27 ms·

There's a video on Youtube of some guy blowing vape smoke through various filter types. Pretty much all of them pass it, up to HEPA filter types for vacuums and

There's a video on Youtube of some guy blowing vape smoke through various filter types. Pretty much all of them pass it, up to HEPA filter types for vacuums and medical respirators. Some filters I tested will filter particles down to the size of smoke, but Corona-19 is 1/10th of a micron across, which is smaller. It does get filtered by various materials, but those materials need to use static cling to filter. If they don't, the virus will pass through, given the hole size of the material. If you are hanging around and talking to someone at a fairly close distance, masks simply won't do anything other than visually signal distance is required to others. And, in the unlikely event someone sneezes or coughs, it probably prevents widespread contamination of the surrounding area. The Seattle choir episode and some studies out of China in restaurant air handling systems seems to indicate the virus is airborne and can be spread to others within a fairly large area, with time and proper airflow. This will happen with or without a mask in place, in my opinion. I'm super nervous about sharing indoor space with people I don't know, so I don't. The more time we can buy ourselves, the better the outcome.

tlb 6y ago
Masks do a great deal to reduce transmission of Covid-19. (This isn't true of every disease.) Covid-19 is mostly acquired by inhaling droplets of water+virus exhaled by carriers, so masks work quite well. A large amount of evidence for this is collected at https://masks4all.co/facts/ https://masks4all.co/facts/
trentdk 6y ago
The idea is to stop the respiratory droplets that contain viruses. Droplets measure on the order of micrometers, which is the range that surgical masks are made to be effective. A Google search result for droplet sizes: https://www.pnas.org/content/115/10/E2386 https://www.pnas.org/content/115/10/E2386 A Google search result for effectiveness of various masks related to particle size: https://blogs.cdc.gov/niosh-science-blog/2009/10/14/n95/ https://blogs.cdc.gov/niosh-science-blog/2009/10/14/n95/
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
tacon 6y ago
Visualizing Speech-Generated Oral Fluid Droplets with Laser Light Scattering[0] [0] https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMc2007800 https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMc2007800
j7ake 6y ago
If the virus spread airborne rather than by droplets then you would see the effective R value much greater than what the coronavirus is. Example: measles is spread airborne and the R value is > 10. Coronavirus R value is < 3
thdrdt 6y ago
I don't know why you are downvoted. There is growing evidence that the virus mostly spreads as aerosol and that the amount of particles you inhale dictates how sick you get. The so called super spread events account for over 80% of the transmission. Bad ventilation and dry air keeps the airosols floating around making it easier for people to inhale them. The spread in meat factories is one example. But a mask still can prevent a lot of airosols. While also being limited. There was research that shows a lot of air escapes above and below the mask if someone coughs or sneezes.
shlant 6y ago
"Corona-19 is 1/10th of a micron across, which is smaller." People seem to have a huge misunderstanding about how viruses travel through air (which is how you get stupid memes like this[1]). There aren't isolated viruses floating around passing through spaces 1/10th of a micron or larger. They need a medium of which to travel upon (such as saliva droplets) that are much larger than the virus itself[2] (usually 5-10 microns) 1. https://starecat.com/content/wp-content/uploads/im-wearing-this-mask-to-keep-the-virus-out-of-my-body-im-building-this-fence-to-keep-the-mosquitos-out-of-my-yard.jpg https://starecat.com/content/wp-content/uploads/im-wearing-t... 2. https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2020/04/03/825639323/scientists-probe-how-coronavirus-might-travel-through-the-air https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2020/04/03/8256393...

tlb 6y ago

Masks do a great deal to reduce transmission of Covid-19. (This isn't true of every disease.) Covid-19 is mostly acquired by inhaling droplets of water+virus exhaled by carriers, so masks work quite well. A large amount of evidence for this is collected at https://masks4all.co/facts/ https://masks4all.co/facts/

trentdk 6y ago

The idea is to stop the respiratory droplets that contain viruses. Droplets measure on the order of micrometers, which is the range that surgical masks are made to be effective. A Google search result for droplet sizes: https://www.pnas.org/content/115/10/E2386 https://www.pnas.org/content/115/10/E2386 A Google search result for effectiveness of various masks related to particle size: https://blogs.cdc.gov/niosh-science-blog/2009/10/14/n95/ https://blogs.cdc.gov/niosh-science-blog/2009/10/14/n95/

deleted 6y ago

[deleted]

tacon 6y ago

Visualizing Speech-Generated Oral Fluid Droplets with Laser Light Scattering[0] [0] https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMc2007800 https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMc2007800

j7ake 6y ago

If the virus spread airborne rather than by droplets then you would see the effective R value much greater than what the coronavirus is. Example: measles is spread airborne and the R value is > 10. Coronavirus R value is < 3

thdrdt 6y ago

I don't know why you are downvoted. There is growing evidence that the virus mostly spreads as aerosol and that the amount of particles you inhale dictates how sick you get. The so called super spread events account for over 80% of the transmission. Bad ventilation and dry air keeps the airosols floating around making it easier for people to inhale them. The spread in meat factories is one example. But a mask still can prevent a lot of airosols. While also being limited. There was research that shows a lot of air escapes above and below the mask if someone coughs or sneezes.

shlant 6y ago

"Corona-19 is 1/10th of a micron across, which is smaller." People seem to have a huge misunderstanding about how viruses travel through air (which is how you get stupid memes like this[1]). There aren't isolated viruses floating around passing through spaces 1/10th of a micron or larger. They need a medium of which to travel upon (such as saliva droplets) that are much larger than the virus itself[2] (usually 5-10 microns) 1. https://starecat.com/content/wp-content/uploads/im-wearing-this-mask-to-keep-the-virus-out-of-my-body-im-building-this-fence-to-keep-the-mosquitos-out-of-my-yard.jpg https://starecat.com/content/wp-content/uploads/im-wearing-t... 2. https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2020/04/03/825639323/scientists-probe-how-coronavirus-might-travel-through-the-air https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2020/04/03/8256393...