Quote:
Originally Posted by Whitley
So a mask will not stop a contagious person from breathing out the disease, but will block you from breathing it in? Is that correct?
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Partially correct. "Mask" is too generic to say what one can or cannot do.
Mask made from a t-shirt will do nothing. 100% useless against covid. The gaps (holes) between fibers are many millions of times larger then covid virus.
Those flat blue masks with elastic ear loops will do nothing. They are splatter shields.
An n95 mask is designed to block the wearer from breathing in particles of a certain size, and larger. It does that by a combination of the filter material, and that it seals completely to your face. Any facial hair, wrinkles, lotions, skin bumps, etc, compromises that seal and allows unfiltered air to bypass the mask for you to inhale. Bypass means you would get contaminated if near to the stuff you hoped to block.
When you breathe out, the mask is pushed outward and will allow air to slip out between the skin and mask. There are some n95 masks with a one way exhale port that allows all air to exit unfiltered. An n95 mask is not intended to protect others. Doctors mainly wear them to protect themselves. The exception is that very large water droplets could be caught. However, that it a statistically small insignificant amount, but a popular urban myth that it has any benefit.
Someone who is sick, and then coughs out a very large volume of air, all at once, contaminates the area around themselves. And fills the mask with covid to re-breathe.
People that wear n95 masks (for work) go through training which includes fit testing. That is where the trainer shows how to properly wear and seal the mask. They use a special nasty smelling smoke to see if any leaks by the seal. Then they go over how to properly remove the mask (that could be saturated with lots of bad stuff) without transferring anything it captured to your head and hands. Do you see anybody doing that?
Let's say you are trained how to properly wear the mask. Do you reuse it? I hope not. Do you change it out after a certain number of minutes? If not, things will seep through. Do you remove it somewhere you do not want contaminants scatter, or do you do remove it in the car or at home? There is research showing a contaminated mask will release that gunk when you breathe out - contaminating the area you are in. After every time you touch the mask, do you always disinfect your hands?
To test it for your self, find someone smoking. Put on your n95 mask. It should block the smoke smell. If yours does not, it's being worn wrong. Covid is a lot smaller than smoke.
You do know virus can spread through the air, via contact with your eyes. Are we wearing sealed goggles?