AusGeoff wrote on Feb 8
th, 2023 at 5:04am:
LOL... there's no such thing as "common sense" where medical procedures
are concerned. We need replicable data from accredited research. Which
we already have re mask wearing. Common sense is used by the uneducated
masses in place of expertise.
LOL! Medical procedure? Wearing a mask is a medical procedure? How many years of study does it take to become a mask expert? Sorry, couldn't help myself!
I'm afraid common sense is an attribute that most higher organisms possess. It is NOT limited in its use to medical procedures and practices. It is used by every human being, most of the time. It is an essential part of our cognitive and learning skills. It also highlights our uniqueness as individuals. Otherwise, we would've evolved into a hive mentality, like the obedient drones in ant and bee colonies. Obviously, this hive trait is still expressed more in some than in others.
Can you think of some examples where the "experts" have gotten it wrong(saturated fats, fresh fruit and veggies vs frozen, fish oil, Ginkgo biloba, Water-breakage during pregnancy, Laetrile, smoking, Thalidomide, Vioxx scandal, eggs and cholesterol levels, organic foods, GMO's, microwave ovens and cancer, and many other BAD advice given by the "experts")?
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2014/12/19/half-of-dr-ozs-medical-advice-is-baseless-or-wrong-study-says/
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/factcheck/2020/06/11/fact-check-n-95-filters-not-too-large-stop-covid-19-particles/5343537002/
I have read your source article. Are you really claiming that "
USA Today" is a place of expertise for the educated? Are they the unbiased accredited research source, where the data can easily be replicated? I'm sure their motives are truly altruistic.
AusGeoff wrote on Feb 8
th, 2023 at 5:04am:
This tells me that you're unfamiliar with how the SARS-CoV-2 virus can be/is transmitted
through the air from one person to another.
Please stop misrepresenting my comments! I was talking about the size of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, compared to the smallest pore size of the P2/N95 masks. NOT, how this virus is transmitted through the air to infect people. Even your article agrees that this virus is smaller than the pore-size on N95 masks. Do you need me to quote the articles comments? Or, where the goal-posts are always a-changing?
AusGeoff wrote on Feb 8
th, 2023 at 5:04am:
The N95 mask doesn't need to have a pore size of 0.05 microns in order to
protect the wearer from the viral particles. (The '95' means 95% filtration)
Let's just assume for the sake of argument, that the 95% filtration claim is a fact(it isn't!). That would still allow 5% of all virus-sized particles to pass through the mask unfiltered. That's around 10M viruses passing through(from 200M viruses).
And, simply saying that "Brownian Motion" will trap most of these viruses into the mask's filters is misleading at best. Brownian motion is the random motion of particles in a fluid medium at the molecular level. It is caused by molecules in this medium bumping into these viral particles. Some particles may be trapped, and some may not. And, masks do NOT provide a fluid medium for viruses.
AusGeoff wrote on Feb 8
th, 2023 at 5:04am:
"There is never a naked virus floating in the air or released by people",
said Linsey Marr, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at Virginia Tech
who specializes in airborne transmission of viruses. The virus attaches to water
droplets or aerosols (really small droplets) that are generated by breathing,
talking, coughing, etc. These consist of water, mucus protein and other biological
material and are all larger than 1 micron.
So... these particles around 1 micron in size, will be collected by N95 respirator
filters with very high efficiency. (The '95' means 95% filtration.)
Most of the viruses trapped in droplets will fall to the ground. Or, will land onto other surfaces. So, we're talking about the very small airborne aerosol droplets, striking the mask at over 100 feet per second, right? Remember the part about ill-fitting masks? Where people will breathe in the air from the top, sides, and bottom of the mask? Or, the part about how the eyes(ocular mucosa) can present another avenue of entry for this virus? Even if you duck-taped the mask to your face, you would then be faced with other problems.
https://www.newbeauty.com/face-tape-for-wrinkles/
You have been told by your own sources, that for 5% of all airborne particles, this mask is absolutely useless. Why can't you understand that 5% of hundreds of millions of viruses, IS A SIGNIFICANT NUMBER OF VIRUSES?? Especially, when a few hundred to a thousand viruses is enough to infect you! You would need a mask with a 99.99999% filtration rating, to be relatively safe from infection. But, at the molecular level, THERE ARE NO QUARANTEES!
But if wearing masks makes you feel safe and secure, then wear them. But don't shame, criticize, denigrate, alienate, ridicule, or discriminate against me for NOT wearing them.
I remember a time when we looked at the people wearing masks in Japan, as being paranoid germaphobes. I'd never thought Australians would be doing the same thing. Amazing! I'm certainly sure that I'm going to die of something. But I seriously doubt that it will be because of the flu!