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This is great news, particularly after seeing a huge fraction of N95 wearers in Northern California last summer wear the masks incorrectly in ways that made the

by yodon 7y ago

This is great news, particularly after seeing a huge fraction of N95 wearers in Northern California last summer wear the masks incorrectly in ways that made their presence useless.

AstralStorm 7y ago
What great news? They found mostly no difference in risk vs surgical masks...
- yodon 7y ago
  Correct. Surgical masks help. N95 masks help exactly as much as surgical masks. Poorly worn N95 masks are equivalent to surgical masks, therefore poorly worn N95 masks help as much as properly worn N95 masks. The US is going to be full of people wearing N95 masks incorrectly. This paper says that's ok they are still protecting themselves against viruses, just in a needlessly expensive and uncomfortable way that could be accomplished as well with a surgical mask.
  - eveningcoffee 7y ago
    There is also change that wearer is using it properly and gets better protection that is not possible with a surgical mask.
    - yodon 7y ago
      Except the peer reviewed journal article we are discussing here shows that medical workers, who are trained in mask usage, did not receive any additional benefits from N95 masks over conventional surgical masks. N95 is important for what it's important for but where it isn't it's just security theater. Peer-reviewed meta analysis shows no added benefit of N95 masks over surgical masks for respiratory viruses, including for trained mask users.
      - eveningcoffee 7y ago
        I think you are referring to this study https://www.cmaj.ca/content/188/8/567 https://www.cmaj.ca/content/188/8/567 Although N95 respirators appeared to have a protective advantage over surgical masks in laboratory settings, our meta-analysis showed that there were insufficient data to determine definitively whether N95 respirators are superior to surgical masks in protecting health care workers against transmissible acute respiratory infections in clinical settings.
        yodon 7y ago
        You are correct on the citation (it's at the top of the page so I didn't think it needed to be re-cited). My read is the researchers found that in actual daily use with trained mask users there was no benefit in respiratory virus infection prevention from N95 over traditional surgical masks (laboratory testing doesn't mean people working in a laboratory, it means a controlled experimental test setting as distinct from actual real world usage). Are you reading a different conclusion from that paper? As I read it, their meta analysis strongly suggests that as far as viral respiratory diseases go, N95 masks add nothing but cost, discomfort, and security theater when compared with cheaper, more comfortable, and easier to wear surgical masks.

by yodon 7y ago

This is great news, particularly after seeing a huge fraction of N95 wearers in Northern California last summer wear the masks incorrectly in ways that made their presence useless.

AstralStorm 7y ago

What great news? They found mostly no difference in risk vs surgical masks...

yodon 7y ago
Correct. Surgical masks help. N95 masks help exactly as much as surgical masks. Poorly worn N95 masks are equivalent to surgical masks, therefore poorly worn N95 masks help as much as properly worn N95 masks. The US is going to be full of people wearing N95 masks incorrectly. This paper says that's ok they are still protecting themselves against viruses, just in a needlessly expensive and uncomfortable way that could be accomplished as well with a surgical mask.
- eveningcoffee 7y ago
  There is also change that wearer is using it properly and gets better protection that is not possible with a surgical mask.
  - yodon 7y ago
    Except the peer reviewed journal article we are discussing here shows that medical workers, who are trained in mask usage, did not receive any additional benefits from N95 masks over conventional surgical masks. N95 is important for what it's important for but where it isn't it's just security theater. Peer-reviewed meta analysis shows no added benefit of N95 masks over surgical masks for respiratory viruses, including for trained mask users.
    - eveningcoffee 7y ago
      I think you are referring to this study https://www.cmaj.ca/content/188/8/567 https://www.cmaj.ca/content/188/8/567 Although N95 respirators appeared to have a protective advantage over surgical masks in laboratory settings, our meta-analysis showed that there were insufficient data to determine definitively whether N95 respirators are superior to surgical masks in protecting health care workers against transmissible acute respiratory infections in clinical settings.
      - yodon 7y ago
        You are correct on the citation (it's at the top of the page so I didn't think it needed to be re-cited). My read is the researchers found that in actual daily use with trained mask users there was no benefit in respiratory virus infection prevention from N95 over traditional surgical masks (laboratory testing doesn't mean people working in a laboratory, it means a controlled experimental test setting as distinct from actual real world usage). Are you reading a different conclusion from that paper? As I read it, their meta analysis strongly suggests that as far as viral respiratory diseases go, N95 masks add nothing but cost, discomfort, and security theater when compared with cheaper, more comfortable, and easier to wear surgical masks.