RESPONSIBILITY |
FACING UP TO HEALTH BANK ROBBERS AND HIGHWAYMEN WERE THE ONLY FOLKS OTHER THAN DOCTORS OR NURSES WHO ROUTINELY WORE FACE MASKS. THAT WAS UNTIL AN INTERNATIONAL HEALTH CRISIS GRIPPED THE WORLD AND FOREVER CHANGED THE WAY PEOPLE BEHAVED.
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n the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic, South Africans found it somewhat endearing when the country’s president fumbled on live television as he donned a face mask for the first time. Social media loved it and we all chuckled, praising President Cyril Ramaphosa for his humanity and ham-fistedness, knowing we’d probably also be as clumsy our first time – regardless of whether it was in the glare of live television cameras or not. Little did South Africa know on April 10 when the government decreed that mask wearing in public was compulsory, that these patches of fabric would become as much a part of everyone’s daily wardrobe as underwear! For a nation which viewed face masks as something people wore to fancy dress parties or children for Halloween and where surgical masks were only ever seen in dentist
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Science has shown that the coronavirus particles can be spread through coughing, sneezing or even talking. Virus filled particles can land on all manner of surfaces which people touch on a daily basis – one of the reasons that the simple message of hand washing and sanitising has been so important in combating the dissemination of the virus. That and social distancing. In an article published in the Lancet, a highly regarded medical journal, Holger Schunemann wrote that by July 26 2020 more than 16 million people worldwide had been infected by the coronavirus and more than 600 000 deaths had been attributed to this disease. “Despite advances in pharmacological treatment and early vaccine development, reducing transmission of the virus with the use of facemasks (referring to medical or surgical masks, N-95 and similar respirators, cloth masks, and bandannas) by health-care workers and the public alike remains a hotly debated topic due to politicisation of discourse and decision making.” Schunemann wrote that at the beginning of the pandemic, experts cautioned members of the public AGAINST wearing facemasks because the potential risk of transmission was deemed low and the desire was also to protect the supplies from being depleted by panic buying – and reserving them for the use of healthcare workers and frontline staff. A message that was also repeated in South Africa. Here’s a
quote from Discovery Health’s head of the centre for clinical excellence, Dr Noluthando Nematswerani: “It’s important to note that medical masks are intended for healthcare workers and are therefore different from cloth face masks recommended for use by the general public.” Dr Nematswerani went on to say: “While wearing a cloth face mask does not prevent the risk of contracting the virus, new guidelines on the use of masks released by the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) stated that these masks can play an important role in reducing the spread of the virus from infected individuals including those who are not showing symptoms. People who are not showing symptoms may not be aware that they are infected and continue to spread virus from droplets produced when they speak, cough or sneeze. It is therefore recommended that members of the general public use these cloth masks to prevent the spread of the virus. The use of cloth masks can also lower the risk of contracting the virus from contaminated surfaces by acting as a barrier to touching your face.” But then scientists realised how useful masks were in preventing the spread. With so much toing-and-froing about the benefits of masks, researchers at the Florida Atlantic University college of engineering and computer science decided to do what they do best – and test the theory.
