Robert at Blue Planet has face masks...

[Wetstuff]

Robert steps up and gets'm...  when people in the Washington clown-car point fingers at one another. 

https://www.blueplanetsurf.com/disposable-facemask-10-pack.html


Jim

[TallDude]

Just bought some for my nurse wife and her crew.

[Quickbeam]

I thought masks had to be N95 to be effective against Covid 19? (Don’t think Robert’s are N95???).

[TallDude]

The N95 respirator / masks are typically for patients in isolation. The medical personnel all take a training course on how to fit them correctly so they don't leak air around the perimeter. The nose and strap adjustments are critical. 99% of the population doesn't wear them correctly, or even know how. These are really for hospital use in isolation rooms. The other masks are really just to keep people from touching their face. They can also possibly deflect droplets projected in the air from another person who might be infected with COVID-19 and coughing. Or prevent someone with COVID-19 from projecting droplets onto surfaces, their own hands, and or into the air.

BTW, if you have facial hair, the N-95 respirators won't be any better than a home made mask. They have to seal tight against your face the entire perimeter. The homemade masks work in the hospital for the staff, first responder's, and all public interaction as basic protection. Here's the thing...... Don't touch your face, and use Purel all the time. Wipe your phone, wallet, keys, door knows, gates, faucets, car door handles, steering wheel, shift knob, e-brake lever, etc.. etc.. with wipes...daily. I make my own hand sanitizer. 3 parts Aloe / 1 part Isopropyl Alcohol. Works great.   

[Wetstuff]

"The other masks are really just to keep people from touching their face."  Exactly, but if that can keep your hands away from your face you are 98% ahead of most...  Those little masks could be deadly in an ICU.  You and I might come across a few bugs, these poor Docs and nurses are bombarded.  In Italy, they report 5,000 health care workers infected.

But, I gather those DYI masks people are making at home can be used as a pre-mask over N95s and discarded after a shift, saving the N95 for another go'round.

Away from the shop or home - Purple gloves remind me to rub my nose on my bicep. (It is allergy season, I cannot stop touching my face) I'll wear gloves, then wash my gloved-hands before taking them off. 

Jim

[PonoBill]

Like anyone that works with composites, I have a variety of masks. I've given most of my stash of disposables to the local hospital along with a bunch of disposable PPEs but kept one N95 with an outlet valve for grocery shopping, etc. I could wear one of my dual filter N100 full-face masks, but I doubt it would make a difference, and I'd look like Darth Vader. If I'm going that far I'll go with supplied air and scuba tanks. Wouldn't that be just special? There are a lot of different designs of facemasks, and N95 just means it filters 95 percent of particles 3 microns in diameter and it's not oil resistant. There are also N99 and N100 which means 99 and 99.7 percent respectively. That's just a filter spec. most of the N95 (most common) masks don't take any particular knowledge or fitting to wear. Talldude is talking about surgical N95 which does require fitting and even in some cases skin taping to ensure proper fit. But the industrial N95 with a wide, flat flange around the edge is designed to seal adequately (as a dust mask) with no special fitting--all it has is elastic bands. Other than the nosepiece there isn't any adjustment.

The FDA guidance on face masks and Coronavirus seems contradictory and mostly aimed at getting masks to folks who need them most. The FDA says they don't help with keeping you safe from contamination and don't buy them because our healthcare workers and emergency response workers need them. All well and good, the loons hoarding a few hundred facemasks while nurses are reusing a single-use facemask that's soggy from days of use deserve a good ass-kicking. But if you've got one and you're going to be in contact with other people you have to be a little nutty--or very fashion-conscious--not to wear it. I go shopping in a mask and gloves. I use the same decon methods I used to have to do when I worked in contaminated spaces in nuclear plants. I have a wife with diabetes. She's not going to get this because I was careless.

Glove protocol is challenging. To do it right you need a lot of gloves, and preferably you either double glove or use liners. I'm our designated errand dude, and I have a couple of boxes of nitrile gloves--I wear them a lot when I'm working on vehicles--but it's not a sufficient supply to do gloves right. As a modified protocol I wear the gloves to handle things that I don't know are deconned, decon the stuff before it comes into the house, decon everything I touched with the gloves, then wash the outside of the gloves with bleach water, strip them off, put them in a bag to reuse when I run out, and then wash my hands. I won't run out for a couple of weeks, so anything on them should be safely kaacked by then, though I'll probably do a mass bleach wash and dry them on dowels before I reuse them.

Diane is sewing masks to donate. They're washable--the nosepiece wire is stainless steel. Safety wire from my shop. We'll ship a bunch to my daughters, who are both in healthcare and exposed. My youngest daughter is head respiratory therapist at a small hospital and an EMT. Yikes. My other daughter works in a VA hospital dealing with critical care patients. As proud as I am of them for doing the work they do, I've been waking up in the middle of the night and staring at the ceiling a few too many times lately. I worry about all the people I care about. I'm not particularly concerned for myself. As stupid as I know it is, I consider myself invulnerable. But as always, hell is other people.

[SaMoSUP]

Cool now I can replace the mask I've been surfing with

Even though we were social distancing, LAPD got on the horn and kicked us out of the water.

https://youtu.be/QpgtUTtaB2c

[Fishman]

This Japanese place had/has millions of N95's. I think you have to be cleared first to purchase them.  If you are a hospital or___ it might be a good source.

I tried to order some for myself but I couldn't complete the last pay step

NIUWTP.com

[mrbig]

Ordered. Delivered in FOUR days to Georgia.
Over 65 shopping with mask, hat, and chainsaw gloves. 🤠👽

[Wetstuff]

 Bigs...  My wife, the retired RN, just shakes her head at me. She's like a coach standing behind me playing an 'active shooter' training video. "You are dead ...and so is everybody around you."

Doffing (a new word to me) gloves and PPE is an art. She basically gets 'one use' out of a pair?!  C'hit.. you can't waste those!  We'll be out of gloves in a week! 

When I get the parts together, I'll take a pic of a washing station I will make for the rear hatch of our station wagons. I figure the key fob we can wrap in bits of Saran Wrap for single use. It's the grocery store and gas station that we expose ourselves to most.   

Bigs... get a pair of safety glasses.  You really need eye protection.  I got Marjie some Bolle Safety glasses that are really pretty cool looking. (they had some in 'Warehouse' for like-$8 ..she didn't need to know the price)  I got these Head squash glasses (also warehouse deal - cheap bastard) because I thought them useful along with a helmet when learning foiling. I wear contacts in the water, so they should help keep the contacts in place also.

 Stay safe.    Jim

[mrbig]

Georgia now full lock down shelter in place.

Jim - Have them. Mahalos for reminder.

Stay safe, stay smart everyone!

[Hdip]

http://blog.japanesecreations.com/no-sew-face-mask-with-handkerchief-and-hair-tie?fbclid=IwAR2XsyOVvsWex6EfPc0el0P8jP2UKEdUBvCQUYbLlpUUVn6k-S30jPtH_2U

No sew face mask.

[Tom]

I've been using a buff that I bought for snowboarding and sun protection.
Search Buff headwear on Amazon. 

[surfcowboy]

The masks aren’t to keep stuff out. It’s to keep us from blowing it all over everyone else.

If everyone does this, then there’s less virus (droplets) in the air and on surfaces to spread. Have we all gotten so selfish we have lost the ability to even consider that we might do something for our fellow man?

When I infect you, chances are I won’t feel sick. Same for when you infect me.