Hi, I also saw on NBC news that the University of Nebraska is using UV to sanitize masks. Please see: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/20/health/coronavirus-masks-reuse.html from March 20th - things seem to take a while to get around.
Regarding washing them, I am not sure if wetting and drying will change a mask's filtration properties. Anyway - I have washed and have drying on the porch two paper surgical type masks and will see how that goes. I used dish soap as that is what's easy to get and the soap does kill the virus. It's just about impossible to get masks of any type. The numbers in Tokyo (the neighboring city to where I live) are slowly going up - I think 61 more confirmed over the last 24 hrs, prior 3 or 4 days were in the 40's. And slowly more and more social distancing actions are being implemented, which can have a lag of 3 to 14 (or more?) days. Today is cold and had snow, so people stayed home a bit more, which is good. I have noticed here that about 80% of the people are wearing masks in public. The trouble with the asymptomatic infected people and the current testing of only symptomatic people (and not always all of those) is that it's like trying to sail a flotilla through seas infested with enemy submarines and having a policy of only shooting at submarines that surface (when someone becomes symptomatic). meanwhile all the submerged ones (asymptomatic or mildly so) are torpedoing the flotilla. IMO the only way to stop the spreading is to test everyone and isolate all the infected whether or not they show symptoms. Otherwise, the virus torpedoes will keep hitting people. Also the drug pictured above is called "Avigan" (アビガン), which is an antiviral made by FujiFilm (Japan). See https://fortune.com/2020/03/28/coronavirus-treatment-drug-antiviral-favipiravir-avigan-fujifilm/ - Jim PS - Please excuse me if this is a duplicate send - my email system appears to be confused this morning. On Sun, Mar 29, 2020 at 4:40 AM <[email protected]> wrote: > In reply to H LV's message of Sat, 28 Mar 2020 11:48:28 -0400: > Hi, > [snip] > >UMass Tries Innovative Method To Clean N95 Masks: UV Light > >March 27, 2020 > > > https://www.wbur.org/commonhealth/2020/03/27/umass-memorial-disinfects-masks-ultraviolet-light > > Just wash them in bleach. > Regards, > > > Robin van Spaandonk > > local asymmetry = temporary success > >
