Coronavirus and N95 Facemasks -- Will they help?

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

29 minutes ago, ukrules said:

Don't worry, flu isn't the only thing they export from China - they also make the masks over there

 

Funny thing. I had ordered some 3M masks from Amazon in the U.S. a while back in a 50-pack box... Today, got out the box again and was looking more closely at all the package info, which was printed in EN, Spanish and French...

 

When I finally found the small print saying "Made in"... it was CHINA!

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

19 minutes ago, sucit said:

Isn't it entirely possible that a facemask could get some infected material on it, and facilitate infection? 

 

Yes... but that's mitigated by at least two things:

 

1. the use instructions for the masks specifically say you're not supposed to touch the exterior surface of the mask with your fingers.

 

2. the masks are temporary and disposable, and are meant to be used and replaced as needed depending on conditions.

 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

16 minutes ago, sucit said:

All I know is if you look closer at people wearing these masks (many of them at least), there will be a big gap sometimes near the cheek area where unfiltered air just seeps in. Maybe some masks make a perfect seal but the ones i see look completely, utterly useless. In fact, as i said above, could it not be likely a mask gets infected and then you are putting it up to your nose and face. 

 

The paper drug store variety commonly seen here, because they're cheap, are not meant to be air-tight, and are more intended for use in keeping people from coughing and sneezing their goodies onto others nearby vs keeping the wearer from inhaling bad stuff outside.

 

The more expensive N95 masks, if fitted and worn properly, are basically meant to be nearly airtight, and keep out both pollutants and other contaminants, with a potential 90-95% efficiency in actual use. (That number is less than 100% because nothing is perfect, catches everything, and it also accounts for some potential leakage where the mask fits to the wearer's face).

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

16 minutes ago, DaRoadrunner said:

Seriously though, where can we buy the 3M Company N95 mask?

 

The challenge here in TH is finding online retailers of 3M masks that can reasonably be relied upon to NOT be selling fakes/counterfeits, which was a booming business for China underground manufacturers long before the current coronavirus outbreak came along.

 

Lazada and some others used to have so-called 3M Official Stores online, but I'm not sure where those are these days...  Anyone???    I know, I'd be wary of buying 3M masks online from Chinese or other 3rd party vendors on places like Lazada and Aliexpress or even EBay.

 

[Max69xl]

8 hours ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

 

The reason I created this thread was to encourage an educated, authoritative discussion on the subject. If you or others have pertinent info to share from research or legitimate medical authorities, that certainly would be welcome.  But that's a bit different from unsourced, unsubstantiated opinions.

 

You seem to be a worrier. Have you encountered many sneezing/coughing Chinese in your neighborhood lately? 

[lust]

5 minutes ago, Max69xl said:

You seem to be a worrier. Have you encountered many sneezing/coughing Chinese in your neighborhood lately? 

Corona is spread prior to any symptoms.

[DaRoadrunner]

32 minutes ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

 

Funny thing. I had ordered some 3M masks from Amazon in the U.S. a while back in a 50-pack box... Today, got out the box again and was looking more closely at all the package info, which was printed in EN, Spanish and French...

 

When I finally found the small print saying "Made in"... it was CHINA!

With your luck it was probably made in Wuhan!

[edwardandtubs]

13 minutes ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

 

The challenge here in TH is finding online retailers of 3M masks that can reasonably be relied upon to NOT be selling fakes/counterfeits, which was a booming business for China underground manufacturers long before the current coronavirus outbreak came along.

 

Lazada and some others used to have so-called 3M Official Stores online, but I'm not sure where those are these days...  Anyone???    I know, I'd be wary of buying 3M masks online from Chinese or other 3rd party vendors on places like Lazada and Aliexpress or even EBay.

 

I don't know why you're having such a problem finding them. Maybe you need to clear your cookies. Lazada, JDCentral and Shopee all have official 3M stores but most of the masks are probably sold out now.

[cmsally]

In Chiang Mai masks have been sold out the last 3 days, which makes the discussion rather moot.

[Gulfsailor]

16 minutes ago, DaRoadrunner said:

With your luck it was probably made in Wuhan!

 

50 minutes ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

 

Funny thing. I had ordered some 3M masks from Amazon in the U.S. a while back in a 50-pack box... Today, got out the box again and was looking more closely at all the package info, which was printed in EN, Spanish and French...

