4 ms·

Guesstimating the infection cause to a maskless moment ("Nobody is required to wear masks at the tables, so I removed my mask when I sat") sounds iffy, the pro

Guesstimating the infection cause to a maskless moment ("Nobody is required to wear masks at the tables, so I removed my mask when I sat") sounds iffy, the protection afforded by masks is very light? (Unless he was always using N95 masks)

speedgoose 6y ago
Yes, the masks are used mainly to reduce your spreading to others. Not so much to protect yourself.
- dehrmann 6y ago
  Judging by that quote, some people don't seem to know this, and you can bet they act like it protects them more than it does.
  - the_arun 6y ago
    Point is infected people can be asymptomatic and wearing masks will reduce the chances of them spreading it to others.
- robocat 6y ago
  Although many masks have a one-way valve or vent which allows exhaled air to bypass the filter and infect others.
  - danans 6y ago
    N95 masks in particular.
    - dehrmann 6y ago
      But someone who regularly wears an N95 mask with a valve might be less likely to contract the virus (because N95), so discouraging use of N95 masks with valves could make the situation worse.
      - danans 6y ago
        N95s are good for protecting the wearer, not so good for protecting others from the wearer. In areas with high infection rates (a lot of the US), the likelihood that someone wearing a mask is infected goes up, thereby making N95s more problematic. Many stores around where I live are requiring N95 wearers to cover up the valves while inside. N95s are better than no mask at all of course, but that's a low bar for comparison.
  - JanSt 6y ago
    Even self-made cloth mask show an effect on reducing spread. More and more studies show this now - and you can try for yourself. Put flour in front of you in cough into it, once with a self made mask and once without. The spread will be much less. Surgical and N95 masks are better to protect yourself (and others) though. Still, even a small reduction in spread can have a huge effect on the pandemic if everyone adopts it. https://advances.sciencemag.org/content/early/2020/08/07/sciadv.abd3083.full https://advances.sciencemag.org/content/early/2020/08/07/sci... https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7321045/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7321045/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7186508/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7186508/ https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamainternalmedicine/fullarticle/2769443 https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamainternalmedicine/fullar... https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acsnano.0c03252 https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acsnano.0c03252 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7191274/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7191274/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7253999/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7253999/
- sammorrowdrums 6y ago
  Although there is a body of evidence building that you are more likely to have a milder case if catching it wearing a mask (due to a slightly lower initial viral load). https://www.ucsf.edu/news/2020/07/418181/one-more-reason-wear-mask-youll-get-less-sick-covid-19 https://www.ucsf.edu/news/2020/07/418181/one-more-reason-wea...
- otherme123 6y ago
  I'm reading it as he went to a place were nobody wore mask, thus increasing the spreading. He's not saying that he took his mask off for a brief moment so he caught it, but that everybody put their masks away for the entire evening.
ganafagol 6y ago
> the protection afforded by masks is very light How can this still be a topic that's debated today? It's August now. We've known it for about half a year now, and with "it" I mean "surgical types of masks protect others, N95 type masks protect yourself." That's it. There is varying degrees of protection depending on exact circuumstances, and it's all a game of probabilities, meaning it reduces risk, so is mostly meaningful on the population level, and less on the individual level. But come on, how can this still be a discussion? Even people in remote Peruvian or Himalayan villages know it by now, the HN crowd definitely does. There are more memes about it out there than contributions to this thread.
- onemiketwelve 6y ago
  Because we skew towards affluent and contrarian. Conformity is tough, even if it's wearing a piece of cloth
  - ganafagol 6y ago
    How is it "affluent and contrarian" to keep repeating some information that's so well-spread that repeating it is just adding meaningless noise? Masks don't protect 100%. Oh really? You don't say.
tfehring 6y ago
Presumably only part of the issue was that he wasn't wearing a mask, while the bigger factor was that he was in an environment with lots of non-mask-wearing people in relatively close proximity.
yosito 6y ago
Agreed, and if he would have gotten it from a friend at one of these tables, wouldn't one of those friends have tested positive too?

speedgoose 6y ago

Yes, the masks are used mainly to reduce your spreading to others. Not so much to protect yourself.

dehrmann 6y ago
Judging by that quote, some people don't seem to know this, and you can bet they act like it protects them more than it does.
- the_arun 6y ago
  Point is infected people can be asymptomatic and wearing masks will reduce the chances of them spreading it to others.
robocat 6y ago
Although many masks have a one-way valve or vent which allows exhaled air to bypass the filter and infect others.
- danans 6y ago
  N95 masks in particular.
  - dehrmann 6y ago
    But someone who regularly wears an N95 mask with a valve might be less likely to contract the virus (because N95), so discouraging use of N95 masks with valves could make the situation worse.
    - danans 6y ago
      N95s are good for protecting the wearer, not so good for protecting others from the wearer. In areas with high infection rates (a lot of the US), the likelihood that someone wearing a mask is infected goes up, thereby making N95s more problematic. Many stores around where I live are requiring N95 wearers to cover up the valves while inside. N95s are better than no mask at all of course, but that's a low bar for comparison.
- JanSt 6y ago
  Even self-made cloth mask show an effect on reducing spread. More and more studies show this now - and you can try for yourself. Put flour in front of you in cough into it, once with a self made mask and once without. The spread will be much less. Surgical and N95 masks are better to protect yourself (and others) though. Still, even a small reduction in spread can have a huge effect on the pandemic if everyone adopts it. https://advances.sciencemag.org/content/early/2020/08/07/sciadv.abd3083.full https://advances.sciencemag.org/content/early/2020/08/07/sci... https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7321045/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7321045/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7186508/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7186508/ https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamainternalmedicine/fullarticle/2769443 https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamainternalmedicine/fullar... https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acsnano.0c03252 https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acsnano.0c03252 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7191274/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7191274/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7253999/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7253999/
sammorrowdrums 6y ago
Although there is a body of evidence building that you are more likely to have a milder case if catching it wearing a mask (due to a slightly lower initial viral load). https://www.ucsf.edu/news/2020/07/418181/one-more-reason-wear-mask-youll-get-less-sick-covid-19 https://www.ucsf.edu/news/2020/07/418181/one-more-reason-wea...
otherme123 6y ago
I'm reading it as he went to a place were nobody wore mask, thus increasing the spreading. He's not saying that he took his mask off for a brief moment so he caught it, but that everybody put their masks away for the entire evening.

ganafagol 6y ago

> the protection afforded by masks is very light How can this still be a topic that's debated today? It's August now. We've known it for about half a year now, and with "it" I mean "surgical types of masks protect others, N95 type masks protect yourself." That's it. There is varying degrees of protection depending on exact circuumstances, and it's all a game of probabilities, meaning it reduces risk, so is mostly meaningful on the population level, and less on the individual level. But come on, how can this still be a discussion? Even people in remote Peruvian or Himalayan villages know it by now, the HN crowd definitely does. There are more memes about it out there than contributions to this thread.

onemiketwelve 6y ago
Because we skew towards affluent and contrarian. Conformity is tough, even if it's wearing a piece of cloth
- ganafagol 6y ago
  How is it "affluent and contrarian" to keep repeating some information that's so well-spread that repeating it is just adding meaningless noise? Masks don't protect 100%. Oh really? You don't say.

tfehring 6y ago

Presumably only part of the issue was that he wasn't wearing a mask, while the bigger factor was that he was in an environment with lots of non-mask-wearing people in relatively close proximity.

yosito 6y ago

Agreed, and if he would have gotten it from a friend at one of these tables, wouldn't one of those friends have tested positive too?