3 ms·
Also, masks don't filter all the viruses, they just reduce the amount you breathe in. Viral load is important, an infection will be less likely to lead to a dis
by corty 6y ago
Also, masks don't filter all the viruses, they just reduce the amount you breathe in. Viral load is important, an infection will be less likely to lead to a disease if the viral load is low, e.g. because you are wearing a mask or keeping distance.
If there is, in addition, a partial immunity, e.g. from a former flu infection, the threshold for the necessary viral load to cause a disease is even higher. Which is why masks are usually more effective against the flu.
- dukeofdoom 6y agoI think its fascinating to think about it. Once you get infected, its basically a battle of doubling rates. Will your immune system buildup up defences before the virus doubles to unstoppable overwhelming numbers. So a smaller starting initial number of the virus, gives the immune system a much longer time to organize.
- nradov 6y agoSo far there is no real experimental evidence that lower initial viral dose reduces the risk of developing disease symptoms. It's a plausible hypothesis but remains unproven.