Maskhole...... Covidiot......
Ah the mask debate, split between the virtue signaling fascist and the well intended but ignorant “patriot” that is convinced that wearing a mask soon leads to a ride on a train to a concentration camp. While there is no doubt that the left will stop at nothing to unseat President Trump and wreck our economy the simple fact is that while these goobers might be taking advantage of a crisis it is beyond foolish to refuse to take common sense precautions to prevent bringing home a death sentence to your family.
Masks do work despite the hysterical cries of danger and inefficiency from the Covidiots. If we wear masks, my mask protects you and your mask protects me. In a perfect world we wouldn't have found ourselves held hostage by the shortage of real N95 type masks thanks to the insanity of allowing most of our major manufacturing to flee the U.S. in the search for the cheapest labor. But what we are facing is massive shortages of true, certified, N95 masks. But as in all things, the perfect is the enemy of the good enough, even a poor mask is better than no mask at all.
What makes this silly debate worse is the WHO and medical experts telling people to reserve the N95 masks for those treating the sick, rather than just saying “Hey, we weren't prepared and we need to reserve these masks for critical needs.”, the experts told us wearing masks wasn't needed when the pandemic broke out. And they are still saying this but the vast majority of people are intelligent enough that they are using what they have.
One of the
best videos based upon actual science is this one. Particle size is important in studying things like this. About 14 or 15 years ago I worked with NIOSH, OSHA, and a host of other organizations and scientists on some scientific studies on the effect of radioactive dust generated from fabricating granite countertops. Once we drilled down deep enough in the testing we learned that the first thing to determine is the range of particle sizes which tells you the distance the dust will travel and how deep into the lungs it penetrates. Turns out we have some of the best particle scientists in the world North of downtown OKC at the OU research center. The first round of testing choked the systems and invalidated the results, the second round was good, the third round of testing was shut down thanks to OU lawyers telling the scientists it was too risky to continue the studies.
Tiny particles are fairly easy to inhale deep into the lungs. Larger particles get caught by our respiratory system, through the sinuses and then the mucus in our throats catches a lot of the larger particles. But there was a lot more than the size of the opening in a mask we learned, electrostatic charges of particles, the probability of a particle getting trapped in a maze of fibers, even caking, where an older mask is more effective than a brand new mask. Till the point that breathing is more difficult.
So, with a background in some of this science I have seen a lot of junk science being used by some of the more hysterical “patriots”. One medical doctor in a video posted by a Covidiot might have had something worth listening too but the second he started going on about N95 masks not being fit tested I knew I was watching either an idiot or a liar. We used respirators in the studies and sent the workers to the doctor for a check up and certificate of fitness, then had an industrial hygienist actually fit test. This is nothing more than tightening the mask straps and popping a capsule of ammonia to see if the mask wearer can smell the gas through the large filter cartridge. Of course you would be able to smell the gas through a N95 non woven fiber mask; it isn't designed to stop chemicals but small dust particles.
And size matters, regardless of what Chis Kannady might tell one of his victims. The N95 masks filter out particles down to about a micron but viruses are orders of magnitude smaller. If you are using just a pore size in a filter medium there is no stopping a virus but that isn't how filters actually work. Then there is the amount of the virus particles and the duration you are exposed to them. The body is very good at dealing with minor attacks but the body can be overwhelmed by too many virus particles and the longer you are exposed the larger the risk that a few viruses might get through your defenses.
But masks work because you have two layers of actual defense if the majority of the people are intelligent enough to wear masks. First is source control, stopping an infected person from blasting droplets and aerosols all over the place. That is why my mask protects you and your mask protects me. Wearing masks massively limits the amount of infection floating in the air or being spewed. Second is the PPE portion, your mask will catch some of the virus floating around in the air. In fact there is at least one study showing that a simple tee shirt material will be around 70% as effective as a surgical mask. Beats a sharp stick in the eye if that is all you have.
So bottom line, all kinds of masks work great as source control, lowering the amount of virus floating around or landing on surfaces where you can pick it up through hand contact. For PPE the N95 masks are the best, followed by surgical masks, then followed by homemade masks. Yes you can still smell your farts, so no, these masks are not designed to stop gas molecules that are many times smaller. The particular molecules that make farts stink are less than one nanometer, 0.4 nm to be precise. The corona virus is 60 to 140nm, 150 to 350 times larger than a methanethiol molecule that makes farts stink.
And that said, even an inexpensive cartridge respirator easily stops farts and most chemicals due to a winding passageway the gas has to travel, activated charcoal, and multiple layers of filter medium. If you want to be safe as possible, wear a respirator if you can stand it. You won't like it, I have worn them for thousands of hours in a paint booth. You have to pull them off constantly to clean out the sweat and slobber and they are thoroughly nasty to wear if you are working.
A good analogy on this is a castle with a strong gate that keeps men on horses from coming into the castle and someone complaining that roaches can still enter. You have to consider the risk from a man on a horse with sharp pointy things versus a cockroach. Farts are the cockroaches, Covid is the man on the horse.
If you do a Youtube search on mask petri dish you will find a lot of videos made by scientists and
individuals like this one. You pretty much have to admit that source control with a mask is a no brainer and effective. At this point all you can argue is that wearing a mask is nasty. No, it doesn't restrict your oxygen, no it isn't 100% impenetrable.
So please, shut up, pick another battle to spend your energy on, and wear a darned mask in public so we can keep the state open and people working. Deaths per day is headed down, wearing the stupid mask helps with that, and I suspect that once the election is over the media will stop the coverage of Covid and go back to fomenting just rebellion and obstruction of Trump.
