CoronaVirus Dilemma

[WOODMAN]

It provides a warm wet environment just in front of your nose. Ideal for breeding bacteria and virus.

Which is why I like the vented N95 masks like the ones 3M makes. They exhaust breathing gas through a big vent in the front of the mask, but clamp shut when you breathe in. Makes it a lot more comfortable, but they are becoming very hard to get, unless you want to pay an obscene price for one. As already mentioned here, the big benefit is keeping your hands away from your face, which is the prime entry portal for most of these bugs. And don't forget to protect your eyes! Glasses of some sort will keep your hands away most of the time. Just don't rub your eyes except with a disposable tissue which you throw away. This whole thing is getting pretty frantic, isn't it?

 

[Degenerate]

The truth is that people outside of the healthcare sector don't know how to properly fit and handle the use of the N95 masks (rendering them pretty much useless).
They go through a yearly test that is quite rigorous to make sure that their masks are the proper size and fitted the right way.
Also, a lot of people outside of the healthcare sector will blindly believe that just wearing a mask renders them safe, which is total horseshit.
"Civilians" running around buying up N95 masks thinking they will keep them safe are morons, and they are making it harder for hospitals to get the masks for the people who can actually benefit from having them and knowing how to use them.
My SO works in a hospital here in Sweden and they're starting to get pretty nervous about the shortage of masks...

 

[tursiops]

Reread those 2 sentences...

What am I supposed to infer? They seem clear enough. The masks on an infected person help to mitigate speading the virus. Maybe what is missing is that the coughing and sneezing produces larger particles, that are indeed trapped by the mask. From the CDC:

Influenza Modes of Transmission
Traditionally, influenza viruses have been thought to spread from person to person primarily through large-particle respiratory droplet transmission (e.g., when an infected person coughs or sneezes near a susceptible person). Transmission via large-particle droplets requires close contact between source and recipient persons, because droplets generally travel only short distances (approximately 6 feet or less) through the air. Indirect contact transmission via hand transfer of influenza virus from virus-contaminated surfaces or objects to mucosal surfaces of the face (e.g., nose, mouth) may also occur. Airborne transmission via small particle aerosols in the vicinity of the infectious individual may also occur; however, the relative contribution of the different modes of influenza transmission is unclear. Airborne transmission over longer distances, such as from one patient room to another has not been documented and is thought not to occur. All respiratory secretions and bodily fluids, including diarrheal stools, of patients with influenza are considered to be potentially infectious; however, the risk may vary by strain. Detection of influenza virus in blood or stool in influenza infected patients is very uncommon.​

 

[martincohn]

The experts say that masks have no value in preventing infection in healthy people because the virus is small enough to bypass the fibers of the mask material. Masks only help sick people from broadcasting the virus from coughing or sneezing. Doctors don’t wear surgical masks to prevent getting something, they wear masks during surgery to prevent the patient from getting something they may have.
If you’re so worried about the possibility of open air infection then wear a sealed hazmat suit with an SCBA.

What am I supposed to infer? They seem clear enough. The masks on an infected person help to mitigate speading the virus. Maybe what is missing is that the coughing and sneezing produces larger particles, that are indeed trapped by the mask. From the CDC:

Influenza Modes of Transmission
Traditionally, influenza viruses have been thought to spread from person to person primarily through large-particle respiratory droplet transmission (e.g., when an infected person coughs or sneezes near a susceptible person). Transmission via large-particle droplets requires close contact between source and recipient persons, because droplets generally travel only short distances (approximately 6 feet or less) through the air. Indirect contact transmission via hand transfer of influenza virus from virus-contaminated surfaces or objects to mucosal surfaces of the face (e.g., nose, mouth) may also occur. Airborne transmission via small particle aerosols in the vicinity of the infectious individual may also occur; however, the relative contribution of the different modes of influenza transmission is unclear. Airborne transmission over longer distances, such as from one patient room to another has not been documented and is thought not to occur. All respiratory secretions and bodily fluids, including diarrheal stools, of patients with influenza are considered to be potentially infectious; however, the risk may vary by strain. Detection of influenza virus in blood or stool in influenza infected patients is very uncommon.​

OK I'll spell it out. The virus is too small in one direction but not the other? Regardless of what the CDC is pushing, it doesn't take much critical thinking to say...sure it does.

