The following represents the views of the author. I am not qualified to judge its merits but have been urged to share by some concerned readers. It was first posted on Brent Covid-19 Mutual Aid Facebook LINK
PLEASE WEAR A FACE MASK
Dear Brent neighbours,
I’m a GP living in Brent and one of a group of doctors and public health specialists, called Masks4All (see here: https://www.masks4all.org.uk/). We have been working hard to convince the government to advise the public to wear home-made face masks when going outdoors. This is especially important when entering enclosed spaces like shops, supermarkets and on public transport where it is not possible to observe the 2m rule.
We have the support of hundreds of doctors and specialists, including those in public health. Despite widespread publicity here in the UK and the fact that most countries in the world have now implemented such a policy, the government is “still considering the evidence”. Those countries who adopted masks early have done so much better than the UK in terms of infections and deaths.
We know that BAME communities have been hit very hard by Covid-19. Brent, Harrow and Barnet are among the five local authorities with the highest death rate in the UK from Covid-19. Ealing has also had a very high death toll in care homes. We believe we should use everything we can to fight this dreadful virus and face coverings are one more weapon in addition to social distancing, and hand washing.
There are three key points about face masks for the public: they work by protecting those around you by blocking droplet spread of the virus. They do not protect you from being infected, ie “I protect you and you protect me”. They only have an impact if we all do it. Secondly, high-grade PPE masks must be left for front line health and social care staff, because there is such a shortage of these. Thirdly, wearing a mask does not mean you can stop social distancing and handwashing; those are still critically important.
There is lots of information on our website: https://www.masks4all.org.uk/, including why ordinary cloth masks work to reduce transmission, and how to make your own mask. Lots of us are already making and wearing cloth masks, but not enough of us. The data indicates if 50% of people wear a mask we can cut transmission by half, and if 80% or more do so we can almost stop transmission altogether.
Masks for everyone will also be an important part of coming out of lockdown, when the time for that is right.
We can’t wait any longer for the government to make up its mind, every day means more infections and more deaths. So if you’re not doing it already, please wear a mask when you do your shopping, or go on the bus or train, or if you’re still at work, and help protect your local community. If you are happy to do so please share this.
Many thanks,
Jonathan Fluxman