Ruh Roh - COVID and masks close enough to be masking
 

At CoachK's hospitals, the hospital staff COVID infection rate is borderline to the hospitals requiring staff and patients to be masked mandatorily.

Friends of mine are coming down sick testing positive. .

Just facts, no judgements, YMMV

Boston waste water upticking and its still summertime in the NorthEast!

Once again, "the sky is falling!"

Covid is not finished with us.

That's your judgement, i reported facts only. .
There was no judgment of the sky is falling in the factual post, and the facts suggest a change in hospital environment to minimize employee shortages. .

Not sure you would prefer employee shortages when you need hospital care, correct?

Thanks for the heads up.

Thread of the year.
That’s some funny stuff right there!

Forced close-downs. "They" said earlier that the face-diapers don't work. Think about it----hard!! Did y'all comply before by staying in as much as possible, did you wash your hands and social distance and do everything told to you before-----yet still got the infection?? Tis strange it seemed to almost "go away" and now is re-emerging.

Let’s just hope we learned from the last go around that paper face masks are useless for the person wearing it and closing down the economy is disastrous. Maybe not

Please there has been hospital employee shortages for 10 years. Why go to nursing school when UPS will pay you 6 figures plus OT, and zero education debt

I guess I am on of the Lone Rangers. I still practice social distancing, won't even think about spending time in a large group setting like concerts, wash my hands regularly, and routinely disinfect my home . But, I have not gone back to wearing a mask. I have not had Covid and I try to keep it that way. Why invite trouble?

If You’re Sick
 

If you get sick, you should wear a mask so you don’t get others sick. I think 5 days after the first symptoms is way good enough though. Fortunately, COVID isn’t the death sentence for the few it used to be. In addition we have Paxlovid and other treatments. Just be courteous if you are sick and stay home a few days. Remember it spreads pneumatically so mask up if you are sick and need to get out. Masks don’t prevent a whole lot, but they can help prevent you from spreading it to others.

The problem is way to many people will travel amongst the rest of us with covid without wear ing a mask or even testing

It's all about risk reduction. If ONE person who actually did test, tested positive, and has symptoms, wears a mask in public, then it'll be that much less risk of other people getting sick.

If TEN have symptoms, test positive, and wear masks, then it's that much less risk, times 10.

If that reduced risk prevents ONE person in this country from dying, then it's a successful effort as far as I'm concerned. Your right to live is more valuable to me than my right to not wear a mask. So for everyone else's sake - if I test positive and have symptoms, I'll try to stay in the house for a few days - and if I have to go out, I'll wear a mask.

Thank you (not) Wuhan, China.

How do you know you have not had Covid? My husband had NO, NADA, NONE symptoms. He tested because i was positive. Guess what? He was positive 2 days later. He never would have known.

Of course if you had it a week ago, then don’t wear a mask at all. It would be pointless.

If you do test positive, please don't go out, around others, while you are sick.
Even if you wear an N95 or better mask. That mask will saturate and fail. If you sneeze, it will blow covid around it. Masks are designed to block incoming air, not your exhaust that pushes it off your skin and allows covid to bypass the mask and infect people around you.

Masks don’t protect
 

Masks do little to protect. Even the m95 was proven ineffective. They don’t stop all germs from exiting your body either though as you pointed out. They just do “some” work, which amounts to better than none. The newest strand isn’t nearly as deadly, but hey no one wants to get others sick.

"You will own nothing and like it.'" Truth is now hate speech.

There is a huge difference between "proven ineffective" and "don't stop all germs." I'll take 95% effective over nothing every day.

(I also don't believe N95 masks were proven ineffective)

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?

Your quote made me think. Most of us get on the younger generations case for not growing up, settling down, being responsible. Here is something to think about; The goal has always been 2.6:1. 2years 6months of salary to purchase a home. This is taking the mean income and mean price of a home. In 1980 for me it was 2.4. Today it is 9:1. The ratio of income to automobile is equally unbalanced (comparing 1980 to today). This makes it very hard to be able to "own" your own home (or car). You will own nothing and be thankful. I'm not even addressing the debt coming out of college (in one generation my college went from 9k to 48k a year). Young adults today really do have a bum deal. If you want to really see how bad it is, consider what social media has done to relationships. It is very concerning.

Cochrane Library

The pooled results of RCTs did not show a clear reduction in respiratory viral infection with the use of medical/surgical masks. There were no clear differences between the use of medical/surgical masks compared with N95/P2 respirators in healthcare workers when used in routine care to reduce respiratory viral infection.

The report also contained these paragraphs:

The high risk of bias in the trials, variation in outcome measurement, and relatively low adherence with the interventions during the studies hampers drawing firm conclusions.

The observed lack of effect of mask wearing in interrupting the spread of influenza‐like illness (ILI) or influenza/COVID‐19 in our review has many potential reasons, including: poor study design; insufficiently powered studies arising from low viral circulation in some studies; lower adherence with mask wearing, especially amongst children; quality of the masks used; self‐contamination of the mask by hands; lack of protection from eye exposure from respiratory droplets (allowing a route of entry of respiratory viruses into the nose via the lacrimal duct); saturation of masks with saliva from extended use (promoting virus survival in proteinaceous material); and possible risk compensation behaviour leading to an exaggerated sense of security (Ammann 2022; Brosseau 2020; Byambasuren 2021; Canini 2010; Cassell 2006; Coroiu 2021; MacIntyre 2015; Rengasamy 2010; Zamora 2006).

