Pro mask or anti mask?

@pdockal Well, no, that's exactly not true. The effectiveness of masks can be summed up by saying, if you put something over your face, you can't sneeze, cough, spit, or otherwise expose other people to moisture coming off of your face. That's pretty much it. It doesn't have to be a mask. A bandana will work. A scarf will work. A turtleneck pulled over your face like that kid from Bazooka Joe will work. Maybe it's not foolproof, but it does the job pretty good.

@BlueMetalChick really ... my breath escapes because the mask doesn't seal to my face ... my safety glasses at work steam up when I exhale ... it's harder to breath for me ... microscopic particles need the appropriate filter and the mask needs to seal against my face to stop the particles from escaping

@pdockal And there you go, you just proved my point for me. Your glasses fog up because the heat and moisture from your breath is being directed up and backwards, into your own face, rather than forward and out toward other people.

If you need to do a second grade science experiment, put something in front of your mouth, and then try to spit on the ground. See how well it works for you.

@BlueMetalChick then turning my head away from people of I sneeze accomplishes the same thing
Covering my sneeze will work also (based on your logic)
Once the virus is airborne you can breath it in thru a paper or cloth or the sides of the mask NOT SEALED to your face
I'll assume you can still smell the roses with your mask on

@pdockal Yes, turning your head away from people when you sneeze is a pretty good idea, not just to prevent the spread of illnesses but also so that you won't get punched in the face.

Individual particles of the virus being in the air isn't really that big of a concern. You CAN get sick from it, but it's not very common. The main way that the virus is transmitted is through droplets, that being of course coughing, sneezing, or spitting, but also through the moisture on your breath. So if you're wearing a mask, and that mask directs your breath back towards your face instead of towards another person, then it prevents your breath from hitting them and thus drastically reduces their chance of getting COVID. Masks aren't really meant to prevent the wearer from getting the virus so much as they are meant to prevent people who have the virus from giving it to others.

Now, on the subject of masks not stopping individual particles of the virus, they actually do a fantastic job of it. Masks stop large AND small particles; it's medium sized particles that they have a problem stopping.

@BlueMetalChick wrong ... hepa filters are what stops small particles ... I work construction so I know about maskes and filters ... so if the mask works and protects you from breathing in the germs why force me ?
I've got the virus following ALL the protocols
And the virus that's caught in your mask ... what happens to that when you breath in ?????

@pdockal I just explained this to you. A mask prevents an infected person from spreading the virus. It does help protect the wearer a little bit, but not a lot. A mask WILL protect you from breathing in individual particles of the virus, this is true. But inhaling individual virus particles is not how COVID is generally spread. It's mostly spread through droplets. Wearing a mask doesn't protect you from droplets given off by other people, but it does stop your own droplets from getting to other people.

Working in construction does not mean you know the physics of microscopic particles, sorry to tell you. The fact that you don't know that masks stop large and small particles but struggle to stop medium particles is strike one and you're out. You already showed me that you don't know how it works.

@BlueMetalChick The droplet theory has been pretty much debunked. Viruses are spread in microscopic droplets. The kind that hang in the air and pass through or around masks. The evidence seems to indicate masks help spread the disease rather than prevent it. Every time mask mandates are implemented the case count jumps 2 weeks later. 2 weeks being the incubation time for the virus to make you sick. Strange but true.

@hippyjoe1955 No, the droplet theory has not been "pretty much debunked."

There are no "microscopic droplets that pass through masks." That's not a thing. If a substance occurs in a large enough mass to form any kind of droplet than it's far too large to go through a mask.

What you're trying to describe is called an aerosol, which also doesn't pass through a mask.

Well, no, that's actually the opposite of what the evidence shows. Of course, you don't look at the evidence, you just make other people spoon feed it to you and then you haughtily proclaim that it's fake.

@BlueMetalChick We will continue to agree to disagree. Strangely enough when ever the masks are mandated the case count jumps. Strangely enough the case count seems to move independent of the masks being worn or not worn. The fact is large droplet theory fails on one important aspect. If a large particle is expelled it quickly falls to the ground and stays there. No body walking over it would ever get sick from it. The particles that get through a mask stay suspended in the right zone for someone else to breath them in. Silly people think a screen door on a submarine will keep the fish out.

