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> N95s aren't regulated for children, so if a mask says it's an N95 for kids, don't trust it. This makes me think we're still floundering at the basic protecti

> N95s aren't regulated for children, so if a mask says it's an N95 for kids, don't trust it. This makes me think we're still floundering at the basic protections. Our kids' school in the Bay Area recommends N95s for kids which, if this statement is true, don't exist.

bcwarner 5y ago
I think the statement says that there are no legitimate N95s specifically labeled for kids, so any "N95" that has that labeling is suspect and may not live up to performance. But yeah, I can't imagine N95 designers were anticipating kids to ever need them.
- Spooky23 5y ago
  It’s easy to get caught in compliance paralysis. Generally speaking, masks will be designed or optimized for heads in different sizes. Until you get to really young kids where they don’t fit, there’s no magical reason that they won’t work.
parrellel 5y ago
Other countries may have not been dropping the ball on this quite so badly as ours. Looking for stuff that's been okayed for kids in Korea has served me well. I got a crate of KF94s for my kids shipped. Of course, then it takes research and time to make sure you don't get ripped off with counterfeits and what have you.
frogpelt 5y ago
From the beginning it has been obvious that the decision makers did not know what to do about this pandemic. I am not convinced that lockdowns and masks have decreased the positive cases based on comparisons between places that were heavy on lockdown and mask mandates and those that weren’t. Almost no one is wearing N95 masks. And many of those who wear masks only wear them some of the time or incorrectly. On a flight I took recently, they asked a man to remove his N99 mask in favor of the standard issue, light blue surgical mask you see everywhere. Masks to me are symbolic. People wear them to show that they care and that want to obey the pleas to “do your part”. But with the implementation I’ve seen they probably haven’t helped much.
- kspacewalk2 5y ago
  Masks are our "doing our part" symbols, the Covid ribbon if you will. The science on anything other than N95 masks is flimsy, but it's low-effort and low-cost, so why not. It feels like better than nothing, it probably is, so we go along with it.
  - ars 5y ago
    It's basically the same as the security theater at the airport - it makes you feel like you have control over something you don't actually control.
    - MrMan 5y ago
      its all the diseases besides Covid that masking helps. I think its great from a public health POV, despite being a bit annoying.
  - TaylorAlexander 5y ago
    Is the science flimsy? I genuinely thought that the science was very clear that good masking reduces the rate of community transmission?
    - miles 5y ago
      The large study from Bangladesh last year[0] which was widely trumpeted with headlines like "Large Study Confirms Masks Work to Limit COVID-19 Spread"[1], averred that, "Villages where cloth masks were distributed experienced a 9 percent reduction in symptoms, while villages where surgical masks were distributed saw a reduction of 12 percent." Stanford Medicine's assessment[2] states that, "Although there were also fewer COVID-19 cases in villages with cloth masks as compared to control villages, the difference was not statistically significant." [0] https://www.poverty-action.org/study/impact-mask-distribution-and-promotion-mask-uptake-and-covid-19-bangladesh https://www.poverty-action.org/study/impact-mask-distributio... [1] https://www.webmd.com/lung/news/20210907/masks-limit-covid-spread-study https://www.webmd.com/lung/news/20210907/masks-limit-covid-s... [2] https://med.stanford.edu/news/all-news/2021/09/surgical-masks-covid-19.html https://med.stanford.edu/news/all-news/2021/09/surgical-mask...
BenFrantzDale 5y ago
3M 8110S is quite small FWIW.

bcwarner 5y ago

I think the statement says that there are no legitimate N95s specifically labeled for kids, so any "N95" that has that labeling is suspect and may not live up to performance. But yeah, I can't imagine N95 designers were anticipating kids to ever need them.

Spooky23 5y ago
It’s easy to get caught in compliance paralysis. Generally speaking, masks will be designed or optimized for heads in different sizes. Until you get to really young kids where they don’t fit, there’s no magical reason that they won’t work.

parrellel 5y ago

Other countries may have not been dropping the ball on this quite so badly as ours. Looking for stuff that's been okayed for kids in Korea has served me well. I got a crate of KF94s for my kids shipped. Of course, then it takes research and time to make sure you don't get ripped off with counterfeits and what have you.

frogpelt 5y ago

From the beginning it has been obvious that the decision makers did not know what to do about this pandemic. I am not convinced that lockdowns and masks have decreased the positive cases based on comparisons between places that were heavy on lockdown and mask mandates and those that weren’t. Almost no one is wearing N95 masks. And many of those who wear masks only wear them some of the time or incorrectly. On a flight I took recently, they asked a man to remove his N99 mask in favor of the standard issue, light blue surgical mask you see everywhere. Masks to me are symbolic. People wear them to show that they care and that want to obey the pleas to “do your part”. But with the implementation I’ve seen they probably haven’t helped much.

kspacewalk2 5y ago
Masks are our "doing our part" symbols, the Covid ribbon if you will. The science on anything other than N95 masks is flimsy, but it's low-effort and low-cost, so why not. It feels like better than nothing, it probably is, so we go along with it.
- ars 5y ago
  It's basically the same as the security theater at the airport - it makes you feel like you have control over something you don't actually control.
  - MrMan 5y ago
    its all the diseases besides Covid that masking helps. I think its great from a public health POV, despite being a bit annoying.
- TaylorAlexander 5y ago
  Is the science flimsy? I genuinely thought that the science was very clear that good masking reduces the rate of community transmission?
  - miles 5y ago
    The large study from Bangladesh last year[0] which was widely trumpeted with headlines like "Large Study Confirms Masks Work to Limit COVID-19 Spread"[1], averred that, "Villages where cloth masks were distributed experienced a 9 percent reduction in symptoms, while villages where surgical masks were distributed saw a reduction of 12 percent." Stanford Medicine's assessment[2] states that, "Although there were also fewer COVID-19 cases in villages with cloth masks as compared to control villages, the difference was not statistically significant." [0] https://www.poverty-action.org/study/impact-mask-distribution-and-promotion-mask-uptake-and-covid-19-bangladesh https://www.poverty-action.org/study/impact-mask-distributio... [1] https://www.webmd.com/lung/news/20210907/masks-limit-covid-spread-study https://www.webmd.com/lung/news/20210907/masks-limit-covid-s... [2] https://med.stanford.edu/news/all-news/2021/09/surgical-masks-covid-19.html https://med.stanford.edu/news/all-news/2021/09/surgical-mask...

BenFrantzDale 5y ago

3M 8110S is quite small FWIW.