4 ms·
Not OP. They work, but much more marginally and situationally than most people think. They're best thought of as a delaying factor in exposure, with cloth masks
by tarboreus 5y ago
Not OP. They work, but much more marginally and situationally than most people think. They're best thought of as a delaying factor in exposure, with cloth masks adding no or a few minutes and surgical masks adding somewhat more time. In many situations, this is irrelevant, because you're stuck with the group and the air for far longer than the mask differential affords. I'd say the optimal places for wearing masks are probably supermarkets, and maybe also communter transit. Can't find the damn paper now, and all information is false anyway.
- lambdaba 5y agoIf I'm not mistaken, these claims stem from studies modelling droplet diffusion, obviously no experiment could pass ethics for an actual infection exposure. I guess to each their own, but I am highly skeptical of the value of these kind of studies, also covid is aerosolized so why are we worrying about droplets again?
- ggy5567 5y ago> covid is aerosolized so why are we worrying about droplets again? Becasue we don't want sick people spitting all over the place when they talk, even when we aren't inhaling their breath.