Wear a freaking mask already

Clearly any face covering reduces the risk of transmission to others. Many different masks increase that and protect the wearer as well.

Of course proper protocol is required to protect the wearer more with ANY mask. Don't constantly adjust and touch it and if you do sanitize your hands every time. Don't reuse a worn mask unless it has been properly cleaned with soap. Remove a worn mask by the straps and discard in a trash can immediately (or into a bucket of soapy water if it is to be reused) and sanitize hands again.

If we all do this...the damn virus goes away.

But only if we all do it.

This ain't rocket surgery folks

 

And damn the rule of law! And forget science.

Anybody can wear a mask that wants to, is where I'm at.

But there is no scientific case that masks do anything at all. There is no scientific case that the virus is any different than flu, as it has a very low IFR. There is no legal authority for any dictator to order people to wear masks for such a low death rate, any more than there is a legal basis for the dictator to order people to wear certain types of clothing. It's absurd.

 

No, it's not rocket surgery, and it's not rational policy or behavior either.

This is fanaticism and zealotry consistent with religious superstition and ignorance.

 

180,000 dead already and one THOUSAND a day dying currently

 

Such a drama king....

 

This thread is not about a government mask mandate. It’s about my request to show respect for others and wear a mask around those that think it will help protect them.

 

Masks will help some, not much, but it's better than nothing.

The virus ain't going away even after an effective vaccine is on the market, but a vaccine will eliminate much suffering.

When the vaccinations begin that is day one in the fight against the novel coronavirus.

 

Its the few micron size particles that don't get stopped.
That's why a surgical mask is about 50% effective.
The N95 mask is 95% effective. Hence the name. A bandana, 3% effective and then the study showed it can make larger particles smaller and increase the amount of particles.

 

Those figures are on how much protection a mask gives to the mask wearer, not how much protection is given to others

 

I'm a retired technical writer, which means that one of my top three rules is to spell out all acronyms upon first usage. Do not assume that your audience already knows. What is ASTM?

Another rule: break up gigantic paragraphs ... no one wants to read it otherwise.

Another rule: minimalism ... hard to do with detailed technical information, but certainly not impossible.

Sorry to be critical, but I'm willing to bet that few of the participants on this forum will bother to read all of that as presented.

As for the linked study ... same problems. Unless this is your field of study, most of that is over our heads, even the graphs.

Rule 1: never allow subject matter experts (SMEs) to write their own material.

That said, my masks are Cotton 2, 3, and 4. Looks like those tested well, but I'm not sure because I don't fully understand the graphs.

 

American Society for Testing and Materials, now known as ASTM International so they are no longer spelling out their former acronym. They have tested surgical masks of medical grade and their testing has been adopted and certified by the FDA or Food and Drug Administration. ASTM masks come in three levels: 1, 2, and 3, depending on bacterial and particulate filtration efficiency, and resistance to wetness (level 3 being the highest-rated). All 3 levels of ASTM-tested, FDA-certified surgical masks are considered to be medical grade and appropriate for the use of healthcare workers in medical and dental settings, unlike the flimsy stuff you find elsewhere that is not certified for medical use. Unlike non-medical facemasks, even if those non-medical ones look similar (blue, white earloops), the ASTM masks do have an inner layer made of meltblown fabric, the same as you find inside an N95 respirator. Melt blowing is a fabrication method of micro- and nanofibers where a polymer melt is extruded through small nozzles surrounded by high speed blowing gas. The randomly deposited fibers form a nonwoven sheet product that is suitable to provide filtration of very small particulates, such as viruses of 0.1 micron (coronaviruses) to 0.3 micron (influenza viruses) which is why these masks receive the FDA approval for use in medical situations. The paper masks you find elsewhere do NOT have this inner fabric therefore are unable to filter viruses out.

 

No, those are the numbers that show how much of the particles will escape through the mask.
The few micon sized particles will make it through most any mask.

