoke war rhetoric. But this is not a cause for celebration. This is a sign of the incompetence and complacency of this government. Rather than respond with any sort of leadership and organisational comptence the government has abandoned its post, leaving individuals to work out how best to keep themselves and their loved ones safe. Rather than mobilise suppliers to make and distribute masks to protect us we are left to fumble around in the dark and hope that the mask we have made or purchased is doing its job.
I get that this is an evolving situation, that we are facing circumstances barely anyone alive has ever faced and that everyone is to a greater or lesser extent making things up as they go along. But this is precisely the sort of situation where a government should come into its own. They are the only institutions that have the budget and organisational clout to deal with such wide-reaching events. THIS is why we have governments! Pandemics are well within the government's remit - they plan for these events. While specifics are not predictable, generalities are. In 2016 they ran 'war games' simulating a pandemic and a report the following year gave a series of recommendations. Recommendations that weren't implemented. Recommendations that could have prevented thousands of deaths. This isn't incompetence, it's indifference.
Instead of offering clear advice, the government offers confusion. It wants us to wear masks but it can't provide them to us. It can't even ensure supplies for purchase. Instead it suggests that we make them ourselves but can't offer a design that it's willing to stand behind. It offers no provision for those who are unable to make their own. And while the government is mandating masks as a way for us to protect ourselves it's actively working to make us less safe, by getting us back in public places and reducing social distancing requirements. This is not a government working to protect its citizens. It is a government working to pass the buck. And we're the ones who will suffer.
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