Info Value of Masks and other factors to lower Covid-19 Risk while Traveling

[Angelo Farina]

How does increased ventilation save $$? The added up front cost plus potential increased operating costs seems like a deterrent to me. I'm generally curious and would appreciate hearing more on it.

I am referring to units such as the Mitsubishi Lossnay I have here in my home. These units contain an heat exchanger, which transfer enthalpy (energy) from the warm air being expelled to the cold air flowing in. This can recover between 70%-80% of the enthalpy of air.
In a modern house, with well insulated walls, roof and windows (as my one) the energy required for warming the air being exchanged represent 30-50% of the total energy demand. Saving 70-80% of that energy demand reduces significantly the cost for heating. Something around 500 € /year.
Same for air refrigeration during summer, here the saving is around 250 €/year.
Here in Italy buildings are classified in terms of energy requirement, from class A+++ down to class G.
The lower-energy-requirement classes, starting from A to A+++, can be reached only by installing controlled mechanical ventilation units.
Here more info:

Mechanical ventilation with heat recovery - Centre for Sustainable Energy

Mechanical ventilation with heat recovery is a whole-house ventilation system that extracts damp air and draws in fresh air from outside

www.cse.org.uk

Here the units I have at my home (4 of them, my house has two floors of 120 sq.meters each):

Wall-Mounted Ventilation System | Mitsubishi Electric

The Lossnay VL-100(E)U5-E wall mounted ventilation units supply fresh air inside a room in an energy efficient manner

les.mitsubishielectric.co.uk

Together with the heat pump, the PV solar panels, the insulation of walls, roof and the new Schuco windows and doors, it allowed me to requalify my house starting form class D and is now Class A+ (A2).

 

[Angelo Farina]

A more complicated set of colored boxes is at Greenhalgh et al: Rules for mitigating transmission.docx. There you see that the risk of infection is decreased by a factor or 3 to 8 if you wear a mask, depending on the other parameters, like indoors/outdoors, etc.

That is again fitting experimental epidemiologic data, which are based on people wearing bad-quality masks, often in an improper way.
The official data I received regarding contamination by asbestos particles, when I was trained as a firefighter, are the following:
- FFP1 mask (roughly equivalent to a surgical mask) reduces the quantity of asbestos reaching lungs to 1/5 (that is, efficacy of 80%)
- FFP2 mask, properly work (roughly equivalent to an N95 or KN95 mask) reduces the quantity of asbestos reaching lungs to 1/20 (that is, efficacy of 95%)
- FFP3 mask (I do not know if you have them in the US, probably they are called N99) reduces the quantity of asbestos reaching lungs to 1/100 (that is, efficacy of 99%).
How much this translates to reduction of risk of getting COVID-19 is still known only approximately, but I expect a strong correlation between the data with asbestos (that are official data, as this is how FFP masks are measured and rated). The reported ratio of 1/3 to 1/8 for COVID infections corresponds well to the known ratio of 1/5 for the FFP1 masks.
If all people were wearing properly at least an FFP2 mask, we would see a much better reduction factor. But people are lazy, they buy the cheapest masks available just for complying to regulations and not for taking care of the health of them self and others...

 

[Angelo Farina]

In-door ventilation is not that difficult but airborne pollutant coming from north of our border is something we do not have any control.

China’s Fight Against Climate Change and Environmental Degradation

China’s carbon emissions threaten global efforts to fight climate change. Its broader environmental degradation endangers economic growth, public health, and government legitimacy. Are Beijing’s poli…

www.cfr.org

Good controlled mechanical ventilation units are equipped with HEPA filters. You can buy high-rating filters if the house is in a highly polluted area...

 

[Angelo Farina]

Do masks diminish vehicle borne transmission diseases?

• Zoonoses.
• Rabies.
• Some Vectorborne Disease.
• Salmonellosis from Pets.
• Ebola.
• SARS.
• Influenza.
• Prion Diseases.

Definitely yes for SARS and influenza. Not much for the others, as they do not enter body trough airways...
Many serial travellers reported that the typical "flight cold", affecting many aircraft passengers, substantially disappeared thanks to the mandatory use of masks during travel on aircrafts:

Some travelers, faced with fewer colds, will still mask in flight

Some frequent travelers noticed they got sick less often during the federal mask mandate for air travel. Despite the end of the mandate, some fliers say they will continue to wear masks.

edition.cnn.com

 

[Angelo Farina]

It is still amazing to me that a short science paper looking at risk factors and their mitigation -- and which puts masks way down the list, but not off the list -- has become a huge argument about individual freedom vs responsibility. It is as if "mask" is a red flag word that must be quashed or else it is the end of the world.

