Everyone is going to be wearing masks in a couple weeks

I have some N 95 masks and i have a family member who is a medical professional who works at a large metropolitan hospital.

She (the medical professional) will not wear one of our masks until at which time she knows that there is sufficient supply for all working health care workers.

Likewise, i won't wear one either until that time.

Shannegen wrote:

- Not propaganda, just bad phrasing. The virus isn’t airborne, so to protect yourself you don’t necessarily need an N95. The mask prevents spread from a PATIENT (who is still contagious).

So yes... I am pretty pissed that I go to the grocery store and healthy people are wearing masks so they don’t get infected with COVID from contagious broccoli.

You can't have it both ways. N95 either work or they don't. If people don't need them for grocery stores when inevitably someone crowds them, then medical professionals don't need them either.

True, medical professionals need them more right now for the frequency of contact. But don't say they wouldn't help citizens. That's intellectual dishonesty. Best would be to make enough of them for everyone.

And you getting mad at people for wearing them? Ridiculous. What if I'm re-using old masks that I used for sanding in my garage. I can't donate them! So buzz off with your annoyance. You don't know where people got these masks.

You are not the cocky lrc persona now, are you Edward?

You are now showing your coward self.

Have fun, you idiot.

TIGER KING wrote:

I can't wait until my wife has to wear one!

Me too. Your wife is creeping me out

let's calm down,

One difference is, and they make a big point of this, is that n 95 masks are effectively useless unless you get a fit test. That is very precise. My resident health care professional got a fit test last week and they determined that a mask would not work on her. That is how precise they are. She has a petite face, but not that unusual in size or shape.

So there is one difference there. Us folks in the public don't have access to fit testing, so we might not be getting any benefit from them while using up vital resources, though for a health care worker, on the other hand, it might mean life or death.

seattle prattle wrote:

Likewise, i won't wear one either until that time.

Why not? Hospitals burn through masks so quickly (can't be re-used or disinfected, disposed of every time they see a patient) that when someone donates a box it doesn't really make any difference, and anyway, I'm not sure they would even risk using masks that somebody donated. I would argue they are better put to use if you keep them.

Andrej Babis, Czech prime minister.

https://twitter.com/AndrejBabis/status/1244147274298654720

jesseriley wrote:

Yes, I was under the impression that hardloper was a denier as well.

Bad Wigins and company are not "deniers" in the sense of denying that there is a new respiratory disease floating the globe. They're only questioning whether shutting down society and adding 20,000,000+ to the unemployment roles is best approach for dealing with the disease, all things considered.

BW is only worried about his stocks wrote:

Andrej Babis, Czech prime minister.

https://twitter.com/AndrejBabis/status/1244147274298654720

Hey, stop trying to sell new ideas to America! New ideas have been illegal here since approximately the 1960s. Our central planners have already made up their mind that the one and only thing we can do is shut down the economy while we stare at charts of numbers; either that or everyone dies; there is no 3rd way.

I always like the Gerry Cheevers style.

Seems to work pretty well in Singapore, Hong Kong and South Korea.

joedirt wrote:

Seems to work pretty well in Singapore, Hong Kong and South Korea.

I know, that's what i thought, too. But someone pointed out to me that those countries also had a very different strategy to combat the outbreak. THey had a much better testing and strategy to isolate it. So it is not so simple to say that their relative success was due to the masks.

I’m not mad that people are wearing them. Right now, they’re (mostly) available, but we don’t know what our supply will be like in a month. I’m pissed we’re not dramatically increasing our supply and production. In other words, the fact a thread like this has to exist is what really bothers me.

We took the auto plants in World War II and converted them to be capable of manufacturing military equipment. We can increase PPE production so everyone gets what they want if it were a priority.

why would I do this? wrote:

Hardloper wrote:

It would keep you from getting other people sick even if you don't have symptoms, and might prevent you from touching your face.

Just throwing out a prediction. I'd rather not wear one but I think there will be increasing peer pressure and maybe evidence that it worked in other places.

This explains why other people might want me to wear a mask. It doesn't explain why I would wear a mask. A benefit accruing to person A will not incentivize person B to take action.

Believe it or not, not everyone is a sociopath. Many people care about the welfare of others.

not happenign wrote:

Shannegen wrote:

- Not propaganda, just bad phrasing. The virus isn’t airborne,

That's not what scientists have been saying for the last 2 months.

An airborne illness means you can inhale the agent. There are only a handful of bacteria and viruses that remain airborne (tuberculosis, measles, chickenpox, aspergillosis and a few others).

Corona viruses and Flu spread thru droplets or direct contact, in other words they get on your hands or skin and you introduce them into your nose of mouth when you touch your face. The corona virus can potentillay stay in the air for up to 3 hours, but even in that state, you would not inhale it, it would deposit on your skin (a regular surgical paper mask is good enough to protect you from that).

Healthcare workers need an N95 mask because the patients cough, vomit and sneeze directly onto us. If I have to put an artificial airway in (to start a patient on life support) my face is directly in front of their face and I have to manually open their airway to insert a tube. So I would need to wear an N95 because the droplets could be coughed right into my face.

(That’s not the kind of protection someone would need in public. )

+1

Help me to understand why you say the virus can stay in the air for up to three hours, but you would not inhale it?

Sure.

The agents that are considered “airborne” are so small in size that they can be inhaled past your upper airways’ defense mechanisms (there are lots, including mucus, microscopic hair that beat in one direction and clear bacteria., etc). Those small bacteria and viruses can pass through a surgical, regular paper mask. You need an N95 to prevent them from getting into your airway (the “95” stands for 95%... meaning 95% of what is not air won’t get thru). To use a really dumb example.. if someone throws a peanut into your mouth, you could choke on it, but your cough and gag reflexes would move it out and you can’t “inhale” it all the way into your lungs because it doesn’t fit.

Corona and Flu viruses are relatively large viruses, so they don’t stay suspended in air long, and you can’t inhale them directly into the airway. (If they deposit on your face, like if someone sneezes on you, they’ll find their way in, they just can’t be carried by air directly into the lungs). A paper mask will stop them from getting in.

I know it sounds like semantics, but there’s a pretty big difference. Hope that helps.