The best way to clean your hand from possible viral infection is with soap and water. The virus hates soap because its outer layer is made from an oily residue that breaks down immediately on exposure to soap, exposing the inner RNA. But more importantly, soap and water ensure that all your hands are washed, because you'll be using a lot more of it compared to a smaller amount of sanitizer. (if you use plenty of soap and water). The minute virus can easily be missed with anything less than a good wash, so hand sanitizers are at risk of this. Surgeons have been using the old fashioned method since microbiology began.
On another front of the misinformation front of CoV, contrary to the WHO and Australian governments advice, SARS-C-V-2 is an aerosol. Numerous recent studies have proven the case: New England Journal of medicine and more. I've heard that the CSIRO are doing their own studies now. The WHO is now reconsidering their pitch after the issue is becoming embarrassing. Personally, causing a respiratory infectious disease, I was always skeptical about the 'not necessary to wear a face mask' rule. In my view, the WHO and Aussie governments were more interested in protecting face mask stocks, and didn't want a toilet paper-like run on them. Understandable?
Not quite. A face mask run from chemist shops could have been controlled just by having shops remove them from their shelves. In fact, this is what I think occurred. I unsuccessfully attempted to buy from three chemists in two cities in the first week of January, very early in the saga. In my mind, they had been removed intentionally, and a question I asked to the staff pointed to the 'fact.'
Australia has 20 million masks in the emergency health warehouses. These will be the reserve used by health workers when their present supply runs out. Like food, we have plenty. But the elephant in the room is, should we be wearing masks in public, like they do in those countries that have the virus mostly contained, like Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Vietnam? The answer to this comes down to the aerosol factor, and importantly, not just the fact that the virus is an aerosol, but how much of the floating virus do you need to have in the air, and how much of this do you need to become infected. This of course is very relative to the environment in which the virus is floating, and these questions have no definite answer yet.
So, not withstanding leaving face mask supplies short for health workers in Australia, which there is little risk of occurring, is it best that we wear masks in public places, say those places more likely of contagion, like our centralized shopping centres?
But as there aren't enough 'official' masks for the Australian public to wear, the how do we take the precautions that may make a difference. One solution is to adopt the suggestion that is now being voiced in the USA: wear anything that will give some protection. After all, you don't need a surgical level mask to keep out low quantities of aerial virus that may be in your immediate breathing environment.
Engineers may disagree, but there are few of those that I take as gospel anyway, and I've dealt with many. Too stuffy. No pun intended.
