New England Journal of Medicine: Wearing a Mask

Common Sense Evaluation ^

[Leep]

Apparently higher temps do not have ANY effect on reducing this virus?

[Chengdu54]

That would exclude nearly all shoppers in supermarkets, department stores, etc.

[SomeCallMeTim]

“I notice that NO ONE here seems to answer as to why Taiwan, the first country to require universal mask wearing, also has virtually wiped out the virus.”

Because they immediately HALTED in bound travel from mainland China. And, when travel eventually was allowed to resume in a limited manner, they enforced very strict 14-day quarantines on anyone coming in... from ANYWHERE.

They also never closed there schools.

And, they very likely already had some immunity from previous versions of COVID.

Wuhan had strict mask wearing too, and it spread like wildfire there.

[steve8714]

Karen wears a mask in her car and at home.

[Varsity Flight]

Court: “Is this the person you can identify.”? “Well I cannot be sure because of the mask.”

Final ID solution: The Mark

[moehoward]

“ I’m wearing mine in crowds and I won’t be bullied out of it.”

Wear it to sleep in if you like. It’s not about bullying to NOT wear one. It’s about forcing everyone to.

[CodeToad]

“Apparently higher temps do not have ANY effect on reducing this virus?”

Some, but indoors?

At what temperature does a virus die? Some at 115F, some at 197F.

“To kill the virus (COVID-19) in a laboratory setting, the team had to heat it to 92 degrees Celsius (197 degrees Fahrenheit) for 15 minutes.”

There is a reason medical instruments are sterilized in an autoclave at 250F under 15PSI pressure for at least 30 minutes.

Those bandannas people wear are useless and actually add to infection as they become contaminated.

[jstolzen]

Here's a research study that looked at data from 198 different countries.

Potential predictors of per-capita coronavirus-related mortality in 198 countries were examined, including age, sex ratio, obesity prevalence, temperature, urbanization, smoking, duration of infection, lockdowns, viral testing, contact tracing policies, and public mask-wearing norms and policies.

The net is that countries that wore masks experienced over a "hundred-fold" reduction in mortality..

Per-capita mortality by May 9 versus duration of infection according to whether early masking was adopted. Data grouped by whether country did not recommend masks by April 16, 2020 or recommended them more than 60 days after outbreak onset (red line); recommended masks 16 to 30 days after onset of the country’s outbreak (orange line); or recommended masks (or traditionally used masks) within 15 days of the outbreak onset (blue line close to the x-axis). Country mortality was averaged for the following country groups of infection duration: 0-15 days, 16-30 days, 31-45 days, 46-60 days, 61-75 days, 76-90 days, 91- 105 days. For instance, per-capita mortality for all non-mask or late-masking countries with infection duration between 61 and 75 days was averaged, and graphed at the x-value 68 days. Data for graph derived from 198 countries.

For instance, for the early mask-wearing countries in which the infection had arrived by January (Thailand, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Macau, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Cambodia, Malaysia, the Philippines), the virus was present in the country by 80 or more days by April 16 (Table 2). If masks had no effect, we might have expected these countries to have a mortality well over 200 deaths per million (Figures 1, 2). 19 Instead, the mortality for these 10 regions was 2.1 per million (SD 2.5, Table 2)— approximately a 100-fold reduction.

Study

[Leep]

So, 100-120 degree temps..which most humans can tolerate.. have NO affect on the virus?

[cyclotic]

I watched a 45 minute video yesterday from a PPE/OSHA consultant who specialized in medical PPE.

She confirmed what I already knew, masks are stupid and completely useless from many positions.

The best was what I had suspected. Surgical masks are only effective for long term wear is a sterile operating room. These rooms provide added air pressure to allow the surgical staff higher than normal oxygen levels.

Fashion masks are absolutely useless and may even be a negative value. Mine spends all its time in my pocket, only worn when some mask nazi at a store requires it. Gee, how sterile do you think that is?

[CodeToad]

Little effect. What effect do you want them to have?

You seem to be after a conclusion and not getting agreement to it.

[BobL]

“However, the circumstances in reality are much more complex than that.”

Funny, I’ve heard that same type of answer (it’s too complicated for you) from Leftists for most of my life...usually when they know they’ve lost the debate.

[BobL]

“So, you think coincidence is causation?”

Well, I guess the virus may not like the looks of Taiwanese people...unless you have better.

[cyclotic]

I notice that NO ONE here seems to answer why Sweden, the only country to not require masks or any other unusual measures has also virtually wiped out the virus.

[CodeToad]

Maybe, but that sure makes a ton more sense than masks.

[cyclotic]

Until that fashion mask becomes saturated with virus laden droplets which migrates to the exterior through the large weaves of fabric and are blown hither and yon with every breath or sneeze.

Hey, how about the N95 with the exhalation valve. Those are unfiltered valves. Hmmmm. Useless.

[BobL]

“I notice that NO ONE here seems to answer why Sweden, the only country to not require masks or any other unusual measures has also virtually wiped out the virus.”

You might want to check their numbers - not the worst in the world, but not far from it - roughly our numbers. Nothing close to Taiwan

[jstolzen]

Sweden has had 547 deaths per million people, which is significantly higher than even the US (at 416 deaths per million).

https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/

I wouldn’t call that a “win”..

[glennaro]

Grown men wearing masks and acting like scared little b!tches makes them look sick and weak ... pathetic is an appropriate description. Consider the devastating effects on their young sons mask-wearing fathers create by cowering before politicians and by being scared nearly out of their minds by germs.

[jstolzen]

Still reduces spread over no mask at all..and, a “fashion mask” as you call it can be made with decent filtering (HEPA filter, non-woven fabric, etc) that does give some pretty decent protection to the wearer as well.

If we had started adopting surgical masks (vs cloth masks) early on, we wouldn’t be in the mess we are now with the virus basically raging totally out of control - especially in FL, TX, AZ. Other states are likely to follow, especially now that people have pretty much gone back to acting like they did pre-pandemic.