@BlueMetalChick I have sneezed thru my mask
So if it works and your protected then by all means wear it but don't force others
Best thing to do is NOT to touch your face before you wash you hands

@BlueMetalChick then why are hepa filters required for my job ... why is a fit test required for my mask ... I need the mask for small particles not medium to large ...

@pdockal HEPA filters are meant to stop you from inhaling things that are far larger than an individual particle of a virus. And that's a good thing. I can't imagine you would want to be breathing in a lot of the stuff you use ok construction, like fiberglass insulation or shit like that.

How many times do I have to explain this to you. People force other people to wear a mask because its primary purpose is to stop infected people from spreading the virus. Me wearing a mask doesn't do that much to stop me from getting the virus, but it does a lot to stop me from giving it to others. So every time you step into a crowded space without a mask, you're drastically increasing your chances of passing COVID to other people.

This isn't a new concept. Covering your face in crowded places has been common practice in most of Pacific Asia for longer than I've been alive.

@BlueMetalChick I'm NOT in ASIA
I'm done with this conversation
You should read the mayo clinic and others because it contradicts what your saying about particle size ...
Any gaps... ie not sealed
Good luck
You protect you and I'll do me

@pdockal Lol. Mayo Clinic. Your source is an online site that diagnoses everything as cancer.

The funniest part is that I actually just read Mayo Clinic's analysis and they agree with me and not with you 😂😂 There's an entire section of the page devoted to explaining how particles below a certain size are stopped by masks.

Try actually reading your own source next time, Jimmy Neutron. Otherwise you end up looking like a colossal fucking idiot.

@hippyjoe1955 You're not getting into a virology lab without significantly more protection. They're trying to protect workers from the viruses they work with, not protect themselves from other workers who might be sick. And those samples are far higher viral loads than what you would get from somebody coughing on you or sharing a glass with a sick person.

@BlueMetalChick Why not? masks work to prevent the spread of the virus according to you.

@hippyjoe1955 Yes, but stopping a sick person from spreading his sickness. What are you going to do, ask the virus sample you're working with to put on a mask?

@BlueMetalChick If a person is sick he/she should stay home not wear a mask and go out. The mask spreads the disease by making larger particles smaller and thus allowing them to remain airborne much longer. No mask short of a fully sealed suit with outside air is going to prevent the transmission of a virus.

@hippyjoe1955 A person may have the virus and not know it. Remember, not everybody carrying COVID feels symptoms of it. So you could feel totally fine, but still have the potential to infect somebody else.

It's not foolproof obviously but it makes a significant difference. Kind of like wearing a coat in the winter doesn't mean you won't ever get cold but it helps a lot.

@BlueMetalChick And a mask doesn't stop the spread. How many times does that need to be explained to you. The best science now seems to say that the spread of the virus is aerosol airborne. Aerosol very small particles. Airborne. Remaining in the air for an extended period of time. Since the mask does not seal or prevent particles from transiting the filtration membrane there is no use in wearing a mask. Seems simple. Why do you have such trouble understanding it?

@hippyjoe1955 I've had to go through the trouble of explaining to you at least half a dozen times now how and why a mask helps prevent the spread of illness. Are you really gonna make me do this again? Last time your only response was to call me a socialist Nazi.

The primary method of transmission is not, and has never been, aerosols. You CAN spread COVID or other viruses through aerosolization, but it is not nearly as common as droplets.

Even if aerosols WERE the primary way that it's transmitted, how exactly are you going to aerosolize your own breath through a mask? I suppose you could violently exhale and your breath escapes through the corners of the mask and then somebody runs towards you while inhaling but if that's a concern then I'm wondering what the hell you're doing to be in that situation.

@hippyjoe1955 You're not "keeping up with the latest science." You're doing something called "making shit up."

Aerosolized liquids don't pass through a mask. We've known this for over thirty years now. Do try to keep up.

You apparently don't know how this works. You actually have to disprove something before you get to call it misinformation. You don't get to just haughtily proclaim that something is wrong, and then when you're presented with proof that shows otherwise, ignore it and pretend you didn't see it.

Let me try explaining this as simply as I possibly can. Sick person have bad thing in body. When sick person breathe out, bad thing can go to other person and make them sick. If put thing over mouth and nose, bad thing can't get to other people.

Do you need me to draw pictures for you in crayon too?