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Covid 19 virus
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Cerebus:
As far as cleaning masks for reuse goes: Hospitals used to reuse a lot of things, fabric masks and so on, but in recent history medical equipment has moved from reuse (with suitable cleaning) to single use disposable items. Hospitals used to have huge banks of autoclaves and staff that knew how to use them - now, I just don't know if they have anything more than the most minimal facilities for handling reusable surgical instruments.

On the subject of cleaning masks for home reuse, jury rigging an autoclave is a real practical possibility. Basically anyone that has a pressure cooker has an autoclave. Put some water in the bottom, put something suitable in as a shelf to keep items above the (boiling) water level. Put in items to be sterilised, close, run up to pressure, leave there 30 minutes (a pure guess, research needed), leave to cool down, decant sterile items.

When you stack up a proper autoclave you put items to be sterilised inside paper bags which are then sealed with specialised autoclave tape. Autoclave tape will withstand the heat and moisture, often has an indicator that shows whether it has been through an autoclave cycle, and seals the bag afterward, keeping the contents sterile. If jury rigging, masking tape might work.  A typical lab autoclave cycle is anything from 30 minutes to overnight depending on what you're sterilising from a tray of small instruments up to 2 litre bottles full of culture medium.
peter-h:
"Therefore your Country needs ALL CITIZENS shall wear the DIY face mask when outside of home."

That's way too simplistic.

If you live in a packed city then yes.

If you live in the countryside, or are in the countryside, or are anywhere where there is nobody around (say an empty street) then wearing a mask is pointless.

The problem is that most of the general public are totally clueless about just about anything beyond how to eat a Big Mac, and reproduce. Here in the UK we have just had a big clampdown and it came a day after they got restaurants etc to shut. Millions thought it was a great holiday and went out in big crowds, everywhere, including the countryside which was packed. No way was the 2m spacing observed.

You could tell the public 1000 times how this thing is spread and they still won't get it. Most people are totally clueless about basic hygiene; sit in a cafe and watch them touch all the toilet door handles and then eat with their hands. Washing hands in the toilet isn't much good if you then touch the door handle. But most people will never get this. If there is something going around which you really don't watch to catch (like this thing) then you have to use smarter procedures and actually think about how this works.

Here we have mostly pretty smart people but out there...??
iMo:
https://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/3075289/china-boosts-face-mask-production-capacity-450-cent-month

--- Quote ---Total daily capacity rose to 110 million from 20 million in February with 3,000 new entrants; China made half of the global output in 2019
Carmakers BYD and SAIC, iPhone assembler Foxconn and oil company Sinopec are among ‘new faces’ in the industry
China's daily output of face masks reached 116 million units as of Saturday, 12 times the figure reported on Feb. 1 as factories of all stripes crank up new production lines to meet a surge in demands, the National Development and Reform Commission said
The biggest public health crisis in two decades has enticed 3,000 newcomers to the industry this year, according to Sina news portal, adding to a field of 4,000 who produced 4.2 billion face masks last year or half the world’s output, according to government data.
--- End quote ---
SiliconWizard:

--- Quote from: thinkfat on March 24, 2020, 04:57:27 pm ---Counter evidence: Everyone in Singapore wears a mask - it works. Everyone in Wuhan, maybe all of China wears a mask - it works. Make it clear to people _why_ they're wearing a mask and that it's not for self-protection and that it doesn't replace social distancing. Works everywhere in the world except the USA? I cannot believe that.

--- End quote ---

Yep. As we have said multiple times, the places where it doesn't work is conveniently where mask stocks are too low. :popcorn:
iMo:
Now, let us assume we are all here on the EEVblog people who can "count till 10"  :D

When a "barrier" consisting of 2+ layers of a fabric/textile sheets would decrease the number of infectious droplets flying OUT your mouth or nose by 30% (that is only 1/3 of claimed efficiency by some "experts"), would the R0
1. increase
2. stay unchanged
3. decrease
?
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