I’ve maybe jumped the gun a bit, but who knows? I’m taking this all very seriously. My immune system is already being well suppressed by the body buggering doses of steroids I’m taking, and so I figure that sooner or later I’m going to need to protect myself from infection as the MMF gets up to speed too. A lot. I just don’t know when yet.
With that in mind, I bought these at the weekend.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B009PPMVGC/
I figure that when I need them they’ll be there. They’re FFP3 standard which essentially means I’ll be well protected from breathing anything in, and the way I see it I’ll also get the protection from touching my mouth with my hands too. Supposedly we touch our faces over a thousand times a day without even realising it. At home where you’d think it would be relatively safe then it’s not an issue, and it’s probably fine. But if I’m out and about touching door handles, money, etc, then the last thing I want is to be touching my mouth.
I’ll get double whammy protection then I guess, both from breathing things in, and passing stuff by hand to my mouth. It might mean I attract some looks but I think I can live with that, it’s not like I intend to go out a lot, but I don’t want to be a total hermit. Fortunately I’m in a position where I can work from home, and I really feel for people who have to go out to a job with this kind of thing going on for them.
I don’t know. Maybe I’m, acting a little OTT and being crazy paranoid, but it makes sense to me.
The building or food industry typically use FFP1 class masks.
The metal and mining industry use FFP2 class masks. Workers in these industries are frequently in contact with aerosols, fog and smoke that can cause lung cancer over a long term.
Finally, the FFP3 class masks I bought – which as you can see weren’t expensive – offer maximum protection from breathing air pollution. They filter poisonous, oncogenic and radioactive particles, as well as the bit I’m interested in which is viruses, bacteria, and fungal spores.
So I should be well protected as long as I use them correctly. Maybe they’re overkill, but I’d rather be safe.
