N95 mask advice

[Hellgate]

Originally Posted by zmalwo

n95 masks filter out 95% of all particles. If you don't seal it tight against your face any mask is useless. If you are really worried then I would get a military gas mask covering all of your mucus membranes including your eyes while ensuring a 100% seal around your face. You will look odd but that's the bomb proof way against the virus.

Exactly. All a mask really does is prevent you from touching your nose and mouth, and it prevents sneeze vapor. Unless one has a military style mask that covers your eyes it is kind of pointless.

[peanutgallery]

In case you're bored

https://nypost.com/2020/04/04/heres-...navirus-masks/

[gasman]

Originally Posted by stackie

Sorry to take giant piss on your parade, but I’m just livid about the number of people I saw around town today with n95s when I know my colleagues at the hospital are doing without.

Jon

No need to apologize. Our society needs to protect everyone on the front lines and as a recently retired anesthesiologist I feel the same way !!!
I think of you and my colleagues I worked with and while the storm hasn't hit here yet I'm still concerned for everyone.

Right now our hospital is still taking care of urgent/emergent cases and each patient is treated as being C 19 positive. So, they need all the masks they can get as do you.

[mtechnica]

Originally Posted by Hellgate

Exactly. All a mask really does is prevent you from touching your nose and mouth, and it prevents sneeze vapor. Unless one has a military style mask that covers your eyes it is kind of pointless.

The masks still help in general. The virus is in water droplets in the air. Pretty much any mask will stop most of those from getting into your mouth and nose. Even if some get though it will be less and your infection will begin with a lower viral load. And that’s not to mention it will stop infected people from spreading it around as much too.

To be honest the mask naysayers to me sound like climate change deniers and creationists at this point.

[Cbh]

With the recent guidance of wearing a mask I'm thinking about ordering something that I can use on a ride. I'm in Texas and it will be approaching 90 this coming week. I've seen some neck gaiters for fishing that are designed for sun protection and look like they are designed to go over your nose and mouth. Anyone have any experience with these? Wondering if they are worth it or if it's a crazy idea.

[mtechnica]

Originally Posted by Cbh

With the recent guidance of wearing a mask I'm thinking about ordering something that I can use on a ride. I'm in Texas and it will be approaching 90 this coming week. I've seen some neck gaiters for fishing that are designed for sun protection and look like they are designed to go over your nose and mouth. Anyone have any experience with these? Wondering if they are worth it or if it's a crazy idea.

I wouldn't wear one on a ride. Save it for when you have to go into a building with people in it, or stand in a line / group outdoors.

[AngryScientist]

my uneducated opinion is that seems to me like wearing one of these homemade masks, or any mask really may not be doing anyone any good.

any fluid will take the path of least resistance when moving, including air, so if the mask doesnt have a tight seal, it will leak, a lot.

the bigger issue, is that without proper training, and attention to detail, it seems if you are out and about, fiddling with the mask, taking it on and off, and general handling of the mask, which winds up against your face, might just negate the positive effects.

i concede that if you have the virus, a mask may help you to not spread it to others, but i see little practical benefit from a protection standpoint.

at this time - i'm not wearing a mask when i need to go to the food store or pick up curbside food. at this point, those are my only exposure avenues.

maybe i'll change my mind, but that's my thinking right now.

[CNY rider]

Originally Posted by AngryScientist

my uneducated opinion is that seems to me like wearing one of these homemade masks, or any mask really may not be doing anyone any good.

any fluid will take the path of least resistance when moving, including air, so if the mask doesnt have a tight seal, it will leak, a lot.

the bigger issue, is that without proper training, and attention to detail, it seems if you are out and about, fiddling with the mask, taking it on and off, and general handling of the mask, which winds up against your face, might just negate the positive effects.

i concede that if you have the virus, a mask may help you to not spread it to others, but i see little practical benefit from a protection standpoint.

at this time - i'm not wearing a mask when i need to go to the food store or pick up curbside food. at this point, those are my only exposure avenues.

maybe i'll change my mind, but that's my thinking right now.

Spot on.
People are confused on this issue I think.
Wearing a cloth mask when you go out isn't protecting YOU from anything.
It's hopefully stopping you from harming OTHERS if you are an asymptomatic shedder of virus.
It's blocking you from more widely distributing the virus in your respiratory secretions.

Again, to emphasize as well, hand to mucous membrane contact is a major way to spread this virus. So if you wear a cloth mask, and it gets damp and annoying and you're reaching up every 5 minutes to adjust it, touching your face and the surface of the mask in the process, you are making your personal risk of getting the virus higher, not lower.

[Irishgirl]

Disclaimer - I am not a doctor or expert on this subject of masks

As a regular human in this discussion my take on the effectiveness of masks considers a couple different perspectives...

There are significant amounts of communications/reports surrounding the asymptomatic group (despite the statements made by the Governor in Georgia- insert eye roll) and their transmission unknowingly of the virus. This group should wear masks...but how do you know? Simply you don’t.

Clearly those with the virus should not be out circulating around...but how do we know if it’s the virus without a positive test? Yes there are symptoms that strongly indicate you could most likely have it ...however without a positive test it’s a guess. This group should stay home and wear a mask around others and those living with a suspected case should stay home too and wear a mask if for any reason they need to step outside.