So it isn't clear whether the N95 masks are ineffective or whether they were used in an ineffective manner.

If you want to argue that the overall (real-life) effectiveness is a combination of the effectiveness of the tool and the skill of those who wield the tool, I can accept that. In that case it appears that masking is not effective as normally practiced in real-world settings.

But that doesn't mean the masks are ineffective. There is no way I would be comfortable having surgery done where the doctors weren't wearing masks because a study showed they were ineffective. That isn't what the study looked at and it isn't what it showed.

The study also did not show the mask itself was ineffective. I don't believe there is no laboratory testing on these masks showing that they in fact did block 95% of particles.

The mask itself is effective. Every individual wearing the mask may or may not wear it properly and may or may not always wear it. Multiply the possibly mistakes made one individual by the hundreds or thousands of people in the community and the overall effectiveness quickly drops. This, I think, is what the study shows.

Before I mask up again I will need a personal meeting with Fauci to explain the scientific facts to me in detail.

Been there done that. No more Doc.

Something
 

Masks were a “something” type response with minimal actual effect. They did fulfill psychological needs though.

Hey, when it’s “All hands on deck”, masks are a small part and we will take what we can get approach. I think the move was pretty darn political. But bringing a bucket of water to a house fire is a “something” response, however we all would much rather a spigot supply and hose.

Fauci was a face to a politician’s farcical response.

Where did that 95% effective statistic come from?

Of course masks are effective...but maybe not quite efficient

Google is your friend

Manufacturer
FDA and here
CDC
Wikipedia

Though I probably should have used the word "efficiency" rather than "effective."

Oh Gezus Jminter...now you went and did it now...asking to back up a statement with data..why would you ask anyone to back up what they said.

Perhaps I might say I just deposited $2,000,000 into your bank account. You should just belive me because I said so....GO HAVE FUN....Spend like a maniac

Unfortunately, viruses are much smaller than what those masks were designed to filter out...

I'm sure you are right and will continue to toss out arguments until I get bored so I'll just stop here.

That'a boy Jmintzer

Now come on did you find that on our friend "Google"...lol?

As anyone can look up the Covid particle size is a small as 0.1micron. Where as the N95 respirators that are worn correctly will filter out at least 95 percent of particles 0.3 micron in size.

But 95% is good right??? well let's look at 99%

How is it sky is falling, only facts and verifiable. You can deny all you want but facts, figures and doctor reports is not lying. Oh but wait we forgot somehow, someone, somewhere has enough power, in all of the countries in the world, with a huge majority of doctors & nurses scared for their life and control to have come up with the biggest conspiracy ever known to mankind. If they are able to do that we need them to run a lot more things because they are obviously smarter and better able to get things done than all the rest of the people in the world.

:boom: :BigApplause:

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?

WHy? Why you ask?
Because every time someone mentions the dreaded COVID the thread turns into hysteria.
This time, I have no intention on listening to a bunch of Chicken Littles, that start getting hysterical about wearing masks (that IMO do little good the way they were being used), running amok to find a place to get booster upon booter, or carrying hand sanitizer everywhere they go. The worse part is when anyone that shrugs off the hysteria is then labeled a horrible "denier" and ostracized by the group of Chicken Littles. I'm no expert or medical professional but just about everyone in my family has had COVID and most of them had it before the vaccination was available. AND, most of them said that the symptoms was no worse than a cold, and no one said it was as bad as having the Flu. Just saying. I know some in my family that tested positive for COVID with NO symptoms and only got tested because someone they knew had it. So, I am sure there are many folks that go about their day, whether shopping or socializing that have no idea they have COVID. Do I worry about it? Nope. I use the handy sanitizer wipes on my shopping cart that stores have at the entrances, more for cleaning the germs off it from colds and pet germs than anything else. Plus, using them makes it easier to open those darn produce bags.
Will anyone ever believe the gov. when they warn us of pandemics again, after the fiasco we endured for COVID? C'mon, man!!

Oh brother, another venue for the anti- maskers, and the "Covid is nothing to worry about" crowd. Enough already. There is an upside, though, - thinning of the herd...

It's time to treat COVID as another "Flu Variation". We will never be without it. If individuals feel the need to mask up, let them. Read the OSHA reports on the Cloth and Cheap Surgical Masks. They provide "No, None, Zero, Nunca, Nada" protection. The country will not tolerate another lockdown. We live in the Free State of Florida!

No Covid IS a thing, and yes it is to be taken serious.

Vaccines are nothing more than a treatment plan. Does not stop or prevent individuals from contracting Covid. The hypocracy is, in order to get FDA "Emergency Use" authorization there could be no other treat modaities.

But the mask....Vaccine...2nd vaccine....booster.... booster...booster..and people still contract Covid...C'mon Man

PLUS heart issues due to the Mrna vaccine are real - COVID Infection, Vaccination Linked to Heart Condition