 

When I finally found the small print saying "Made in"... it was CHINA!

It took me some time to find on the box where my 3M masks were made, but it says Singapore.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

53 minutes ago, Max69xl said:

You seem to be a worrier. Have you encountered many sneezing/coughing Chinese in your neighborhood lately? 

 

I'm not a worrier, but I'm also not a head in the sand type, either. I'd say I'm PRUDENT.

 

I'm already wearing an N95 mask oftentimes outdoors in BKK these days because the PM2.5 air pollution has been so bad. So, it's a no brainer to continue doing exactly the same thing for the added potential purpose of virus protection.

 

It's really a good TWO-FER deal I hadn't really mentioned explicitly before. Now and the next month or more are the prime/worst PM2.5 air pollution periods of the year for BKK, CM and many other areas. So if you already have the N95 masks for PM2.5 purposes, might as well continue using them now amid the coronavirus scare.

 

And as for your question, yes, since I'm traveling a lot on the BTS line and in and out of malls and supermarkets a lot in central BKK, there are always A LOT of Chinese tourists around. So I'm just continuing what I was already doing anyway.

 

 

 

Edited January 27, 2020 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

36 minutes ago, edwardandtubs said:

I don't know why you're having such a problem finding them. Maybe you need to clear your cookies. Lazada, JDCentral and Shopee all have official 3M stores but most of the masks are probably sold out now.

 

Maybe it's my U.S. VPN connection causing some issues. I'll try again with a local connection. I did see the JDCentral site a couple months back, but even then the in-stock pickings were slim. Recently, I've been unable to find the Lazada 3M official site that I'd shopped and bought from a year prior.

 

You wanna post a working link for the Lazada 3M Official store?

 

 

Edited January 27, 2020 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[edwardandtubs]

15 minutes ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

 

Maybe it's my U.S. VPN connection causing some issues. I'll try again with a local connection. I did see the JDCentral site a couple months back, but even then the in-stock pickings were slim. Recently, I've been unable to find the Lazada 3M official site that I'd shopped and bought from a year prior.

 

You wanna post a working link for the Lazada 3M Official store?

 

 

The link doesn't work but if you just type in '3M' in the Lazada search box, the 3M Flagship Store pops up.

Edited January 27, 2020 by edwardandtubs

[DaRoadrunner]

23 minutes ago, edwardandtubs said:

The link doesn't work but if you just type in '3M' in the Lazada search box, the 3M Flagship Store pops up.

I typed in 3M and found a huge selection. Some of which are likely fakes.

 

https://www.lazada.co.th/shop-masks-and-filters/?q=3m&from=input

 

I then typed in 3M N95 and got... still unclear.

 

https://www.lazada.co.th/shop-masks-and-filters/?q=3m&from=input

[Beggar]

1 hour ago, DaRoadrunner said:

Fear not, the Thais will come up with the total body condom so sex tourists will still be able to visit Thailand.

 

 

They have it already 

 

 

Edited January 27, 2020 by Beggar

[DaRoadrunner]

3 minutes ago, Beggar said:

 

They have it already 

 

 

We all assume this is a photo of your own personal... er, garment. Well, whatever turns you on.

I know I should not ask.... How the Hell do you get into it?

[Salerno]

  

8 minutes ago, DaRoadrunner said:

 

I know I should not ask.... How the Hell do you get into it?

 

 

Through the neck ... ummmm ... allegedly ... according to a friend ????

Edited January 27, 2020 by Salerno

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

11 minutes ago, edwardandtubs said:

The link doesn't work but if you just type in '3M' in the Lazada search box, the 3M Flagship Store pops up.

 

FWIW....

 

The 3MDelivery.com site has nothing:

https://www.3mdelivery.com/search-product?searchval=N95

 

The 3M Official Store at JD Central appears to be out of stock of everything official 3M:

https://www.jd.co.th/shop/pc/3M-Official-store_12372/search.html?keyword=N95&minPrice=&maxPrice=

 

And in going back to Lazada TH, I finally found a link for their 3M official store again:

https://www.lazada.co.th/shop/3m-official-online-store?

 

They're advertising their Filtrete sheets, but I see no 3M N95 masks listed that are actually in stock. All of the following, as of today, are goners...