Instead this does not wonder me at all. Problem with masks is that their use was made mandatory, and the obligation did include cases where their use is questionable (outdoor in parks, for example).
On the other hand, almost ineffective masks (so called "community" masks, made by a single layer of cloth) was also allowed, so the obligation appeared to most (me included) a purely "facade" action, without the capability to really block the virus.
On the other hand, the usage of masks, was the ONLY mandatory action taken by the government, together with the "social distancing" of at least 1m in classrooms, cinemas and theaters. No mandatory installation of ventilation system was issued, which had been much more effective (as the data now available proof).
The paper also evaluates the "time of exposure" factor, which also revealed to be very significant. No time limit was given for staying in poorly ventilated, crowded spaces. Instead, again, such a regulation had saved many lifes.

 

[ibj40]

Definitely yes for SARS and influenza. Not much for the others, as they do not enter body trough airways...
Many serial travellers reported that the typical "flight cold", affecting many aircraft passengers, substantially disappeared thanks to the mandatory use of masks during travel on aircrafts:

Some travelers, faced with fewer colds, will still mask in flight

Some frequent travelers noticed they got sick less often during the federal mask mandate for air travel. Despite the end of the mandate, some fliers say they will continue to wear masks.

edition.cnn.com

Instead this does not wonder me at all. Problem with masks is that their use was made mandatory, and the obligation did include cases where their use is questionable (outdoor in parks, for example).
On the other hand, almost ineffective masks (so called "community" masks, made by a single layer of cloth) was also allowed, so the obligation appeared to most (me included) a purely "facade" action, without the capability to really block the virus.
On the other hand, the usage of masks, was the ONLY mandatory action taken by the government, together with the "social distancing" of at least 1m in classrooms, cinemas and theaters. No mandatory installation of ventilation system was issued, which had been much more effective (as the data now available proof).
The paper also evaluates the "time of exposure" factor, which also revealed to be very significant. No time limit was given for staying in poorly ventilated, crowded spaces. Instead, again, such a regulation had saved many lifes.

Flying frequently through the International terminal at the Dallas/Fort Worth airport over the past several decades, it was interesting to commonly see some individuals wearing masks.

Most of them appeared to be Asian, which makes me wonder about their culture in general.

Quite admirable.

 

[Angelo Farina]

Flying frequently through the International terminal at the Dallas/Fort Worth airport over the past several decades, it was interesting to commonly see some individuals wearing masks.

Most of them appeared to be Asian, which makes me wonder about their culture in general.

Quite admirable.

I am working in research projects with a major company in South Korea since several years, well before Covid hit.
The first time I was there (in 2006) I was impressed seeing so many people wearing masks: in the subway, in crowded public spaces, but also outdoor.
Koreans are very gentle people. Seeing me without mask, many perfectly unknown people did offer me one.
Initially I refused. I got sad faces in return. Then I started accepting their offer, and I did always see them happy and proud.
I asked info on this to my fellow colleagues, and they did explain me this part of their culture.
They wear masks for a number of reasons. The two most relevant is for protecting others by your emission of unhealthy substances. They are also concerned about air pollution, which often is heavy in Seoul, when the wind carries dust from China.
Not wearing a mask is considered unpolite. People was not offering me a mask for protecting me, but because I was appearing to them an uneducated foreigner, lacking to respect their health. So, when refusing it, I did appeare twice as bad...
I did learn a lot in the time I spent in Far East (Korea, Japan). Traveling and coming in contact with different cultures opens your mind, you learn to see a different point of view. Our "west" cultural bias is too much focused on individualism and self-realisation. In other cultures this is a bad habit, the good citizen is the one who takes care of the community, not just of himself.
So wearing a mask becomes an explicit declaration that "I care of you".
Not wearing a mask says "I don't care of you, just of myself".
Koreans are a great people: they are very proud of what they achieved in the last 40 years, they give great value to talent, determination and hard work. I must admit that I perceive their ethics to be better of the one I was grown up with...
Luckily I had the possibility to work with them and to learn a lot from them, also improving my own ethics and social behaviour.

 

[Alaskan Scuba Dude]

[Vehicle-borne transmission is an indirect transmission process during which the pathogen is indirectly transferred from a reservoir, source or host to another host by inanimate intermediary vehicle objects.]

Directly or indirectly?
Highly improbable that vehicle will belt out virus through its exhaust.
Exhaust particulate(nasty) is a lot bigger than virus.

 

[Centrals]

[Vehicle-borne transmission is an indirect transmission process during which the pathogen is indirectly transferred from a reservoir, source or host to another host by inanimate intermediary vehicle objects.]

What is your definition for "vehicle"? Agent of transmission.

#66 is the answer for you.

Wear a mask which will reduce your chances to catch any airborne pathogen!

 

[Angelo Farina]

The "vehicle" transporting the Covid-19 virus is air.
In the end it was proven that this disease is airborne, although this was initially denied both by WHO and CDC.
As the transmission is airborne, an engineering-based strategy could have been much more effective in blocking the spreading of the disease, as discussed in this article:

Our Early Confusion About Airborne COVID-19 Transmission Still Haunts Us

Two years after the pandemic started it's clear that early confusion around how COVID-19 was transmitted was disastrous for our response

time.com