4 ms·

Ask HN: Is drawing a friendly face or picture on my N95 masks safe?

4 points by sigmaprimus 7y ago

I figure it might make me less intimidating to have a smile or kitty cat whiskers on my masks. Is this a bad idea? Will it lessen the effectiveness of the masks?

davismwfl 7y ago
Of course I can't say for certain, but there are N95 masks that are dyed and have designs on them. That said, those masks are likely tested with their design. Just my 2 cents, but I'd probably say if you draw on a small portion of the mask, like whiskers etc, it would be fine. The mask would still filter and I doubt the dye from a marker would change its effectiveness. The worst thing I can imagine is it possibly causing slightly less airflow in the parts that are colored, but I even doubt that unless it was just overloaded. I'd be interested in other peoples opinion too, kinda curious myself.
lemoncurd 7y ago
n95 won't protect you regardless, the virus is smaller than the mask's effective size range.
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
- TYPE-ERROR 7y ago
  I won't make any claims of my own, but according to WHO, N95 gives effective protection from the virus. It's being widely used around infected patients all over the world. It seems to me that if it wasn't effective we should have seen a very big increase of positive cases in the population of health care providers.
- davismwfl 7y ago
  First, all masks and PPE do is reduce the chance of transmission/infection/inhalation, none 100% prevent it by themselves. For 100% protection (well technically as close as we can get) typically you need a positive pressure suit and a self contained breathing device. Anyway, while you are technically correct the virus itself is smaller than the mask's ability to filter. What people are protecting against is the droplet transmission and, for that usage, the N95 masks are effective. The CDC, NIH and many scientists have stated they are even appropriate for health care workers in direct contact with patients because it will stop the primary means of the transmission when used with other proper PPE like glasses (or more properly in healthcare, face shields), gloves and gowns. Of course, an N95 mask (or any filtering level, P100, N100 etc) won't stop you from getting a virus if you touch a contaminated surface then touch your face etc. But if someone is coughing near you an N95 mask is acceptable to reduce the transmission risk.
  - lemoncurd 7y ago
    fair enough, thanks for explaining

4 points by sigmaprimus 7y ago

I figure it might make me less intimidating to have a smile or kitty cat whiskers on my masks. Is this a bad idea? Will it lessen the effectiveness of the masks?

davismwfl 7y ago

Of course I can't say for certain, but there are N95 masks that are dyed and have designs on them. That said, those masks are likely tested with their design. Just my 2 cents, but I'd probably say if you draw on a small portion of the mask, like whiskers etc, it would be fine. The mask would still filter and I doubt the dye from a marker would change its effectiveness. The worst thing I can imagine is it possibly causing slightly less airflow in the parts that are colored, but I even doubt that unless it was just overloaded. I'd be interested in other peoples opinion too, kinda curious myself.

lemoncurd 7y ago

n95 won't protect you regardless, the virus is smaller than the mask's effective size range.

deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
TYPE-ERROR 7y ago
I won't make any claims of my own, but according to WHO, N95 gives effective protection from the virus. It's being widely used around infected patients all over the world. It seems to me that if it wasn't effective we should have seen a very big increase of positive cases in the population of health care providers.
davismwfl 7y ago
First, all masks and PPE do is reduce the chance of transmission/infection/inhalation, none 100% prevent it by themselves. For 100% protection (well technically as close as we can get) typically you need a positive pressure suit and a self contained breathing device. Anyway, while you are technically correct the virus itself is smaller than the mask's ability to filter. What people are protecting against is the droplet transmission and, for that usage, the N95 masks are effective. The CDC, NIH and many scientists have stated they are even appropriate for health care workers in direct contact with patients because it will stop the primary means of the transmission when used with other proper PPE like glasses (or more properly in healthcare, face shields), gloves and gowns. Of course, an N95 mask (or any filtering level, P100, N100 etc) won't stop you from getting a virus if you touch a contaminated surface then touch your face etc. But if someone is coughing near you an N95 mask is acceptable to reduce the transmission risk.
- lemoncurd 7y ago
  fair enough, thanks for explaining