Prof. Dr. Birgül Kaçmaz, Faculty Member of Kırıkkale University Faculty of Medicine, Department of Infectious Diseases and Clinical Microbiology, stated in a statement to AA correspondent that the use of masks increased worldwide with the Covid-19 pandemic and difficulties arose in meeting the demand.
While Turkey has made the use of masks mandatory in public areas, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention in the United States also recommends wearing masks, Kaçmaz said:
“It was reported that medical and respiratory masks should be reserved for healthcare workers, and that it would be sufficient for the public to use fabric masks. The World Health Organization also supports this idea. However, the most important measure against Covid-19 is hand hygiene and maintaining a social distance of 2 meters. The virus can be transmitted through contact with the mouth, nose and eyes of other people who are infected or who are not infected, but who are carrying the virus, by coughing and sneezing.
The most important way to prevent such transmission is to maintain a distance of about 2 meters between people. The virus can also be transmitted by touching surfaces to which virus-carrying droplets have adhered and then bringing the hands to the mouth, nose and eyes. For this reason, it is very important to wash hands after touching the environment to protect against the disease.”
No data supporting nano-masks
Kaçmaz pointed out that fabric masks should be used in addition to hand hygiene and social distancing and that these masks are intended to protect the environment and other people, not the user.
Explaining that fabric masks prevent the droplets emitted from individuals who have the disease with or without symptoms from contaminating the environment and other people, Kaçmaz said:
“These masks can be reused after washing at least 60-90 degrees using soap and water. Recently, there are news that nano-masks that can be used for a long time with filtering properties made of nanofibers with a diameter of 100-150 nanometers with nanotechnology have been developed in South Korea and China. As the technology is very new, there is no standard for nano-masks in many countries. Therefore, there is no data to support the use of these masks. It is thought that it would be appropriate to conduct more research on this subject and to establish standards with the data obtained.”
Source: https://www.aa.com.tr/tr/koronavirus/kovid-19a-karsi-en-etkin-korunma-el-temizligi-ve-sosyal-mesafe/1805471
