[msamwald]

I recently co-authored a scientific commentary on this, ask me anything!

"Promoting simple do-it-yourself masks: an urgent intervention for COVID-19 mitigation" (Svara et al. 2020)

Pre-print available at https://link.medium.com/LY7RRNr2X4

Summary: "We demonstrate that widespread use of masks by the general population could be an effective strategy for slowing down the spread of COVID-19. Since surgical masks might not become available in sufficient numbers quickly enough for general use and sufficient compliance with wearing surgical masks might not be possible everywhere, we argue that simple do-it-yourself designs or commercially available cloth masks could reduce the spread of infection at minimal costs to society."

[mcsb4]

The biggest challenge is to overcome the mental block of decades of onetime use masks that have to be disposed in incinerators and be produced by ISO 9001 certified medical factories.

During world war 2 it was normal to use reusable cotton masks. They just need to be put into boiling water for a few minutes to kill sars-cov-2 at 100%.

You should try to get into touch with C. Drosten from Charité hospital Berlin. He recently stated in an interview that self-made masks could have a certain value, so he is not totally averse to this concept and Spahn [1] will listen to him.

China has been promoting it, now czech republic is doing it. If Germany also starts promoting it, that will help immensely.

The same goes for the hand sanitizer, any +70% alcohol/ethanol will do. No need to be from a factory with medical certifications.

I am in France, there is a total lock down here but police still wears no masks and so does nobody else. Super markets have no hand sanitizer at the entrance so the virus will continue to spread.

Masks cost nothing compared to the economic damage of the shut down.

[1] German minister of health

Edit: For those downvoting me, I'd sincerely be interested to hear your arguments.

[edelcombi]

If the intended goal of wearing a mask is to protect others (since you have no way of knowing that you're not infected), then there's no practical reason that a mask can't be reused, whether sanitized or not.

[konamicode]

> They just need to be put into boiling water for a few minutes to kill sars-cov-2 at 100%.

I was looking for information on (high) heat killing viruses such as sars-cov-2. Are you able to point to a reliable source on this?

[mcsb4]

Heat at 56°C kills the SARS coronavirus at around 10000 units per 15 min (quick reduction).

Hence I'd assume that boiling will be reasonably effective.

Source: WHO https://www.who.int/csr/sars/survival_2003_05_04/en/

[staticautomatic]

Are you aware of any viruses not killed by high heat?

[lioeters]

According to an article on Quora, "At What Temperature Do Viruses Die?" ¹, for what it's worth:

> All [known] strains of virus can be inactivated at 70 °C.

For reference, an autoclave used for sterilization is around 121 °C.

> A minimum temperature range to inactivate most virus is 48°C to 60°C. Some virus still able to survive at temperature below 60°C e.g. adenoviruses(dsDNA naked virus) relatively thermostable, it able to withstand temperature at 56°C for 10min.

¹ https://www.quora.com/At-what-temperature-do-viruses-die-1

[undersuit]

Viruses exist where there is life, it's not a mound I'm willing to die on, but it's accurate here on Earth. There is life that lives in temperatures higher than 70 °C, therefore there are viruses that can survive in temperatures higher than 70 °C: http://www.rcn.montana.edu/Publications/Pdf/2005/4_18Young.p...

[lioeters]

Thank you, I stand corrected! Please everyone disregard my previous comment and find a more reliable source of facts.

[ithkuil]

There can be some or many kinds of viruses that survive under all sorts of conditions, by that doesn't necessarily imply that a particular virus does so as well.

[DoreenMichele]

I imagine viruses from underwater volcanic plumes would be pretty heat tolerant. But I don't know if they are a danger to humans or if we are too cold to host them.

[undersuit]

How hot is high heat? There are viruses that infect archaea that live in extreme conditions including near-boiling water.

[chmod775]

> I was looking for information on (high) killing viruses

They're not really alive, so they can't be killed. But you can destroy vital parts of them and make them unable to reproduce.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denaturation_%28biochemistry%2...

[ravenstine]

Respectfully, I wish people would stop popping into discussions about coronavirus to say "Actually, ...".

Most educated people know that viruses aren't alive in the traditional sense. People who aren't as educated simply don't care, and I don't blame them. Using the more scientifically precise term helps nobody, except scientists, in this situation.

Should software engineers stop using the word "kill" in POSIX-land because CPU processes aren't really "alive"? Give me a break.

[darkerside]

I didn't bat an eye at this until you dropped in with a "Respectfully..." that sounded awfully insincere. Did your sentence really intend to convey respect? Because it came off as disingenuous.

[ravenstine]

You're searching for malice where there is none. I said nothing disrespectful.

[chmod775]

> Respectfully, I wish people would stop popping into discussions about coronavirus to say "Actually, ...".

I answered his question while also correcting a minor mistake. Also I'm not sure what you're quoting there.

> Most educated people know that viruses aren't alive in the traditional sense. People who aren't as educated simply don't care, and I don't blame them.

Are you trying to insult your grandparent? Most people on HN aren't willfully ignorant and are quite open to new knowledge.

[zeroonetwothree]

It’s controversial. Some would characterize viruses as alive (because they replicate and evolve). So it’s fair to say that you can kill them (prevent from replicating). Debating the semantics of this is not helpful.

[Marsymars]

And in the non-controversial case - i.e. prions, people generally don't use the term "kill", they use the term "deactivate".

[snobol]

Debating the classification of life, while otherwise interesting, should not derail a conversation about practical steps to fight an ongoing pandemic.

[codazoda]

Here's a mask pattern and some additional information from Forbes. It also links to the CDC's comment.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/tjmccue/2020/03/20/calling-all-...

> In settings where facemasks are not available, HCP might use homemade masks (e.g., bandana, scarf) for care of patients with COVID-19 as a last resort. However, homemade masks are not considered PPE, since their capability to protect HCP is unknown. Caution should be exercised when considering this option.

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/hcp/ppe-strategy/f...

This is because the medical industry needs proven methods, and they still suggest homemade masks as a last resort. Maybe we should all be wearing homemade masks in public.

[edelcombi]

I've been promoting this idea as well. https://www.facebook.com/edelsmurf/posts/10157054028823201

I've sent pleas to several local and national government agencies and health directors, but it's unlikely that such e-mails will be read, so information needs to be disseminated another way. The fact that the western world hasn't called for widespread use of even cloth masks is unconscionable. Presume you're already infected to protect others.