Soo without a positive test result that puts most of us in that uncertain category...unless you’ve been in self isolation with 100% no interaction with people/packages or even your mail.

I support health care and front line essential works wearing N95....if you have health concerns same thing...for the rest of us, IMHO, a face covering is a better offense and defense than nothing....or another option is to just stay home and be diligent with sanitizing mail/packages and washing your hands.


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[Veloo]

Another DIY. Texas A&M University.

https://enmed.tamu.edu/DIYmasks/

[Hellgate]

Originally Posted by mtechnica

The masks still help in general. The virus is in water droplets in the air. Pretty much any mask will stop most of those from getting into your mouth and nose. Even if some get though it will be less and your infection will begin with a lower viral load. And that’s not to mention it will stop infected people from spreading it around as much too.



To be honest the mask naysayers to me sound like climate change deniers and creationists at this point.

No, I'm a mask realist. Having spent 20 years in the Army, and countless hours training on NBC/CBRN (I'll let you look it up), unless one has a solid seal around the nose and mouth, and the eyes are protected, a rag will not do squat. Even with the touted N95 mask, a glorified painter's mask, it needs to be thrown out after each exposure and the user needs to decontaminate. About .5 seconds in a military gas chamber with CS gas will teach one this lesson very quickly.

Again, all a simple mask will do is prevent one from touching their nose and mouth, a reduce the vapor from a sneeze hitting another. It

[LJohnny]

Originally Posted by Hellgate

No, I'm a mask realist. Having spent 20 years in the Army, and countless hours training on NBC/CBRN (I'll let you look it up), unless one has a solid seal around the nose and mouth, and the eyes are protected, a rag will not do squat. Even with the touted N95 mask, a glorified painter's mask, it needs to be thrown out after each exposure and the user needs to decontaminate. About .5 seconds in a military gas chamber with CS gas will teach one this lesson very quickly.

Again, all a simple mask will do is prevent one from touching their nose and mouth, a reduce the vapor from a sneeze hitting another. It

I am on this boat. Also, I have two little ones, and most masks are tailored for an adult face. Heck, i known people with narrow faces in the lab that have a hard time making sure a good tight fit is achieved, prompting the order of smaller sizes. These however are usually stocked in lower numbers because demand is much lower for these non-std sizes.

Also, no mask will work with any significant amount of facial hair. Now that masks are being promoted, CDC should do a PSA on how to properly fit a mask. Oh, wait, there are no masks to be had... Oh, the irony. Sad state of affairs for US. There will be revisioned history on the definition of ****-hole country.

[tuxbailey]

Originally Posted by AngryScientist

my uneducated opinion is that seems to me like wearing one of these homemade masks, or any mask really may not be doing anyone any good.

any fluid will take the path of least resistance when moving, including air, so if the mask doesnt have a tight seal, it will leak, a lot.

the bigger issue, is that without proper training, and attention to detail, it seems if you are out and about, fiddling with the mask, taking it on and off, and general handling of the mask, which winds up against your face, might just negate the positive effects.

i concede that if you have the virus, a mask may help you to not spread it to others, but i see little practical benefit from a protection standpoint.

at this time - i'm not wearing a mask when i need to go to the food store or pick up curbside food. at this point, those are my only exposure avenues.

maybe i'll change my mind, but that's my thinking right now.

But as seen in Asian countries such as Hong Kong, South Korea, Taiwan, and Singapore where wearing masks during flu season/endemic/pandemic does show a benefit of limiting the spread of contagious diseases.

You are right that an average person won't be well protected against this virus for wearing a clothed mask. But if everyone wears one, it ought to limit the spread of the disease.

[OtayBW]

I don't know that wearing a mask has ever touted as being a protection device, but I also think that there are a whole lotta people walking around now having been diagnosed with the COVID-19 who never knew that they had it....

[Jaybee]

Originally Posted by Hellgate

No, I'm a mask realist. Having spent 20 years in the Army, and countless hours training on NBC/CBRN (I'll let you look it up), unless one has a solid seal around the nose and mouth, and the eyes are protected, a rag will not do squat. Even with the touted N95 mask, a glorified painter's mask, it needs to be thrown out after each exposure and the user needs to decontaminate. About .5 seconds in a military gas chamber with CS gas will teach one this lesson very quickly.

Again, all a simple mask will do is prevent one from touching their nose and mouth, a reduce the vapor from a sneeze hitting another. It

I rarely have to use it, but I’m also trained and fitted for a full face respirator and SCBA for hazmat emergency response. Tipped over train cars full of hydrochloric acid and that sort of thing. You’re correct that the types of masks currently being pushed and the lack of training to use them won’t protect anybody from a toxic gas or high load aerosol situation. But that’s not what we are typically dealing with here. The issue here is keeping your mucousal secretions away from other people’s mouth nose eyes, and vice versa.

It makes sense to me that even a bandana helps, because it catches your sneeze or cough better than just your elbow, and it also keeps you from touching your face. Getting infected by a virus is a numbers game. The right part of a virus has to find the right cell type so the receptors match. Decreasing the total number of viral particles that escape from your mouth or nose and limiting the amount of times you touch it will decrease the chances of that happening.