4 ms·

I thought masks protect others not the wearer. Guess I'm just not up-to-date with the science.

tehjoker 2y ago
They mostly protect others, but they also reduce the number of infectious particles entering (pretty obviously). They're very leaky, so if you wear a non-respirator you will only delay infection not prevent one. However, if many people wear masks, there is filtration going on in both directions (at the source and sink), so they become more effective. COVID is remarkable among human pathogens because it is so damn transmissible. High percentage mask wearing completely stomps out weaker viruses (we eliminated a flu strain in 2020). COVID is almost as transmissible as measles (R0 for Omicron is commonly estimated above 8 and as high as 24), so it takes an array of countermeasures or high quality countermeasures to arrest it. Still, mask wearing will reduce the number of people infected per a unit time, making environments much safer. Now that we are in a regime where R0 is less applicable since people have some immunity to COVID, the transmission rate is closer to 1-3. This is something masks can manage to stomp so long as there is partial immunity.
- lambdaba 2y ago
  So we're back to needing everyone to mask up given your leading paragraph. Again, I hope the general public never accepts this ever again. I don't want to live in a world so obsessed with safety and safety theater that it accepts such a radical transformation of the public space. So what Taiwan does it. I hope the info you shared is valuable to someone, I don't have the inclination to make my case in further detail, so I'll just stay at this level of argumentation: the tradeoff is unacceptable to me, and, I hope, to the majority. If it ever comes down to this again, I'll make a serious effort to relocate to somewhere still sane.
  - bryanlarsen 2y ago
    Masks are a radical transformation? Please. It's a minor inconvenience. Keeping kids home from school was a radical transformation.
TylerE 2y ago
The traditional surgical with ear loops is mostly for other pills. A properly fitting N95 seals all the way around the mask, and offers substantial protection for the wearer. The ones I wear have been found >99.9% efficient at filtering aerosolized COVID sized particles, which are quite a bit bigger than the 0.3um worst case test particle. Worse case because they actual filter with two mechanisms, one physical that works for large particles (think stuff getting caught in a fishing net) and another that’s electrostatic that works better for ultra fine stuff. 0.3 is the crossover where the combination is minimally effective.

They mostly protect others, but they also reduce the number of infectious particles entering (pretty obviously). They're very leaky, so if you wear a non-respirator you will only delay infection not prevent one. However, if many people wear masks, there is filtration going on in both directions (at the source and sink), so they become more effective. COVID is remarkable among human pathogens because it is so damn transmissible. High percentage mask wearing completely stomps out weaker viruses (we eliminated a flu strain in 2020). COVID is almost as transmissible as measles (R0 for Omicron is commonly estimated above 8 and as high as 24), so it takes an array of countermeasures or high quality countermeasures to arrest it. Still, mask wearing will reduce the number of people infected per a unit time, making environments much safer. Now that we are in a regime where R0 is less applicable since people have some immunity to COVID, the transmission rate is closer to 1-3. This is something masks can manage to stomp so long as there is partial immunity.

lambdaba 2y ago
So we're back to needing everyone to mask up given your leading paragraph. Again, I hope the general public never accepts this ever again. I don't want to live in a world so obsessed with safety and safety theater that it accepts such a radical transformation of the public space. So what Taiwan does it. I hope the info you shared is valuable to someone, I don't have the inclination to make my case in further detail, so I'll just stay at this level of argumentation: the tradeoff is unacceptable to me, and, I hope, to the majority. If it ever comes down to this again, I'll make a serious effort to relocate to somewhere still sane.
- bryanlarsen 2y ago
  Masks are a radical transformation? Please. It's a minor inconvenience. Keeping kids home from school was a radical transformation.

TylerE 2y ago

The traditional surgical with ear loops is mostly for other pills. A properly fitting N95 seals all the way around the mask, and offers substantial protection for the wearer. The ones I wear have been found >99.9% efficient at filtering aerosolized COVID sized particles, which are quite a bit bigger than the 0.3um worst case test particle. Worse case because they actual filter with two mechanisms, one physical that works for large particles (think stuff getting caught in a fishing net) and another that’s electrostatic that works better for ultra fine stuff. 0.3 is the crossover where the combination is minimally effective.