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The direction does matter, actually. The virus particles leaving an infected person will generally be inside droplets large enough to be caught by a mask before
by hvac 6y ago
The direction does matter, actually. The virus particles leaving an infected person will generally be inside droplets large enough to be caught by a mask before they get a chance to evaporate and atomize. Meanwhile, the virus encountered by an uninfected person nearby will naturally be either in smaller droplets or in airborne form. Much harder to defend against.
- irq11 6y agoThat’s the theory that people have traditionally advanced, yes. Is there any evidence that capturing heavier droplets has any material effect on transmission? No. And we know that transmission is driven by aerosols now. Aerosols are not heavy droplets. Moreover, at this point, it isn’t challenging to find cities and states with high levels of mask compliance, and spiking cases: https://mobile.twitter.com/ianmSC/status/1329187274794225666/photo/1 https://mobile.twitter.com/ianmSC/status/1329187274794225666... https://mobile.twitter.com/ianmSC/status/1329218665187745794/photo/1 https://mobile.twitter.com/ianmSC/status/1329218665187745794... https://mobile.twitter.com/yinonw/status/1329558423604695046/photo/1 https://mobile.twitter.com/yinonw/status/1329558423604695046... https://mobile.twitter.com/ianmSC/status/1329610060125749251/photo/1 https://mobile.twitter.com/ianmSC/status/1329610060125749251... A great many preprints were created in the the spring (when cases were on the decline in the northern hemisphere) claiming to prove that masks “work”, based on the same kinds of observations. Now that cases are increasing in the northern hemisphere, I eagerly await a revisiting of those publications.
- hvac 6y agoYou mention mask compliance, but your links discuss mandates - did the mandates have a material effect in changing the number of people actually wearing them?