Masks protect others, they don't protect the one wearing. Because the masks reduce particles leaving one's body. But will be trapped in your mask you are wearing.

 

Thanks for the acronym, but again, who wants to read that huge paragraph? I see at least three places where you could have broken that up and made it readable. Sorry, just trying to help.

 

Day one was in March

 

Yea... but the fact that it’s trapped there means you already were exposed to it.
The mask keeps you from giving it to me and my wife. Thank you

 

Maybe people with short attention span who balk at ONE paragraph do not deserve to read my informative posts.

If you don't want to read my "huge" paragraphs, don't. Put me on ignore, whatever. But under your "sorry, just trying to help" you have only managed to post two pieces of criticism with no contribution to the topic and no commentary on the content of my posts. For your information, addressing a poster's style rather than a poster's content is a form of personal attack that is in violation of the the rules of this forum.

I take the care of giving you a thoughtful response, and that's all you can say? More criticism? I don't care for your attitude. I do not need or want a lecture from you on how I should author my posts. You feel free to not read them; I couldn't care less, since you seem to be unable to contribute to the topic anyway. Have a nice day.

 

Dairyair, brush up on brownian motion. Masks with inner layers made of meltblown fabric (such as N95, FFP2, and ASTM-certified masks) have been repeatedly found to efficiently trap particulates of 0.1 micron (which happen to be the coronavirus' size) in laboratory testing due to brownian motion (thus outperforming the very size of their pores), which matches the significant reduction in relative risk of contracting the disease *for the wearer* in numerous real-life studies with coronaviruses (MERS, SARS-1, and SARS-CoV-2).

You keep insisting that they don't protect the wearer, but that's just not true, both in lab tests and field use. It is also quite incredible that you do admit to the fact that masks reduce the emission of particles, but you don't admit to the fact that they reduce incoming particles too. If masks do not have one-way valves, then they do work in both directions. Pray tell, why would they stop particles traveling from A to B through them, but wouldn't do it for particles traveling from B to A??? Sorry but your position on this makes no sense whatsoever. and is contradicted by science. You can keep repeating this over and over but it doesn't make it true.

 

I know what N95 means. It stops 95% of the particles that leave the mouth.

Outside of the clinical environment, the situation is very different. Although from a personal perspective we would all like to be protected from getting the virus, the shortage of PPE means that the key aim is to stop the virus spreading in the wider population, not protecting specific individuals. This is why, rather than PPE, we are being encouraged to wear face coverings that divert our breath so that if we are carrying the virus, there is less chance of spreading it to other people.
https://www.snopes.com/news/2020/07/14/does-your-face-mask-protect-you-or-other-people/

 

No good deed ever goes unpunished. My intention was to get people to read your posts, because they have merit. 38 years making a good living writing technical manuals for everything from banking software and stock market databases to satellite control systems (actual effing rocket science!) and military aviator's mission planning software have taught me a few things and my intention was to share knowledge.

I did discuss my masks. And sorry, but NO ONE likes huge, run-on sentences and paragraphs. Studies have been conducted on the subject. It has nothing to do with intellect. That was just an insult.

In conclusion: if you want people to read your writing, don't make it difficult for them.

 

I'm sick and tired of the TLDR claim. I don't want to appear arrogant but I think my posts have both quantity AND quality, and if people don't want to read them because they are long, they should just NOT read them instead of criticizing the style; and it will be their loss, not mine.

Now, again, while appearing all nice and helpful, you have criticized my style for a THIRD time, just now ("run-on sentences"). Thank you SO much! I can barely think of what would be made of me if I didn't have such a helpful person like you to teach me the ropes.

What insult? I spoke in general. If people balk at ONE paragraph (it's hardly a 700-page novel) they may not deserve to read something that is actually informative.

