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> The largest Covid-19 particles can fit 2 wide straight through a N95 mask. Do they tend to float free in the air? I thought at least the optimistic take on m
by schoen 6y ago
> The largest Covid-19 particles can fit 2 wide straight through a N95 mask.
Do they tend to float free in the air? I thought at least the optimistic take on masks was that much of the COVID virus that an infected person sheds isn't loose individual particles, but inside respiratory droplets that are much larger than the virus itself. Like if I'm spilling lemonade, the sugar molecules in the lemonade are extremely small, but most of them are in solution in the liquid and not very much sugar would tend to pass through something that didn't allow much liquid to pass through.
So I thought that while the masks can't block the virus particles, they can often block liquids in which most of the virus particles are present.
edit: the USA Today article that someone else posted in this thread suggests this is broadly right, e.g.
> The virus attaches to water droplets or aerosols (i.e. really small droplets) that are generated by breathing, talking, coughing, etc. These consist of water, mucus protein and other biological material and are all larger than 1 micron.
> “Breathing and talking generate particles around 1 micron in size, which will be collected by N95 respirator filters with very high efficiency,” said Lisa Brosseau, a retired professor of environmental and occupational health sciences who spent her career researching respiratory protection.
- CydeWeys 6y agoBesides all that, it's obviously false because if it were true then masks wouldn't work, and yet empirically, emphatically, demonstrably, masks do work. Like, every single person in a hospital setting treating COVID-19 patients would be immediately coming down with it if their protective equipment were worthless. But that's not what we observe at all, hence it's not correct.
- jtbayly 6y agoSaying "empirically, emphatically, demonstrably, masks do work" in the context of talking about N95 masks might make sense. I hope you aren't implying that because hospital workers are protected by N95 masks that we therefore know beyond a shadow of a doubt that all the other masks people are wearing are effective. After all, the bigger context is the question about gators.
- CydeWeys 6y agoIf you turn on "show dead comments" you'll see that the grandparent post to my reply was indeed specifically saying that N95 masks don't work for some reasoning having to do with relative size of the fabric mesh vs the COVID-19 viral particles. So yes, the context for this conversation has indeed always been N95 masks.
- Animats 6y agoThe trick is that the middle layer of N95 masks is an electret, a material that will hold an electric charge. It's the electrostatic equivalent of a permanent magnet. It's not a very strong charge, but it's enough to pull particles a few microns out of line and catch them in the filter.[1] It's a mini version of an electrostatic precipitator, which has a coarse charged mesh and a strong charge. Those are good for pulling particles out of air. If you want to test this, there are standard "fit test kits" for respirators. They're little packets of scented smoke particles. You put on the mask, break the ampule to let the smoke out, and if you can smell it, the respirator isn't working, or, more likely, is leaking. [1] https://youtu.be/426IpWoEQsc https://youtu.be/426IpWoEQsc