Ebola round 2

Status
Not open for further replies.

krichardson

Bronze Tier VIP
MFK Member
Jun 19, 2006
27,620
14,571
480
Datnoid Island
March 31,2020 – Masks are a big topic for debate right now. There are at least two questions. One being should regular folks wear them? The other being can we even get a decent mask if we want on? My answer is pretty much we should wear some sort of mask and I doubt we can get a medical quality mask any time soon.

I am lucky in a small way. A few years ago I bought a bag of N-95 dust masks. I have been using them when doing dusty work around the house. I have four unused left and one slightly use one left. Not medical grade. I think I will be wearing one any time I need to be in a store. I will also be reusing them.

My basic plan to reuse a mask depends on how to clean one. I figure while out and about that the outside surface has a chance to be contaminated. Even if I am sure it is not I will treat it that way. My first plan to disinfect a mask is to expose it to sunlight and heat. I left one on the dash of my car out in the sun the other day. I figure the UV of the sun rays will kill off the virus and also the heat inside a car in the sun. (By the way I have been exposing my incoming mail to the sun. I lay it out in my boat for a while.)

Not sure about other ways to clean a mask. I will not be using Lysol nor such sprays as I will have to breath the residues. Might try 95% isopropyl alcohol and let it dry. Probably will just wash in hot soppy water and rinse.

Should I be wearing a mask and is there a personal benefit? Seems pretty obvious a mask works else why do all the medical folks wear them. I get they are around actually infected people and have many times over more chances to become infected. I get that if I am in a store and someone sneezes in my face there is still the chance to get some virus in my eyes. So a mask is not a sure thing to prevent my being infected but I figure I get some protection. I am making an unsupported guess that most infections are by way of mouth. So I figure I cannot be 100% protected with only a mask but it is better than nothing.

If I get infected I can be shedding virus for many days before showing symptoms so my mask can keep me from spreading virus. I may be one who never shows symptoms. Truth being I am a bit more concerned about preventing my own infection, but also do not want to spread it if I get infected.

My guess is if there were plenty enough good masks around for all to have all they need then the rules might be different. Right now there are not enough for even all the frontline health care folks so I get why they “blew smoke up our nickers” about us ordinary folks not needing them. I do see why medical folks need them more than me and in an us or them scenario they should get them before I do.

For you folks who are ordinary like me and do not have a mask there are options. Make your own nose and mouth cover.

Last thing on this for now. I was wearing a mask and gloves last week to Kroger’s. On my way out to my car I took the mask off. I realized I had touched the inside of the mask while taking it off. I failed to remove the gloves I wore and touched the inside of the mask with a finger. I had been touching stuff in Kroger’s so the mask was compromised. It spent the rest of the day on my dash out in the sun. I will be more careful from now on.
Well,not to be outdone by the Far East virus a gunman shot five people who were attending a birthday party in this city last night....pretty tough consequencess for violating the city's lockdown/stay at home order.
 
  • Wow
Reactions: Ulu

skjl47

Probation Member
Probation Member
MFK Member
May 16, 2011
4,417
3,810
179
Tennessee
Well,not to be outdone by the Far East virus a gunman shot five people who were attending a birthday party in this city last night....pretty tough consequencess for violating the city's lockdown/stay at home order.
Hello; This is a very interesting development. I will admit I was not too pleased with my neighbors having a small party last Saturday night. probably fewer than ten people sitting around a fire and drinking beer. They do this from time to time and are not too loud and do not cause problems. I was a bit pissed the next day when the fire was still smoking with the smoke drifting over my way. They were all gone and I guess the rain early Sunday morning was not enough tp put the fire out. I did get extra pissed when I took some buckets of water over to drown out the fire and discovered they had burned a tire. Way too ignorant redneck for my taste.
 

pacu mom

Goliath Tigerfish
MFK Member
Jun 8, 2006
3,314
2,114
179
northern CA
March 31,2020 – Masks are a big topic for debate right now. There are at least two questions. One being should regular folks wear them? The other being can we even get a decent mask if we want on? My answer is pretty much we should wear some sort of mask and I doubt we can get a medical quality mask any time soon.