 

https://www.lazada.co.th/products/3-n95-8210-20-3m-particulate-respirator-8210-n95-20-pcspackus-packaging-i289776303-s480152762.html?

 

https://www.lazada.co.th/products/3m-aura-9312a-ffp1-respirator-i263478209-s407266545.html?

 

https://www.lazada.co.th/products/3m-aura-9320a-ffp2-respirator-i263479155-s407262731.html?

 

https://www.lazada.co.th/products/3m-vflex-particulate-respirator-n95-9105s-small-i263467991-s407261819.html?

 

 

 

 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

21 minutes ago, DaRoadrunner said:

I typed in 3M and found a huge selection. Some of which are likely fakes.

 

https://www.lazada.co.th/shop-masks-and-filters/?q=3m&from=input

 

I then typed in 3M N95 and got... still unclear.

 

https://www.lazada.co.th/shop-masks-and-filters/?q=3m&from=input

 

It's easy to find 3M brand masks listed for sale online in TH. The hard part is finding them from a reputable (non-counterfeits) vendor who's actually got them in stock.

[ukrules]

7 minutes ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

It's easy to find 3M brand masks listed for sale online in TH. The hard part is finding them from a reputable (non-counterfeits) vendor who's actually got them in stock.

When/ if people start getting ill you will be able to buy them for 5 to 10 times the price on every street corner at a makeshift stall.

Edited January 27, 2020 by ukrules

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

3 minutes ago, ukrules said:

When/ if people start getting ill you will be able to buy them for 5 to 10 times the price on every street corner at a makeshift stall.

 

The fake ones... you mean.... 

[Traubert]

This is really going to be the biggest anti-climax since Y2K.

[rabas]

On 1/27/2020 at 11:09 PM, Traubert said:

This is really going to be the biggest anti-climax since Y2K.

Not it China. As of today about 20+ provinces are just where Wuhan was less that 2 weeks ago, with exponentially growing numbers of cases. Try to calculate R0 spread of 2.9³².

 

Edited January 29, 2020 by rabas

[genset]

On 1/27/2020 at 12:23 PM, Jane Dough said:

I've got some "pertinent info" for you.

 

Hoping to "encourage an educated, authoritative discussion" on an internet forum is about as sensible as breaking into Wuhan for a family holiday.

 

Rooster

Here, here... and for the record, i'm going to get myself one of these N95 bottles, recently seen on the Shanghai Metro ????

[sucit]

They work if you are infected and do not want to infect others. 

[DrTuner]

On 1/27/2020 at 10:09 PM, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

It's easy to find 3M brand masks listed for sale online in TH. The hard part is finding them from a reputable (non-counterfeits) vendor who's actually got them in stock.

3M itself couldn't deliver the masks I ordered on 22nd from lazada, apparently they "miscalculated" their inventory and are out. I got some voucher instead. I did manage to get 20 3M 8210's from another source, they are also out of stock now. Apparantly my sticky fingers also managed to keep a 2-pack from a Singapore hotel that I visited a couple of years ago, found those while rummaging through my survival shelter. You may start making offers at 5000baht/mask.

 

I also use them while working with concrete or wood, good to have some lying around the house in any case. 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

3 hours ago, sucit said:

They work if you are infected and do not want to infect others. 

 

Not sure what you mean by THEY... But N95 masks also help the wearer avoid being exposed to the virus... 

[DrTuner]

Hot tip:

 

 

Also useful when welding.

[PPMMUU]

virus is small but it cannot travel by itself.

virus always comes with droplet which travel for meters after someone sneeze or cough

 

N95 is fine IF you wear it correctly. If you didn't wear N95 correctly it's like you are not wearing anything. (air should come through the mask not around the edge)

 

regular surgical mask (green one or blue one, for example) is also decent to prevent from droplet.

 

So, in short, any mask is fine if you wear it correctly.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

3 hours ago, PPMMUU said:

So, in short, any mask is fine if you wear it correctly.

 An N95 class mask is always going to be a better choice than the paper drug store masks...

 

Because, the N95 mask is meant to seal to the wearer's face and ensure that the air breathed in has been filtered thru the mask.

 

Whereas the drug store paper masks have all kinds of openings around the edges of the mask for unfiltered air to be potentially breathed in. That's their structure and you can't really change that. Thus they're better than wearing nothing, but certainly not as protective as an N95 class mask.