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COVID-19 - Surgical Mask Debate - NOT N95


DanTheHorn

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Study:  Published: 03 April 2020

Respiratory virus shedding in exhaled breath and efficacy of face masks

 

Quote

 

Abstract

We identified seasonal human coronaviruses, influenza viruses and rhinoviruses in exhaled breath and coughs of children and adults with acute respiratory illness. Surgical face masks significantly reduced detection of influenza virus RNA in respiratory droplets and coronavirus RNA in aerosols, with a trend toward reduced detection of coronavirus RNA in respiratory droplets. Our results indicate that surgical face masks could prevent transmission of human coronaviruses and influenza viruses from symptomatic individuals.

 

cont.

--> no surprise here, just that the viral transmission limiting effects of basic masks is increasingly evidence based.

It's counter-intuitive, but masks actually are probably best at reducing the hand to face transmission of covid, which by some experts is thought to be the primary mode of infection.  Basic paper surgical masks, (n95 not needed) reduce spray onto nearby surfaces that other people touch, more so than inhaling aerosol.  Masks reduce infected people from touching their faces then touching surfaces that other people touch (door handles, hand rails, counter tops).  Masks also prevent non-infected people from face touching after they've touched a contaminated surface.  It's easy to see how everyone in the community benefits from masks to reduce risk of infection and spread whether you have it or not.

 

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My mom and her group of church ladies have made pillowcases for Dell Children's hospital for years.  Their contact at the hospital recently asked them if they could switch to making fabric masks for the staff instead, so they're doing that, using all of the fabric and scraps that they were previously using for the kids' pillowcases.  She also made masks for the entire family, I picked some up a few days ago.
I haven't been anywhere public yet, but when I do, I'll have my choice of Spiderman, Toy Story, My Little Pony, or Star Wars.  Pretty certain I know which one I'll be rocking.


My mother is doing this too. She switched from quilts donated to the children’s hospital to masks. Someone donated 100 yards of fabric to her and I bought her about 500yds of elastic, so she’ll be busy for a while.
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I say yes on the masks for obvious reasons.  Not N95s or respirators or even anything you can buy.  Bandanna, homemade, whatever.

The problem if mask wearing is mandatory then some of these medically necessary masks are going to be consumed by the general public at the short term peril of where they are actually needed.

A problem we have here in the US and A is that we think we can buy our way out of anything.

Case in point:  Let's say you are a middle aged dude that needs to shed about 40lbs.  Sure you could do that by changing your diet and doing a few body weight exercises and walking every day.  Nothing extreme, but if done correctly a steady 1-2 lbs per week and in less than 6 months you have changed your health trajectory for the rest of your life.  Nothing to buy, multiple ways of of getting there, minimal time and effort ...nothing is required but consistent application of tried and true methods available to anyone over a very minimal period of time. But no, you go and get a gym membership and buy some some new workout clothes and keep at it for a couple of weeks, maybe even start coloring your hair or hitting a tanning salon at the gym.  Literally almost everything but what you actually need to be doing, but hey at least you spent some money, you need a reward so go ahead and hit that buffet at the Golden C.

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2 hours ago, Jiggy-Z said:

A problem we have here in the US and A is that we think we can buy our way out of anything.

Case in point:  Let's say you are a middle aged dude that needs to shed about 40lbs.  Sure you could do that by changing your diet and doing a few body weight exercises and walking every day.  Nothing extreme, but if done correctly a steady 1-2 lbs per week and in less than 6 months you have changed your health trajectory for the rest of your life.  Nothing to buy, multiple ways of of getting there, minimal time and effort ...nothing is required but consistent application of tried and true methods available to anyone over a very minimal period of time. But no, you go and get a gym membership and buy some some new workout clothes and keep at it for a couple of weeks, maybe even start coloring your hair or hitting a tanning salon at the gym.  Literally almost everything but what you actually need to be doing, but hey at least you spent some money, you need a reward so go ahead and hit that buffet at the Golden C.

Why the personal attack dude? Keep it up and I'll get a day laborer to kick your ass.

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We do some FEMA work and always had N95's in our go boxes. Local FD has them and our Tyvex now. Fuck it, if I get called out I can snag some. I kept 1 set of each just cuz. 

my take on masks is this. Get some surgical masks now. order them so you are in the pipeline. Once Cleetus knows he needs them the supply chain has shifted. Lots of fucktards have been hoarding them but manufacturing is going to ramp up. It is going to take some time with a massive buyers market. Working with a medical group now and they need 10K/week. No seller will even think about this order. I was quoted $5.50/mask today for orders over 500,000 for masks that usually cost $1. Pretty fucked up. 

 If you do order of Amazon, etc try and find a set that comes with extra filters. That is the key. They get saturated (sweat, rain, SA Austin's Mom) then you need to really be careful to switch out the internal filter. But at the end of the day my philosophy is simple. Anything is better than nothing. 

Speaking with a few non-US NGOs (ie broke as shit) the conversation turned to how can you make something that will block moisture without suffocating the person wearing them. I have some semi-waterproof canvas and am going to experiment tomorrow. Thinking 3 layers. Canvas to HEPA filter cut out (someone made the recommendation, thanks) and then a cotton (heavy thread count) third layer. You can buy charcoal filter inserts but the fitting is the issue. Anyone have a 3D printer? reusable valves for the win. 

Fucking El Salvador has masks for everyone.... And here we are. Come on Surly, lets make our own design. Enough ranting. Off to get a beer and hopefully a surgical strike from my pandemic partner. 