I am lucky in a small way. A few years ago I bought a bag of N-95 dust masks. I have been using them when doing dusty work around the house. I have four unused left and one slightly use one left. Not medical grade. I think I will be wearing one any time I need to be in a store. I will also be reusing them.

My basic plan to reuse a mask depends on how to clean one. I figure while out and about that the outside surface has a chance to be contaminated. Even if I am sure it is not I will treat it that way. My first plan to disinfect a mask is to expose it to sunlight and heat. I left one on the dash of my car out in the sun the other day. I figure the UV of the sun rays will kill off the virus and also the heat inside a car in the sun. (By the way I have been exposing my incoming mail to the sun. I lay it out in my boat for a while.)

Not sure about other ways to clean a mask. I will not be using Lysol nor such sprays as I will have to breath the residues. Might try 95% isopropyl alcohol and let it dry. Probably will just wash in hot soppy water and rinse.

Should I be wearing a mask and is there a personal benefit? Seems pretty obvious a mask works else why do all the medical folks wear them. I get they are around actually infected people and have many times over more chances to become infected. I get that if I am in a store and someone sneezes in my face there is still the chance to get some virus in my eyes. So a mask is not a sure thing to prevent my being infected but I figure I get some protection. I am making an unsupported guess that most infections are by way of mouth. So I figure I cannot be 100% protected with only a mask but it is better than nothing.

If I get infected I can be shedding virus for many days before showing symptoms so my mask can keep me from spreading virus. I may be one who never shows symptoms. Truth being I am a bit more concerned about preventing my own infection, but also do not want to spread it if I get infected.

My guess is if there were plenty enough good masks around for all to have all they need then the rules might be different. Right now there are not enough for even all the frontline health care folks so I get why they “blew smoke up our nickers” about us ordinary folks not needing them. I do see why medical folks need them more than me and in an us or them scenario they should get them before I do.

For you folks who are ordinary like me and do not have a mask there are options. Make your own nose and mouth cover.

Last thing on this for now. I was wearing a mask and gloves last week to Kroger’s. On my way out to my car I took the mask off. I realized I had touched the inside of the mask while taking it off. I failed to remove the gloves I wore and touched the inside of the mask with a finger. I had been touching stuff in Kroger’s so the mask was compromised. It spent the rest of the day on my dash out in the sun. I will be more careful from now on.
I have always had an ample supply of gloves and masks. There is a particular brand of mask that I used for 20+ years which I order from a dental supply company. Unfortunately, they are not available now. A family member is on peritoneal dialysis at home, and we have gloves and masks for connecting and disconnecting to the dialysis machine. The surface disinfectant wipes I have purchased to wipe off the table and equipment and supplies we use, are now not available through Amazon. I found some wipes that will work (dental supply company), but will have to mix up a bleach solution every day if we run out. The dialysis RNs are now telling us to reuse the masks and to use one mask a day per person. I'm down to four boxes of my favorite masks and then I'll have to use the cheap masks that come with the dialysis supplies. I've had frequent head colds, and my masks protect our patient better. Actually it turns out my head colds are actually allergies to everything, including the ash/smoke when starting fires in the wood stoves...so I need a N95 type mask.

There are all kinds of masks for sale, and the ads keep popping up on FB. Here's two of them:


I think they are the same masks sold by different vendors. They come from China....who knows how long it will take to arrive. I hate it when the website is in English, and after I click my PayPal payment only then do I see that it is an overseas vendor I just paid. :(


When it comes to gloves, I have a stash of nitrile gloves from Harbor Freight (wouldn't surprise me if they are out now). The gloves really look like medical exam gloves, only they are much cheaper, and they come in 3, 5, 7 ,9 ml thickness.
 

