Eka Wirya

Seperti yang kita sudah tahu, masker kini sangat sulit ditemukan karena permintaan yang luar biasa tinggi di tengah wabah coronavirus (COVID-19) ini. Banyak juga orang-orang tidak bermoral yang menimbun masker untuk dijual kembali dengan harga yang sangat mahal.

Karena itu saya sendiri penasaran apakah bisa membuat sendiri masker yang efektif.

Dalam pencarian saya, saya menemukan banyak informasi yang bertentangan mengenai efektifitas masker buatan sendiri ini.

Ada yang bilang masker buatan sendiri itu tidak efektif.

Michael Doyle, an Army National Guard commander of a COVID-19 testing site, told USA Today that the only way to prevent inhaling the virus is the N95 mask.

“The DIY masks, albeit creative, are only to serve as a reminder for us to not touch our face,” he told USA Today.

The CDC says homemade masks should be used by health care workers as a “last resort” and are not considered personal protective equipment.

https://www.newsobserver.com/news/coronavirus/article241465301.html

Namun ada juga yang bilang masker buatan sendiri itu tetap sangat membantu ketimbang tidak menggunakan apa-apa.

There are good reasons to believe DIY masks would help a lot. Look at Hong Kong, Mongolia, South Korea and Taiwan, all of which have covid-19 largely under control. They are all near the original epicenter of the pandemic in mainland China, and they have economic ties to China. Yet none has resorted to a lockdown, such as in China’s Wuhan province. In all of these countries, all of which were hit hard by the SARS respiratory virus outbreak in 2002 and 2003, everyone is wearing masks in public. George Gao, director general of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, stated, “Many people have asymptomatic or presymptomatic infections. If they are wearing face masks, it can prevent droplets that carry the virus from escaping and infecting others.”

My data-focused research institute, fast.ai, has found 34 scientific papers indicating basic masks can be effective in reducing virus transmission in public — and not a single paper that shows clear evidence that they cannot.

Studies have documented definitively that in controlled environments like airplanes, people with masks rarely infect others and rarely become infected themselves, while those without masks more easily infect others or become infected themselves.

Masks don’t have to be complex to be effective. A 2013 paper tested a variety of household materials and found that something as simple as two layers of a cotton T-shirt is highly effective at blocking virus particles of a wide range of sizes. Oxford University found evidence this month for the effectiveness of simple fabric mouth and nose covers to be so compelling they now are officially acceptable for use in a hospital in many situations. Hospitals running short of N95-rated masks are turning to homemade cloth masks themselves; if it’s good enough to use in a hospital, it’s good enough for a walk to the store.

Simple DIY masks could help flatten the curve. We should all wear them in public.

Saya cenderung setuju bahwa menggunakan masker, meskipun buatan sendiri, tetap bisa membantu daripada tidak ada sama sekali. Karena itu saya lanjut mencari tahu metode membuat masker yang efektif.