 

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On 4/3/2020 at 10:27 PM, bernorange said:

I did end up ordering a balaclava.  Must be a low priority for Amazon as delivery with Prime is near end of the month.

Amazon delivered the balaclava yesterday.  I went to Costco this morning looking like a complete clown - balaclava, sunglasses, old tshirt, comfortable basketball shorts, crocs.

No one gave me a second or odd look.  No one snickered or cared.  What few people were there this morning were all wearing masks themselves (various types from homemade cloth to surgical masks) and minding their own business.  I wiped down my crocs with clorox wipes before getting back in my car. 

2020 - Year of the ninja.

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Amazon delivered the balaclava yesterday.  I went to Costco this morning looking like a complete clown - balaclava, sunglasses, old tshirt, comfortable basketball shorts, crocs.
No one gave me a second or odd look.  No one snickered or cared.  What few people were there this morning were all wearing masks themselves (various types from homemade cloth to surgical masks) and minding their own business.  I wiped down my crocs with clorox wipes before getting back in my car. 
2020 - Year of the ninja.
I feel like I'm looking in a mirror when I read this.
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On 4/3/2020 at 9:24 PM, RPM said:

I bought some 5 layer N95 masks off Amazon a few weeks ago. I live a pretty social distanced life except for work and shopping. TFN, I'm wearing one outside of home.

Broke it out today for work. It's cloth type with replaceable filters. I think I can get several days per filter. Came with 20 and I have 50 more coming. They started handing out masks at work today, too.

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Went to HEB this morning dressed like my last trip to Costco (different shirt and shorts though - I'm not an animal).  Seemed like only 40% of shoppers there were wearing masks.  Bunch of yahoos were not observing social distancing either.  It was a pretty stark contrast to the Costco shopping crowd. 

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On 4/1/2020 at 8:13 PM, RayDog said:

Millions of people in the Far East and Southeast Asia wear masks in public when they are healthy to minimize infection and they all claim it works. Many of these are medical or cloth masks. I am not aware of any study to back up the claim, but the anecdotal evidence is compelling.

 

i was wondering about that the other day, how does that work in bars? I don't think I'd mind wearing one to/from work, if i leave my desk for lunch, to the grocery store, etc, but do they take them off at bars? Do people still wear them around their necks? If they know they're going bar hopping, do they wear them the entire time except when actually ingesting alcohol? Maybe this should go in the dumb question thread but outside HK I haven't spent a lot of time in the far east unfortunately. 

edit: didn't feel like double posting. but is there a consensus on steaming masks? i have a couple Chinese white non-surgical generic ass  JD950 ones that I"m sure were supposed to be single use but all i'm doing is walking the dog and grocery shopping. I've seen links with everything from 10seconds to 10minutes. Anyone got definitive links on which is ideal? Thanks in advance.

Edited by achooloco
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On 4/3/2020 at 9:53 AM, Heisenberg said:

I see Amazon has them.

What I want is a full length clear faceshield.  The eyes are a route for pathogens - always moist and surrounded by one's sinuses.

 

On 4/3/2020 at 10:12 AM, Heisenberg said:

Welding supply businesses are your friends.

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6 hours ago, achooloco said:

i was wondering about that the other day, how does that work in bars? I don't think I'd mind wearing one to/from work, if i leave my desk for lunch, to the grocery store, etc, but do they take them off at bars? Do people still wear them around their necks? If they know they're going bar hopping, do they wear them the entire time except when actually ingesting alcohol? Maybe this should go in the dumb question thread but outside HK I haven't spent a lot of time in the far east unfortunately.

The Koreans I see will wear their mask on their chin when in the bar or smoking which looks stupid to me, but some take them off a put it in their pocket. The Filipino girls that go with Koreans do the mask on the chin thing too.

 

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I've been pro n95 mask since day one, knew the govt was full of crap.   Luckily I was able to reorder some more from china, unfortunately after shipping and import fees they were pretty much 4 bucks a pop for something that costs penny's to make.  If anyone need some  PM  i'll sale them at cost had to order way too many.  Not trying to cause trouble if not allowed just delete my post.

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On 4/11/2020 at 8:46 AM, achooloco said:

i was wondering about that the other day, how does that work in bars? I don't think I'd mind wearing one to/from work, if i leave my desk for lunch, to the grocery store, etc, but do they take them off at bars? Do people still wear them around their necks? If they know they're going bar hopping, do they wear them the entire time except when actually ingesting alcohol? Maybe this should go in the dumb question thread but outside HK I haven't spent a lot of time in the far east unfortunately. 

edit: didn't feel like double posting. but is there a consensus on steaming masks? i have a couple Chinese white non-surgical generic ass  JD950 ones that I"m sure were supposed to be single use but all i'm doing is walking the dog and grocery shopping. I've seen links with everything from 10seconds to 10minutes. Anyone got definitive links on which is ideal? Thanks in advance.

 

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Just went to the store for the first time in a week and opted for no mask. I'm not sick, not talking to anyone and definitely not coughing. And I avoided getting to close to anyone in case they coughed on me.  I didn't take a census but it appeared that perhaps 60% of the customers wore one, 75% of employees and almost none of the vendors restocking the shelves.

I did douse my hands in alcohol sanitizer when I got back to my car, and washed them before and after putting everything away. I also don't re-touch anything that comes into my house for at least a day or so.

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