Niki_up

Blue Tier VIP
MFK Member
Jan 5, 2018
2,344
4,076
439
March 31,2020 – Masks are a big topic for debate right now. There are at least two questions. One being should regular folks wear them? The other being can we even get a decent mask if we want on? My answer is pretty much we should wear some sort of mask and I doubt we can get a medical quality mask any time soon.

I am lucky in a small way. A few years ago I bought a bag of N-95 dust masks. I have been using them when doing dusty work around the house. I have four unused left and one slightly use one left. Not medical grade. I think I will be wearing one any time I need to be in a store. I will also be reusing them.

My basic plan to reuse a mask depends on how to clean one. I figure while out and about that the outside surface has a chance to be contaminated. Even if I am sure it is not I will treat it that way. My first plan to disinfect a mask is to expose it to sunlight and heat. I left one on the dash of my car out in the sun the other day. I figure the UV of the sun rays will kill off the virus and also the heat inside a car in the sun. (By the way I have been exposing my incoming mail to the sun. I lay it out in my boat for a while.)

Not sure about other ways to clean a mask. I will not be using Lysol nor such sprays as I will have to breath the residues. Might try 95% isopropyl alcohol and let it dry. Probably will just wash in hot soppy water and rinse.

Should I be wearing a mask and is there a personal benefit? Seems pretty obvious a mask works else why do all the medical folks wear them. I get they are around actually infected people and have many times over more chances to become infected. I get that if I am in a store and someone sneezes in my face there is still the chance to get some virus in my eyes. So a mask is not a sure thing to prevent my being infected but I figure I get some protection. I am making an unsupported guess that most infections are by way of mouth. So I figure I cannot be 100% protected with only a mask but it is better than nothing.

If I get infected I can be shedding virus for many days before showing symptoms so my mask can keep me from spreading virus. I may be one who never shows symptoms. Truth being I am a bit more concerned about preventing my own infection, but also do not want to spread it if I get infected.

My guess is if there were plenty enough good masks around for all to have all they need then the rules might be different. Right now there are not enough for even all the frontline health care folks so I get why they “blew smoke up our nickers” about us ordinary folks not needing them. I do see why medical folks need them more than me and in an us or them scenario they should get them before I do.

For you folks who are ordinary like me and do not have a mask there are options. Make your own nose and mouth cover.

Last thing on this for now. I was wearing a mask and gloves last week to Kroger’s. On my way out to my car I took the mask off. I realized I had touched the inside of the mask while taking it off. I failed to remove the gloves I wore and touched the inside of the mask with a finger. I had been touching stuff in Kroger’s so the mask was compromised. It spent the rest of the day on my dash out in the sun. I will be more careful from now on.
Just a thought on your masks and “disinfecting” them.

firstly, you do not want to wet the mask and compromise the materials. They won’t do their job if they are compromised.

secondly, the virus is said to live x amount of days on x type of surface. You could find the info for the how long the virus would live on the mask. Say it lives on your mask for 3 days (just a random number, I didn’t look it up. Just using it as an example)

you have 4 masks. Use one mask a day (paying attention to how you put it on and take it off, not touching the inside of the mask and contaminating it). When your done with the mask set it aside for 3 days and use one of your other 3 masks for the following days. By the time you get to the 4th day the virus should be dead on the first mask and you can use it again without having to apply any chemicals to the mask for “disinfecting”. Hope that made sense.
 
