[pas]

A scarf (and other soft cloths) sounds problematic, because it traps droplets and then gives them more time to get into your airways. Though it probably helps with someone coughing at you directly. (But you have to instantly remove the scarf, and should wear glasses too, and then remove that too, and then wash your face, then the glasses and then the scarf.)

[MisterTea]

The surgical masks are disposable which I get but worst case wash your makeshift mask or carry multiple and keep them segregated in bags. It's not as easy as tossing a surgical mask but a viable alternative in a pinch.

And a further thought, I wonder how many surgical masks we'll find floating in the great garbage patch in the next few years. At my work they also threw out all the plastic cutlery so assuming there is a massive trash surge happening. I'm interested in the environmental impact of this outbreak.

[shalmanese]

Viruses, unlike bacteria can't survive outside of a living host. Thus, they can only decrease over time on an inanimate object. This means if you have ~10 - 20 disposable surgical masks you can reuse them until they're disintegrated. Simply adopt a First In Last Out protocol to maximize the days between reuse. The longest we've seen the literature indicate the virus survives on a surface is 3 days and viral loads decrease at an exponential rate so at 6 days, you're >99.99% safe, at 9 days, you're >99.9999% safe etc. Distributing 20 - 30 disposable masks to every American is not outside of logistical possibility.

Just make sure you wash and dry the mask as soon as it's off your face so bacterial colonies don't have time to multiply.

[TheCoelacanth]

The masks are to stop you from infecting other people, not to stop you from getting infected.