this post was submitted on 27 Dec 2023
254 points (82.9% liked)
science
15009 readers
213 users here now
A community to post scientific articles, news, and civil discussion.
rule #1: be kind
<--- rules currently under construction, see current pinned post.
2024-11-11
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
I don't think that's true. Face masks, especially the kind designed to filter air, reduce how many particles from the air get into your lungs and airways.
IIRC the studies used to make that argument were using data from respiratory diseases other than covid, which are different in that you only get infected when stuff gets deep in your lungs, which is going to be the very smallest particles that will not end up getting filtered before then by landing on the inside of your throat etc. That might mean that masks are less effective, since they don't filter the very smallest water droplets quite as well. But it doesn't apply to covid because with that disease infection isn't as localized.
There isn't a practical case for why masks would not make a difference. You block particles containing the virus, you reduce chance of infection.
Edit: Also, here's a snippet from an article a few clicks away from the OP article:
You said they "don't do much", which isn't true. The virus might be smaller, but most of the infectious particles are larger than the size of a single virus. Quantity you're breathing in makes a difference too.
N95 masks have an electrstatic layer that removes particles (such as viruses) that are much smaller than the mask pores. The size of the pores is almost immaterial at that scale.
Also, Covid is an aerosol virus, not droplets. The difference is that droplets are large enough to fall to the ground due to gravity, while aerosols linger in the air like smoke. The idea that it was droplets led to the idea of 6 foot social distancing, which would give the particles time to fall to the ground. But that doesn't work. You really need filtration, such as masks and/or HEPA filters. UVC light is also showing some promise for killing the virus in the air, but N95's are tried and true.
This is misinformation. Masks are rated based on 0.3 micron particles because that's the size that's hardest to filter. Smaller particles are actually more likely to be filtered due to how they move.
https://www.safetyandhealthmagazine.com/articles/20459-osha-updates-faqs-to-address-particle-sizes-and-n95s