Thread by @BartlettChrisJ

This is the real truth about #facemasks, I've been an insider. Hospitals and health departments were all warned repeatedly over the last 20 years that they had to stockpile large amounts of #PPE including respirator #masks well before any #pandemic 1/9
#COVID19
#Coronavirus

because large amounts couldn't be made at short notice as these are high tech products and need high tech factories (lead time for a new factory is two years). Despite these warnings governments and health providers mostly ignored the advice, and now a pandemic has arrived 2/9

and they have been caught out just as predicted. Health providers and governments are now blaming some of this shortfall on panic buying by the public, but actually it is mostly panic buying by hospitals coupled with high demand from hospitals and no spare capacity in supply. 3/9

I'm not sure if they don't realise this or if they are trying to distract the public from the truth, which is they were negligent in not properly preparing for years even though they knew a serious pandemic was likely and that equipment wouldn't be available at short notice. 4/9

As for how effective masks are: First you must use proper respirator masks, and for viruses you need N99 (not N95 as is often quoted) in the US and FFP3 in Europe. You must be fit tested to check your face fits them with an air-tight seal, a lot of women especially have faces 5/9

which are too thin for the standard ones. Obviously the surgical face masks have no seal at all and their filters don't stop viruses anyway. They are disposable too, which means doctors typically use them when entering a quarantine ward or when visiting a suspected patients' 6/9

home and then after 20 mins or so walk out carefully removing them and baging them for incineration, once they become waterlogged (after and hour or so, they are useless). They use electrostatic effects to filter and so are high tech. They usually cost a few dollars each, 7/9

so most normal people can't afford to use them properly anyway. And since almost all transmission of viruses is not through the air but through direct or indirect contact (via surfaces like door handles) with others, it's much more important to wash hands and avoid 8/9

people spitting on you or your food inadvertently as they talk. Surgical masks do virtually nothing to protect the wearer but may protect others from such low speed spitting - they won't stop a sneeze/cough.
*Full disclosure, I have no conflicts of interest, most experts do. 9/9