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  • Since the coronavirus hit our headlines a few weeks ago,

  • and now a lot of people seem to be getting ill,

  • not only in China but also in other countries,

  • you may be wondering whether you need to wear a face mask

  • to protect yourself against it.

  • So, the advice of the public health authorities in most places

  • is that masks are really not necessary and they may actually be unhelpful.

  • And one of those reasons is because

  • people will assume that they are protected when perhaps they're not.

  • The advice they do give is to keep well clear of anybody who has got a nasty virus.

  • That's not the necessarily the coronavirus, of course,

  • but if you're worried then you should keep your distance.

  • They don't think the particles can travel more than about a metre.

  • It's very different in China where lots of people are wearing masks,

  • and in fact they've been instructed to do so.

  • And the reason for that is that there is so much of the virus around.

  • So they are protecting other people.

  • The advice is different in different countries,

  • and because we have so few infections in a country like the UK

  • or in the United States,

  • on the whole, it's not really a sensible precaution to wear a mask.

  • The coronavirus family are airborne viruses,

  • so we know they are spread through the air by people coughing and sneezing.

  • The droplets can either be inhaled by people who breathe them in,

  • or they can land on surfaces which then people might touch with their hands

  • and their hands go to their eyes or their nose or their mouth,

  • and in that way it enters their own body.

  • The sort of face masks that we see mostly in pictures

  • seem to be the standard surgical face masks

  • that are worn in the operating theatre.

  • There is another face mask as well as the N95,

  • and that has a different sort of shape, it's a bit more round.

  • The standard surgical masks may help prevent some of the transmission

  • but they really are not foolproof at all.

  • You can't stop the viral particles going around the edges for a start

  • and also, they are going to collect on the outside of the mask.

  • And then as you take it off,

  • they'll go all over your hands.

  • If your hands go to your face then you could get infected too.

  • There is a way of getting them off which involves pulling them off with the straps only

  • but it's still a bit of a business.

  • The N95 mask will protect you against particles but they're very hot to wear

  • and they're very difficult to put on.

  • You have to be trained almost to do it.

  • When it's on your breathing is quite restricted, too.

  • Wash your hands and keep washing them.

  • This is maybe the most important thing because the virus actually is transmitted

  • from hands to other hands or from skin to skin quite easily.

  • If in doubt, or if you haven't washed your hands,

  • don't put your hands anywhere near your eyes, nose or mouth.

  • If you do feel the need to sneeze or cough yourself,

  • use a tissue and then bin it straight away afterwards, and wash your hands.

  • If you don't have a tissue so you can't do that,

  • then sneeze into the inside of your elbow because that keeps any virus away

  • from your hands where you might transmit it to other people.

Since the coronavirus hit our headlines a few weeks ago,

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