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The evidence for cotton and surgical mask--as used in actual practice--being effective at reducing the spread is pretty weak in general. Most I've seen cited b
by rhino369 5y ago
The evidence for cotton and surgical mask--as used in actual practice--being effective at reducing the spread is pretty weak in general.
Most I've seen cited by mask proponents either don't use control groups (and thus can't really distinguish btwn other factors that correlate with mask wearing) or are laboratory tests just testing what % of particles are blocked by masks--which ignores almost every relevant question about mask mandates and relies on suspect theoretical models about how covid actually transmits between people.
I'm mystified why people on both sides are so up in arms about masks, but nobody gives one shit about uncontroversal and more effective mitigation techniques like air filtration and circulation.
An infected kid in classroom without proper air circulation could fill the classroom with enough virus to cause a super spreader event--mask or no-cotton/surgical mask.
- triceratops 5y ago> nobody gives one shit about uncontroversal and more effective mitigation techniques like air filtration and circulation. How much would it cost to retrofit a bunch of schools with this stuff? Ideally you'd do both. Have better air circulation, and institute masks when the regional caseload goes above a certain threshold.
- rhino369 5y agoI don't know, but it should pay dividends for generations given it'll probably slow down colds and flus too. Even things like a box fan in a window are probably significantly more effective than scooby doo masks.
- triceratops 5y ago> box fan in a window That's fine year-round in the south and southwest. Not so much in the rest of the country though.
- edmundsauto 5y agoWhy should one preclude the other? Defense in depth and all that.
- AdamN 5y agoBillions in the US and it's part of the infrastructure bill and alot of investment right now. This is a multi-year effort (although IMHO functioning windows should be more normalized instead of going all in on HVAC).
- johnold 5y agoI know that our teacher's union and the district we work for negotiated for almost a week about air filtration and circulation. The HVAC is continuously circulating air from the time it is on until after school when it turns off. There is some time before school and maybe 20min after school when it is on. They have settled on only pulling air from the outside instead of recycling the warm or cool air in the room. And having some kind of agreement on the merv rating of the filters. It may be merv 7(but I'm not sure.)
- guelo 5y agoThe riled-up anti-mask parents get all the attention but in every district there are also parents pushing for more ventilation, testing, vaccinations, etc. In my school we've been able to get the ventilation upgraded with MERV-13 filters.
- shadilay 5y agoSome years back I had a professor who was doing research on the lack of air circulation leading to CO2 buildup in classrooms. CO2 has pretty deleterious effects of student achievement. Turns out oxygen is important for cognition, who knew? I can only assume it's worse with face masks.
- Jansemon 5y agoWhat about all the surgeons that perform multi hour long surgeries then?
- shadilay 5y agoSurgical masks are designed to stop droplets, not aerosols so they're pretty loose. The mask is not form fitting around the nose. OR's also have dedicated filtration/HVAC systems with HEPA filters. I researched this when I was looking for a filter system for wildfire smoke.