Intro
According to doctors, coronavirus is not too dangerous for the young (under 35). The older you are and the more lung diseases you have (smoking, asthma, etc.), the greater the chance of death. Most on this forum should be fine, but their parents are at greater risk. Regardless of your situation, reasonable protections are worth trying without too much cost or effort.
What can you do to stay safe?
-Masks (detailed below)
-Handwashing
-Alcohol hand sanitizer
-Cleaning agents
Hand hygiene
Soap and water is better than alcohol (Reference 1). Use alcohol only if you don't have access to a sink. Masks are worthless if you touch your eyes and nose with dirty hands.
The relative importance of respiratory vs contact transmission is hotly debated (ref. 2), but I would say handwashing warrants equal attention to mask usage.
Cleaning surfaces
Coronavirus persists for 9 days on surfaces.
62-71% ethanol, 0.5% hydrogen peroxide or 0.1% sodium hypochlorite(bleach) are effective at disinfection.
Chlorhexidine is less effective (ref. 4) but has the added advantage of a longer duration of action, plus it doesn't smell bad and can be safely used on skin (ref. 3, 4)
Don't forget to clean your cell phone, headphones, and other electronics. Its probably the only thing that you use both indoors and outside your house.
Masks and Respirators
The WHO and healthcare organizations are recommending the use of masks in certain cases. (ref 5, 6, 7) Healthcare workers are most likely to face high viral loads and they have high mortality rates (higher than their age group would predict). Those caring for sick patients should wear masks. All others will have to determine their personal need for using masks.
Surgical masks
Offer limited protection. Better than nothing, so wear it if you have no alternative.
Respirators
Usually listed as "N95" This is what will give the most protection.
The "N95" means that the respirators block out at least 95 percent of tiny particles that come into contact with them, on the scale of 0.0001 inches (0.3 microns) in diameter.
BFE/PFE ratings
You want a high PFE (Particle Filtration Efficiency) for your medical/surgical mask. Viruses are smaller than bacteria so if the mask my not offer sufficient protection if it only lists a BFE but no PFE. Ideally, you want PFE greater than 99% but some masks on the market may be 95% and up.
FFP ratings(Europe)
FFP3 is graded for viruses and FFP2 are better than nothing but not as good as medical/surgical masks with BFE and PFE >99%.
Fit Testing
Critical to making sure the mask is any good. (ref. 9)
Shave your facial hair, otherwise you need a PAPR full face mask.
If an official fit test is not available, try using incense and see if the mask keeps it out (see video of a fit test in ref. 8). Banana oil is used in official fit testing, so perhaps a really ripe banana could be used or aromatherapy oils. If you can smell it, then the mask isn't fitting well.
See ref. 10 for more tips on fit.
How to wear a mask
Masks will usually have a metal band which goes on the top. After putting the band or ear loops on, you squeeze this metal band to form a tighter seal around your nose. If you wear glasses, you should remove your glasses before putting on the mask and put your glasses back on after. Usually, there will be a white side and a colored side. The colored side should face OUT but double check that the folds point down so there are no valleys produced by the mask that could collect fluids. Try to avoid touching the front of your mask and remove it by grabbing the band or ear loops. Ideally, you would also wash your hands after removing the mask.
Conclusion
Stay calm. This won't be as bad as a Hollywood disaster movie, but a few reasonable precautions may help. Stay safe everyone, and God bless.
References:
1) https://msphere.asm.org/content/4/5/e00474-19
2) https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2894888/
3) https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32035997
4) https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/0310057X0803600404
5) https://www.who.int/emergencies/dis...9/advice-for-public/when-and-how-to-use-masks
6) https://www.livescience.com/respirators-prevent-coronavirus-infection-study.html
7) https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.02.18.20021881v1
8) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xl4qX6qEYXU
9) https://www.ph.ucla.edu/epi/bioter/n95masks.html
10) https://www.vpppa.org/symposium/blog-entry/quantitative-vs-qualitative-respirator-fit-test
According to doctors, coronavirus is not too dangerous for the young (under 35). The older you are and the more lung diseases you have (smoking, asthma, etc.), the greater the chance of death. Most on this forum should be fine, but their parents are at greater risk. Regardless of your situation, reasonable protections are worth trying without too much cost or effort.
