Posted on 11/30/2022 9:19:23 PM PST by bitt
TUESDAY, Nov. 29, 2022 (HealthDay News) — For health care workers providing care to patients with COVID-19, the risk for COVID-19 does not differ significantly with use of medical masks versus N95 respirators, according to a study published online Nov. 29 in the Annals of Internal Medicine.
Mark Loeb, M.D., from McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, and colleagues examined whether medical masks are noninferior to N95 respirators for preventing COVID-19 in health care workers providing routine care in a multicenter trial. Data were included for 1,009 health care workers at 29 health care facilities who provided direct care to patients with suspected or confirmed COVID-19 and used medical masks or fit-tested N95 respirators for 10 weeks.
The researchers found that in the intention-to-treat analysis, reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR)-confirmed COVID-19 occurred in 10.46 and 9.27 percent of participants in the medical mask and N95 respirator groups, respectively (hazard ratio [HR], 1.14; 95 percent confidence interval [CI], 0.77 to 1.69). In a subgroup analysis by country, RT-PCR-confirmed COVID-19 occurred in 6.11 and 2.22 percent of the medical mask versus N95 respirator groups in Canada, respectively (HR, 2.83; 95 percent CI, 0.75 to 10.72); in 35.29 versus 23.53 percent in Israel (HR, 1.54; 95 percent CI, 0.43 to 5.49); in 3.26 versus 2.13 percent in Pakistan (HR, 1.50; 95 percent CI, 0.25 to 8.98); and in 13.62 versus 14.56 percent in Egypt (HR, 0.95; 95 percent CI, 0.60 to 1.50).
“Among health care workers who took care of patients with suspected or confirmed COVID-19, although the upper limit of the CIs of the pooled estimate for medical masks when compared with N95 respirators for preventing RT-PCR-confirmed COVID-19 was within the noninferiority margin of 2, this margin was wide, and firm conclusions about noninferiority may not be applicable given the between-country heterogeneity,” the authors write.
Abstract/Full Text
I can’t tell you the number of healthcare professionals I’ve caught over the last two years violating infection control protocols with regard to muzzles.
It’s infuriating.
Hmmm, now why would that be.. ? 🤔
What a coinkydink. Couldn't see this coming, eh?
Masks are very effective. They keep other people away.
In some cases, not wearing masks keeps some people away.
I always have to not laugh when I’m out somewhere and happen to encounter someone masked up to the eyeballs when I almost bump into them and see the look of shock and terror when they see me unmasked. They literally back up in horror. You can see it in what shows of their faces.
They’re equally ineffective.
N95 masks can stop down to .3 microns.
Average viruses range from .002 microns to .3 microns (rare cases up to .4 microns).
The MAJORITY of viruses will pass through a N95 mask
Translation to story - “Medical masks won’t stop the virus either.”
The medical profession really shot itself with the mishandling of this political fraud. Be damned if I’ll voluntarily return to a hospital setting as long as this nonsense continues. They can shove their “Nazi doc” and CDC protocols up their colon.
So simply wearing a mask would have been enough without shots? Sheesh, how easy huh?
I read early on the covid size was smaller han normal viruses, and at that time, masks were not being recommended because of it, and fauci and ilk, stating that the public should avoid masks because “the medical prof3ssion needs them, and couldn’t get them because civilians were ‘buying them all up or some such nonsense.
Bingo..... now try convincing the masses of sheep to see the facts as they are.
It all comes down to size. Bacteria are much larger in size compared to a virus and for example, are measured in micron dimension terms. 1 micron = 1 micrometer = 1 millionths of a meter. Viruses are measured in terms of nanometers. That is, 1 billionths of a meter.
For bacteria, these are normally observed and measured with an optical microscope. For viewing bacteria in any detail, it takes 1000x or greater magnification. The research grade microscope that I ran for 9 years was 2000x magnification. In theory, it could see about 0.5 micron (based on half the wavelength of visible light) but actually bent the theory and bumped down to a bit less than 0.1 micron.
Viruses are viewed with a scanning electron microscope. I never had a SEM but on 2 or 3 occasions, had a university microbiology department exam some samples for me and provide reports and photos of what they observed. Put simply, lung power is not strong enough to push air through any filter that's tight enough to remove viruses. An air pump is needed.
The N95 filter is certified via quality control testing to remove 95% of particulates sized 0.45 microns or larger IIRC. This is a known fact to every microbiologist and physician. At least until Covid when it became disinformation to point it out. It takes a HEPA type filter to remove viruses. I described briefly a personal type HEPA filter I became aware of a few years ago. HEPA filters have been around for 50 plus years.
It's not uncommon for persons with something like asthma to have a HEPA filter and/or an electrostatic filter for the house. These home use systems are typically installed and serviced by a higher end HVAC company. The filters are installed on the main discharge duct near the the blower so the whole house receives the purified air. A house with a whole HEPA filter system is a fairly safe place to be in the case of your hypothetical biological attack- At least for awhile until the filter plugs up.
For a number of years, 3M has marketed home air filters in standard sizes that at the high end have HEPA certification IIRC. Check Home Depot for these and I think you can also order them from 3M direct. I’ve tried these a few times. Good, they are terrific filters. Bad, your electrical bill will increase because their high pressure drop means the HVAC has to run longer ($$$) and you have to change them more frequently ($$$).
For NBC (nuclear, biological, chemical) level protection), I think it takes a HEPA filter plus 1 or more varieties of activated carbon for rated protection. For a large scale system, it wouldn’t surprise me if nano filtration or related technologies were a part of the puzzle for the air filtration system. I'm not real familiar with this NBC stuff. BTW…. My background is microbiology and chemical engineering. Degreed and experienced in both. Contentedly retired now.
Yep - and folks never do the math - or they’d realize that for viruses on the low-end, the mask would be like making a basketball hoop 15 feet across - and that’s the n95 mask - the hoop would be the size of the whole court with the blue masks 98% of then were wearing.
Thry probably pee th3mselves a little bit. Amazingly,people are still wearing masks. I’m not sure the health industry like health centers, hospitals doctors offices etc will ever get back to not requiring patients to wear masks. All over a virus with a near 100% survivability rate.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.