Health agencies embrace homemade face masks
, medical review by Dr. Bret Scher, MD
in Coronavirus 
Is it an about-face? Or simply facing the facts that were becoming as plain as the nose on your face?
Yes, that’s right: global health authorities now acknowledge that homemade face masks do work to reduce the chance that an infected person, with no symptoms, will pass the coronavirus onto others.
Recently both the US Surgeon General and the US Center for Disease Control have changed their policy from against to in favor of homemade face masks to fight the coronavirus. Canada’s head of public health also recently did the same.
“The virus can spread between people interacting in close proximity — for example, coughing, speaking or sneezing, even if those people were not exhibiting symptoms,” said Dr. Jerome Adam, US Surgeon General, who explained the evolution of the change in decision in an April 4 briefing with the US President.
“In light of this new evidence, CDC recommends and the Task Force recommends wearing cloth face coverings in public settings where other social distancing measures are difficult to maintain.”
Last week, in advance of the health authorities’ change of face, Diet Doctor delved into the growing global debate about face masks and examined the evidence and opinions for and against. Adding to the growing body of evidence, the pre-eminent journal Nature came out with new research April 4 that supported masks.
Diet Doctor decided the evidence was too strong to ignore: leave the medical grade masks for the front line workers, but we should all don homemade face masks when we absolutely have to go out.
Our news post was widely shared. Some of you were in great support. Others criticized us for taking on a controversial topic not related to the low-carb diet.
As a health company we felt it was essential, life-saving information and we had to take a stand. It was especially important to inform many in our audience who may be at higher risk of severe infections, complications and even death because of underlying diabetes, metabolic syndrome, high blood pressure or obesity.
Our full article links to research, sites for making easy masks, and describes the proper care and handling of a face so that you don’t inadvertently contaminate yourself or others. Check it out.
Should you wear a homemade mask in public?
Can wearing a mask help stop the spread of coronavirus? Everyone, sick or not, should be wearing a homemade mask in public to prevent coronavirus spread. Diet Doctor explains why.
7 comments
We already see the data that those with high blood pressure, diabetes and CV make you more vulnerable. I'd like to read more on any data about the impact of metabolic disorder (specifically measureables like: hyperinsulinemia, insulin resistance, high blood sugar, high waist, high waist-to-height, high triglycerides, low HDL etc...) and the risk reduction possible by moving straight to a keto or LCHF diet.
In reality it may be at least 6 months before people can adopt previous social, travel and work habits. I'll be that substantial risk/vulnerability reduction can happen in a few months by going on keto now. It won't stop you getting the virus, but may stop you succumbing to it.
I cut a patch from vacuum bags and put it in the pocket of the 24 masks I made for friends and family on the weekend. Some people are also putting in the pocket coffee filters instead. There is no good quality evidence one way or the other that one method is better or more effective than another.
As many note, and we note in our stories, the mask is no guarantee of not getting infected, but it may reduce the chance that you pass on the virus to others if you are asymptomatic or pre-symptomatic. "My mask protects you; your mask protects me."
The one thing about the filter lining is that you want to make sure that the mask user can breathe well without difficulty -- it is not so dense that it is hard to breathe through. So maybe check that out in a prototype before making a lot and cutting up a lot of bags!
Hope that helps. Anne