What can you do to stay safe?
-Masks (detailed below)
-Handwashing
-Alcohol hand sanitizer
-Cleaning agents
Hand hygiene
Soap and water is better than alcohol (Reference 1). Use alcohol only if you don't have access to a sink. Masks are worthless if you touch your eyes and nose with dirty hands.
The relative importance of respiratory vs contact transmission is hotly debated (ref. 2), but I would say handwashing warrants equal attention to mask usage.
Cleaning surfaces
Coronavirus persists for 9 days on surfaces.
62-71% ethanol, 0.5% hydrogen peroxide or 0.1% sodium hypochlorite(bleach) are effective at disinfection.
Chlorhexidine is less effective (ref. 4) but has the added advantage of a longer duration of action, plus it doesn't smell bad and can be safely used on skin (ref. 3, 4)
Don't forget to clean your cell phone, headphones, and other electronics. Its probably the only thing that you use both indoors and outside your house.
Masks and Respirators
The WHO and healthcare organizations are recommending the use of masks in certain cases. (ref 5, 6, 7) Healthcare workers are most likely to face high viral loads and they have high mortality rates (higher than their age group would predict). Those caring for sick patients should wear masks. All others will have to determine their personal need for using masks.
Surgical masks
Offer limited protection. Better than nothing, so wear it if you have no alternative.
Respirators
Usually listed as "N95" This is what will give the most protection.
The "N95" means that the respirators block out at least 95 percent of tiny particles that come into contact with them, on the scale of 0.0001 inches (0.3 microns) in diameter.
BFE/PFE ratings
You want a high PFE (Particle Filtration Efficiency) for your medical/surgical mask. Viruses are smaller than bacteria so if the mask my not offer sufficient protection if it only lists a BFE but no PFE. Ideally, you want PFE greater than 99% but some masks on the market may be 95% and up.
FFP ratings(Europe)
FFP3 is graded for viruses and FFP2 are better than nothing but not as good as medical/surgical masks with BFE and PFE >99%.
Fit Testing
Critical to making sure the mask is any good. (ref. 9)
Shave your facial hair, otherwise you need a PAPR full face mask.
If an official fit test is not available, try using incense and see if the mask keeps it out (see video of a fit test in ref. 8). Banana oil is used in official fit testing, so perhaps a really ripe banana could be used or aromatherapy oils. If you can smell it, then the mask isn't fitting well.
See ref. 10 for more tips on fit.
How to wear a mask
Masks will usually have a metal band which goes on the top. After putting the band or ear loops on, you squeeze this metal band to form a tighter seal around your nose. If you wear glasses, you should remove your glasses before putting on the mask and put your glasses back on after. Usually, there will be a white side and a colored side. The colored side should face OUT but double check that the folds point down so there are no valleys produced by the mask that could collect fluids. Try to avoid touching the front of your mask and remove it by grabbing the band or ear loops. Ideally, you would also wash your hands after removing the mask.
Conclusion
Stay calm. This won't be as bad as a Hollywood disaster movie, but a few reasonable precautions may help. Stay safe everyone, and God bless.
References:
1) https://msphere.asm.org/content/4/5/e00474-19
2) https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2894888/
3) https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32035997
4) https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/0310057X0803600404
5) https://www.who.int/emergencies/dis...9/advice-for-public/when-and-how-to-use-masks
6) https://www.livescience.com/respirators-prevent-coronavirus-infection-study.html
7) https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.02.18.20021881v1
8) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xl4qX6qEYXU
9) https://www.ph.ucla.edu/epi/bioter/n95masks.html
10) https://www.vpppa.org/symposium/blog-entry/quantitative-vs-qualitative-respirator-fit-test