COVID-19 cloth masks are controversial but Adelaide’s Hispanic Mechanic is setting a new trend
We haven’t been told to wear masks if we go outside in SA – but the debate is continuing, especially over cloth masks. And Adelaide businesses are getting in early.
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Cloth face masks can ease the pressure on surgical masks reserved for healthcare workers, offering protection against virus transmission that’s “better than nothing”.
While interim World Health Organisation guidelines on the use of masks in the community say cloth masks (cotton or gauze) “are not recommended under any circumstances”, this advice may soon change in light of new evidence.
In the meantime SA Health is following the WHO guidelines and maintains “masks are not required by healthy members of the community”.
“They are effective when worn by someone with a case of COVID-19 as this can help with preventing the sick person spreading their infection to others,” a spokeswoman said.
On Friday the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advised all Americans to cover their face with a mask or a scarf when they leave home. Their website describes how to make and wear face covers.
An Australian researcher who works at the University of San Francisco, Jeremy Howard, has started a campaign called Masks4All that encourages people to wear masks in public.
He believes masks must be part of the public health response, because many people with coronavirus do not have symptoms but can spread the virus simply by speaking.
The Dean of Public Health at the National University of Singapore agrees: “Having a cloth mask is better than not having a mask,” he said.
“I think there is evidence to suggest that is true, but I must still emphasise a mask is no replacement for personal hygiene behaviour.”
The only randomised, scientific study comparing cloth masks with medical masks, led by Chandini MacIntyre of The Kirby Institute at the University of New South Wales, found the “the physical barrier provided by a cloth mask may afford some protection, but likely much less than a surgical mask or a respirator”.
“If health workers choose to work using cloth masks, we suggest that they have at least two and cycle them, so that each one can be washed and dried after daily use,” the authors wrote in an update published this week in the British Medical Journal.
“Sanitiser spray or UV disinfection boxes can be used to clean them during breaks in a single day. These are pragmatic, rather than evidence-based suggestions, given the situation.”
While the health authorities play catch up, public demand is prompting Adelaide tailors and sewers to hook in to a global trend of fashion houses creating designer face masks.
Tailors of Distinction in Unley is selling washable cloth masks through their website. Others, such as Marino artist Cat Leonard, are sewing masks at home.
Hispanic Mechanic co-owner/chef Greggory Hill commissioned Gen4 Creations at Frewville to whip up some bright, cheerful masks for him and his team. They wear the masks during food preparation, as a reminder to stop touching their face and also catch any droplets that might escape their mouth or nose.
“We started looking for masks and they were literally impossible to get right away, unless we went on to eBay or somewhere to get them delivered,” he said.
“So I reached out to Samantha, she had made some aprons for us in the past and also tablecloths, and asked can you do any masks? Can I have something fun, quirky, interesting, out of the norm?
“So she came up with those masks and that's how we got them, that's how we started.”