What took me aback is that YOU asked a question. It was actually nice of me to give you a full answer. I could have just said, ASTM = American Society for Testing and Materials, period, and moved on. But no, I tried to actually be helpful to you and let you know about what ASTM masks are all about. The ONLY thing you had to say after my effort was... that I didn't employ paragraph breaks. Gee. Next time I'll make sure to give you very short and incomplete answers, if you don't care for the full story.

Look, I'm NOT writing in a professional journal, here (something I've done MULTIPLE times in my career, to considerable success, thank you), but rather in a freaking anonymous Internet forum. I was busy in-between two things and typed up the response for you, and didn't take the time of inserting paragraph breaks. Big deal. If that had been a mountain of text then it would become annoying, but that was just ONE paragraph, all on ONE little topic. As you can perfectly see, in other posts I did insert paragraph breaks.

Do we need style police here? I guess not. It's as annoying as grammar police or spelling police.

You won't see me criticizing the way people write here, although there are some atrocious mistakes (including in my own posts, with the editing window here being so short - 15 minutes). I much prefer to comment on the content. That doesn't seem to be your case, regardless of how well-meaning you claim to be.

 

And 95% of particles coming into the mouth, a part you are conveniently leaving out. Like I said, except for the vented ones, this works both ways. And N95s are actually designed to primarily protect the wearer, not the environment (thus some of them being vented and still getting the NIOSH seal).

No, I have posted studies done in community environments too, among non-healthcare workers. Three of them. All three with reduction in relative risk for the wearer too.

Yes, given the shortage of PPE, the population is wearing cloth masks, something that the testers above-mentioned found to only stop 7.25% of the particulates. But that's precisely why in my posting I've been trying to tell people what masks work and how to wear them, because believe it or not, now the good ones ARE available, but most people are not even looking for them or don't know how to look.

You keep saying that masks don't protect the wearer. That undermines the whole thing.

Your link: thanks for posting it, nice article. But I'd rather go with the scientific studies I've posted. It is interesting to notice that your article, though, DOES recognize that masks protect the wearer too, as in this phrase when they are talking about vented masks: "The San Francisco fire department has made a video urging double masking to ensure both the wearer and those around them are protected." (my bold). Yep, the wearer is protected too. By the way, that's a method I also use. Some of my N95s are vented, so when I'm wearing one, I place an ASTM level 3 mask on top of the vent, so that I am protecting others too. But I'm DEFINITELY also protecting myself.

See, N95s and FFP2s are in short supply - but CAN be found. But I'm not even recommending that because they need proper fit and most lay people don't know how to handle them. But almost equivalent protection for the lay public at large CAN be achieved with a medical grade face mask as long as the seal is enhanced with something as simple as three interlaced rubber bands, as per the YouTube clip I've posted a few times, and can post again:



This method with a good medical grade facemask (and apparently at least one of the nanofiber commercial ones, cheap on Amazon) would be MUCH more protective than cloth masks. I've been doing my best to diffuse this. Yes, the wearer CAN get protected too, unlike you keep saying.

 

Again with the unknown acronym. Don't you want to be understood?

I tried.

 

I wear a mask anywhere that posts it as a requirement to entry, and nowhere else. And given the option, I'll go a bit out of my way to find somewhere that doesnt require it and give them my business.

 

Look, you post in an Internet forum and you ignore one of the most common Internet forum acronyms? TLDR = Too Long Didn't Read.

If YOU ignore it, it doesn't mean the other 30,480 members here also ignore it, so, no, I shouldn't be spelling it out all the time, regardless of what Mr. Style Police thinks.

I'll give you the ASTM, but not knowing what TLDR is, while posting in an Internet forum, is not a valid point.

Hey, you are sooooo helpful, let me be helpful too. I'll teach you some more acronyms:

USA = United States of America
NPR = National Public Radio
CDC = Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
NFL = National Football League
MLB = Major League Baseball
NBA = National Basketball Association

You're welcome. I thought I should help, since you don't seem to be too good with acronyms.

 

Yeah, give them your business. They will need the money to pay their medical bills once they get sick.