Cloth face masks are 'comfort blankets' that do little to curb Covid spread | Hacker News Reader

Cloth face masks are 'comfort blankets' that do little to curb Covid spread

msn.com

Interestingly, the BBC now seems to feel it is permitted to host mask-critical views. Nick Robinson (Radio 4's Today)

"The evidence is that the masks that most of us wear, the one I have got here in my pocket, a sort of cotton mask that you either make yourself or that you buy, gives you no protection at all, absolutely none."

and yesterday, on "Any Answers" the DANMASK study was mentioned, to my knowledge, for the first time.

Meh, handwavy opinion piece that comes back to the “droplets vs particles” argument with plenty of misdirection thrown in.

For a better survey of the research landscape try https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7883189/

It makes sense to me that masks make minimal difference in areas where the virus is spreading rapidly, given that so much of the spread is in households where people are unmasked anyway.

But my home city of Melbourne, Australia is a worthwhile case study on the effectiveness of masks. We've been mostly free of covid since about October last year, with a small number of small outbreaks due to leaks from traveller quarantine, and so far each one has been suppressed within a few weeks with lockdowns and masks.

A new outbreak of the Delta strain has just emerged in the past week, and we're back in lockdown while contact-tracing and testing is undertaken. But the pattern of the last few outbreaks, including this one, has been pretty clear; little-to-no spread has happened in contexts where most people are wearing masks - i.e., supermarkets and other indoor shopping venues, and almost all the spread has happened in households/workplaces where people are unmasked, and hospitality venues where people unmask to eat/drink.

I don't think we should underestimate the value of comfort blankets though in this situation either.

I had no problem wearing a mask but I did have a problem with what seemed like a Pascal's Wager argument that was not just being passed off as science but as unquestionable religious dogma.

I don't think you can underestimate either the cover and scapegoat masks gave politicians in this situation. "My plan would work but it is these people not wearing masks that are causing my plan to fail!".

While I hope we really do solve what the actual effect of mask wearing was on this it does seem like a very hard experiment to run. So many different environments and levels of use, then noise in the masks themselves, on and on with variables to control for.

Fully-vaccinated people who social distance when they are outside don't need masks. Otherwise, it's a personal calculation.

I see so many people with chin guards and lack of nose bridge forming that they might as well not even wear them.

Glad the mass media is catching up and understanding basic things now. Congratulations i guess.

I think assassinating ideas is similar to how assassinating characters works; the resolution of the matter is about 1% as important as creating the commotion. People who have had Covid and are fully vaccinated are _still_ wearing masks. When asked why they just don't know. If you tell them it's safe now to go out without a mask, then just don't buy it. I believe no matter who tells them, they won't listen until a few years. People are not sheep, but they really really like to be.

Double-Pfizer but I still wear a mask. Several reasons: reminder to me to be careful touching my face/eyes with dirty hands, and is probably a significant factor in the low flu count last winter. If I suddenly sneeze, you won’t wear it as it’s mainly trapped in the mask. It’s a reminder to others that I’m paying attention as their wearing one reminds me. Finally, if I’m somewhere where talking loudly or yelling is required, it keeps the spittle under control. Watch any concert video up close…. Vaccines aren’t perfect. Those near me might not be vaccinated. No skin off my nose to think of others.

Edit: and I wear a multilayer mask not a disguise.

That's what I'm saying. The CDC says fully vaccinated people don't need to wear masks or keep physical distancing, yet you're not convinced https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/fully-vac....

> Finally, if I’m somewhere where talking loudly or yelling is required, it keeps the spittle under control. Watch any concert video up close….

Question: did you wear a mask before this whole thing?

> Vaccines aren’t perfect.

You can say that again!

Before? No, but other cultures did and I will probably do so when I have a cold/flu or in flu season going forward. There is logic in such passive protection - I’ll also wash my hands a little more and a little better.

I am also unaware of definitive studies that vaccinated people or post-COVID people can’t spread an infection. Fight it, yes, but neutralize it?

Let’s also wait until a season passes without a significant COVID spike before we talk about post COVID. Full vaccination rates are below desired guidelines and there are many areas where vaccination is low or basically absent.

Canadian guidance: https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/services/diseases/cor...

Being vaccinated gets you only some assurance that you will not get a severe course of the disease. You can still get sick, you can still get organ and tissue damage, you can still infect others. Discriminating people by vaccinated and unvaccinated is the biggest human rights violation in modern history!

Cloth masks should be tested for aerosol droplet catching ability before being given to others. An automated mask testing machine would be neat.

They've been tested and they suck. With every washing, their filtering ability drops significantly. Not only this, but they can fit properly - most can't unless they are N95s or other certified masks. I'm not sure how the government can promote something that literally does nothing and has no standards! Imagine if they did this for condoms!

I'd have a shit-ton of involuntary sperm donation children reunions.

Safety and hygiene theater to calm the masses with topical cream and vick's vaporub. Make people feel like they're "helping," kept them busy, and reduced anxiety of the makers. Unfortunately, they failed to produce something better than what a Soviet Gulag would've made with rags.

The cloth masks contribute to bacterial and fungal infections of the lungs and nothing more. It's like the metal scanners on airports - they create a false sense of security and nothing more. For example, there are non-metallic composites that are stronger than metals.

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