I'm not proposing that everyone in the US mask up, but come on people. Put the thinking caps on.

 

[outofofficebrb]

As someone who is just reading/observing.....I will "translate".

@tursiops, @martincohn is asking why a particular sized virus is contained by a mask barrier when someone who is sick and sneezing/coughing is wearing one but the same virus is then an issue and able to cross the mask barrier when a healthy person wears it and someone else around who is sick sneezes/coughs.

 

[martincohn]

As someone who is just reading/observing.....I will "translate".

@tursiops, @martincohn is asking why a particular sized virus is contained by a mask barrier when someone who is sick and sneezing/coughing is wearing one but the same virus is is not contained or protected by the same mask barrier when a healthy person wears it when someone else around who is sick sneezes/coughs.

Just to be perfectly clear. I'm not asking anything.

That was a statement of fact.

 

[outofofficebrb]

Just to be perfectly clear. I'm not asking anything.

That was a statement of fact.

If you want to be that specific, then I can say you were inferring that question by telling another poster to re-read what they typed. That question that I posed is the question you would be asking the poster to review.

 

[tursiops]

OK I'll spell it out. The virus is too small in one direction but not the other? Regardless of what the CDC is pushing, it doesn't take much critical thinking to say...sure it does.

I'm not proposing that everyone in the US mask up, but come on people. Put the thinking caps on.

As someone who is just reading/observing.....I will "translate".

@tursiops, @martincohn is asking why a particular sized virus is contained by a mask barrier when someone who is sick and sneezing/coughing is wearing one but the same virus is then an issue and able to cross the mask barrier when a healthy person wears it and someone else around who is sick sneezes/coughs.

Guys, the issue is not the size of the virus; it is the size of the (much bigger) droplet that is expelled by coughing and sneezing. it is about the aerosols containing the virus, not the virus itself.

See for example:
COVID-19 - EMCrit Project

 

[outofofficebrb]

Guys, the issue is not the size of the virus; it is the size of the (much bigger) droplet that is expelled by coughing and sneezing. it is about the aerosols containing the virus, not the virus itself.

See for example:
COVID-19 - EMCrit Project

Totes. I was providing more clarity on what was trying to be conveyed. A sick person wearing a surgical/procedural mask can better control where and how far that spray goes. A procedural or surgical mask does not seal properly to offer 100% protection of the spray coming in or going out. The N95's offer better protection in that sense and that is why healthcare workers in direct contact with known patients wear those.

 

[Degenerate]

As someone who is just reading/observing.....I will "translate".

@tursiops, @martincohn is asking why a particular sized virus is contained by a mask barrier when someone who is sick and sneezing/coughing is wearing one but the same virus is then an issue and able to cross the mask barrier when a healthy person wears it and someone else around who is sick sneezes/coughs.

Because it doesn't help a lot either way.
People aren't wearing them properly or even use the right size, and even if they by some miracle manage to get the fit and size right they're still typically walking around with the same mask for extended periods and basically contaminating the entire mask.
Then they'll scratch their face, or readjust their mask and that **** just got on their hands.
Then they touched some other stuff with their now contaminated hands, ya'll pay with your cards at the store, use your hands to punch in your card code, on the same terminal as hundreds of other people do daily?
These things can spread very easily, start taking count of how often you touch your face to scratch an itch or something, and then compare that to how often you wash your hands after touching public stuff...
I'm not afraid of covid-19 one bit as I am so far away from being in a risk group as can be, but what does scare me is the people going into full panic mode and hoarding **** over this.
Seriously, people fighting each other in stores over toilet paper?
Come on...


Here's a video of a fitting test of N95 (and similar) masks, you can't just go out and wing it and buy a mask and think it will protect you.
My favorite part is probably at the 1:30 mark where you are basically failed in a test instantly if you have facial hair, because the mask won't seal properly and it won't protect you.
There is a lot more to these than just buying one and slapping it on your face.

Masks are great, it's just that they're better left for the people who actually know how to use them.
A civilian buying N95 masks is basically an AOW diver buying a rebreather.