Wednesday, December 30, 2020

Mask Wearing Is 99.9 Percent Effective At Retaining Large Droplets When Worn Properly, Study Finds

A lab experiment which used mechanical mannequins to test the efficacy of face masks in reducing the spread of large droplets when coughing and speaking has found that they can block 99.9 percent of drops when worn properly. The findings were published in the journal Royal Society Open Science 


  Mask Wearing Is 99.9 Percent Effective At Retaining Large Droplets When Worn Properly, Study Finds

19 comments:

Ralph Musgrave said...

I read somewhere that Covid-19 viruses (unlike many other viruses) do not need water droplets in order to jump from one person to another.

Matt Franko said...

It would become unviable very quickly if outside of those body fluids Ralph...

Needs moisture and low temperatures to remain viable....

Peter Pan said...

Liquid water in aerosols evaporates within seconds. Have you not heard of water vapour?

Masks are great at collecting germs, no argument there!

Matt Franko said...

Well the germs then become unviable in the mask fibers... inert... decomposed or oxidized protein fragments...

lastgreek said...

Open the damn windows.

Greg said...

Masks are great at collecting germs, no argument there!



That’s THE point. Collect your germs in your own mask so no one else collects enough of them. Should throw mask away or clean regularly
Kind of like covering your mouth when you cough.... it’s not just for politeness sake

Very simple things would pretty much stop this, one takes some technology the others just effort. Test..... when infected stay away....when you can’t stay away cover your nose and mouth and wash hands

It’s the Pooh poohing of all these efforts that has dragged this out

Greg said...

Greek is right too, plus eat right! Get all your vitamins boys and girls

We’ve known much of this for decades

Peter Pan said...

I haven't cleaned my mask since July. Chock full of germs, yet I'm fine.
Since I can't touch my face with my hands while wearing a mask, why bother washing my hands?

We rely on our immune system to protect against antagonists that are microscopic in size.
Either my fashionable cloth mask is working, or I'm enjoying one hell of a placebo effect.

Well the germs then become unviable in the mask fibers... inert... decomposed or oxidized protein fragments...

Only if it's a mask certified to trap virus sized pathogens. That certification is only supposed to be given after rigorous testing under controlled conditions.

Greg said...

“ I haven't cleaned my mask since July. Chock full of germs, yet I'm fine”

Good for you Pete, it must mean you are special😉

That’s like, “I’ve never worn a bike helmet and I’m okay, helmets don’t help nuthin”. Cmon Pete you can do better than that. The point is that on the macro level if we want to have more normal interactions in the face of contagious respiratory viruses, covering the channels of transmission, staying home if you might have the virus and using good hygiene when you do contact things that have been out of your control is the ONLY effective practices we have. Immunizations are a technology, not a practice, treatments are a technology not a practice, detection to a firm level of certainty requires technology.

When, and I mean WHEN, we get the technology that will let you take a really deep sniffle or cough, put it in a container, mix it around , put a dipstick that inserts to your phone and detects every virus present at a certain level in your upper respiratory tract, downloads the information to the local health dept and you get sent a text that might say stay home for 14 days AND there is a requirement for employment that you must do this dipstick every morning no matter how you are feeling....... that will be a game changer. These resp viruses ain’t going away

Peter Pan said...

I'm conducting an experiment in response to mask silliness.

By all means tell workaholics to stay home, and warn employers they will be fined if they insist upon or allow symptomatic employees to work.

Some phenomena of nature are beyond our control, and COVID is one of them. Be grateful its not the next plague or smallpox.

Matt Franko said...

“ Only if it's a mask certified to trap virus sized pathogens.”

They are usually in something or in something that is big enough to be trapped...

I’m going with MERV 13 filters both at home and work in forced air systems 24/7.. idea is virus will be trapped with what it is in and dry up become unviable...

I got a particulate meter before we installed the filters I had around 12ppm then once the filters ran 24 hours it dropped under 2... sometimes under 1... about a 90% reduction... fans cost 19.99 at Target and filters around 16... so under 40 all in per unit...

Air quality is a lot better in any case...

Peter Pan said...

UV light can help.
COVID 19 virus particle size is 125 nanometers (0.125 microns)

Matt Franko said...

You mean drinking bleach?

Peter Pan said...

Google UV light air purifier. Install one next to the filters.

Joe said...

"Only if it's a mask certified to trap virus sized pathogens. That certification is only supposed to be given after rigorous testing under controlled conditions."

That's not particularly hard to do. They make machines that do that, they're called fit testers and they measure the effectiveness of a mask while it's on a person's face. They use a particle generator and shoot particles at your face, then measure the concentration inside and outside. Mask manufacturers have been characterizing and publishing the effectiveness of their products for a long time.

Studies have shown (some done before the pandemic, its not new info) that homemade double layer clothes masks can reduce exposure to virus sized particles by 50 to 80% (surgical masks will vary but can be around 80% reduction). That doesn't even take into account droplets, that's just straight filtering at 0.02 microns.

The problem is, of course, it's not 100% effective, you have a lot of stupid people who apparently don't know how to read and think it's like stopping a mosquito with a chainlink fence (and why bother to even explain to them what a *reduction*[not elimination] of exposure is) and you can't really wear a mask all the time, around family etc.. so real world practical usage is likely to be more modest than the numbers initially suggest.

Peter Pan said...

Show me a cloth mask that is certified to stop virus particles.

Joe said...

Anyone can put a certification stamp on anything.. you want me to send you a few certification certificates?.. A certification doesn't change the physical properties of something.

Matt Franko said...

Lots of scams Joe..,

Peter Pan said...

Yeah, I won't be wearing a cloth mask while demolishing an asbestos-laden building. To ensure that certification means something, hordes of blood-thirsty lawyers are required.