  • Like
Reactions: deeda

skjl47

Probation Member
Probation Member
MFK Member
May 16, 2011
4,417
3,810
179
Tennessee
you have 4 masks. Use one mask a day (paying attention to how you put it on and take it off, not touching the inside of the mask and contaminating it). When your done with the mask set it aside for 3 days and use one of your other 3 masks for the following days. By the time you get to the 4th day the virus should be dead on the first mask and you can use it again without having to apply any chemicals to the mask for “disinfecting”. Hope that made sense.
Hello; This makes good sense and is a good suggestion. I already do this sort of thing with cash money lately. Any money I have gotten in change will be allowed to lay around for over a week. Might not be enough time since it is not clear just how long this virus is viable on surfaces. So I treat it like it is contaminated even so just to be safe.
Thanks for the suggestions. Fortunately I do not need to leave home much, maybe once a week to ten days right now. I considered donating the masks to my local doctor but she quit me. Got a letter Saturday telling me she is no longer part of my insurance plan. My insurance fixed it so the PA at the clinic can see me for a time.
I suspect some are in worse shape than either of us for masks and gloves with no place to get them for a while. Soon enough there will be plenty of masks, gloves and such. Maybe weeks tho before they get to regular folks. We were caught with our collective pants down. Maybe we learned a lesson.
 
  • Like
Reactions: deeda

Niki_up

Blue Tier VIP
MFK Member
Jan 5, 2018
2,344
4,076
439
Hello; This makes good sense and is a good suggestion. I already do this sort of thing with cash money lately. Any money I have gotten in change will be allowed to lay around for over a week. Might not be enough time since it is not clear just how long this virus is viable on surfaces. So I treat it like it is contaminated even so just to be safe.
Thanks for the suggestions. Fortunately I do not need to leave home much, maybe once a week to ten days right now. I considered donating the masks to my local doctor but she quit me. Got a letter Saturday telling me she is no longer part of my insurance plan. My insurance fixed it so the PA at the clinic can see me for a time.
I suspect some are in worse shape than either of us for masks and gloves with no place to get them for a while. Soon enough there will be plenty of masks, gloves and such. Maybe weeks tho before they get to regular folks. We were caught with our collective pants down. Maybe we learned a lesson.
Please Do not donate your used masks to anyone. I know you want to help out and think this could help. If you donate to professionals they will likely be thrown out and not used.

There will be a lot of your dna on those masks, specifically spit. There’s some things that can live in spit and outside the body for 6+ months. N95 masks cannot get wet or disinfected properly as they will be compromised. They were designed as a one time use disposable mask. It’s great that you are stretching the use of your masks but they will not be used if donated.
If your looking for ways to help, you could always call up and ask. Blood donations are still needed as well!
 

MrsE88

Bronze Tier VIP
MFK Member
Mar 9, 2017
3,261
5,171
729
36
When it comes to gloves, I have a stash of nitrile gloves from Harbor Freight (wouldn't surprise me if they are out now). The gloves really look like medical exam gloves, only they are much cheaper, and they come in 3, 5, 7 ,9 ml thickness.
I was just at harbor Freight yesterday. They are all out of masks and gloves. There are signs up saying they have all been donated to heath care facilities.
 

pacu mom

Goliath Tigerfish
MFK Member
Jun 8, 2006
3,314
2,114
179
northern CA
I was just at harbor Freight yesterday. They are all out of masks and gloves. There are signs up saying they have all been donated to heath care facilities.
WOW!!! They are not medical grade gloves. I got my gloves a long time ago mostly for mixing epoxy and painting my fish tank backgrounds. I also wear them a lot when doing food preparation...potatoes, mushrooms, flour cause painful cracks next to fingernails..wearing gloves prevents the cracks.
 

MrsE88

Bronze Tier VIP
MFK Member
Mar 9, 2017
3,261
5,171
729
36
WOW!!! They are not medical grade gloves. I got my gloves a long time ago mostly for mixing epoxy and painting my fish tank backgrounds. I also wear them a lot when doing food preparation...potatoes, mushrooms, flour cause painful cracks next to fingernails..wearing gloves prevents the cracks.
Maybe they are for the janitorial staff and not necessarily the medical workers themselves?
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
zoomed.com
hikariusa.com
aqaimports.com
Store