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Comment by OrvalWintermute | Hacker News Reader

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OrvalWintermute

> then says masks don't help

Actually, they said this:

Masks don't help

Masks do help, but save them for the healthcare workers

Masks do help, get one, a cloth one is fine.

Masks do help, double-mask

Mask do help, but you need N95 masks

Given that even with a properly fitting N95 mask that is form fitting you can still smell everything right through it, I think a properly fit, and negative pressure tested N100 or P100 is likely the actual protective standard of solid protection. Unfortunately, I have a few P100s sitting around and I can tell you that sleeping in one, or wearing one reguarly around town makes me feel I am living in a post apocalyptic dystopian future. Think 12 monkeys(1) minus the full chem/bio suit and crazy decon procedures.

This whole ordeal has greatly shaken my faith in technocratic government.

(1) https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0114746/

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A mask someone could wear for hours will never block all smells. Even in a N99 you still smell gases and other small things

You are comparing very different standards e.g. https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/npptl/topics/respirators/disp_part...

N95 – Filters at least 95% of airborne particles. Not resistant to oil.

Surgical N95 – A NIOSH-approved N95 respirator that has also been cleared by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as a surgical mask.

N99 – Filters at least 99% of airborne particles. Not resistant to oil.

N100 – Filters at least 99.97% of airborne particles. Not resistant to oil.

R95 – Filters at least 95% of airborne particles. Somewhat resistant to oil.

P95 – Filters at least 95% of airborne particles. Strongly resistant to oil.

P99 – Filters at least 99% of airborne particles. Strongly resistant to oil.

P100 – Filters at least 99.97% of airborne particles. Strongly resistant to oil.

Additionally, see https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-42/part-84

You can wear a SCBA for hours. You can also find P100 cartridges that eliminate smells from VOCs and "gases".

I started wearing an N95 with vent immediately. Pretty sure it works to protect me. I asked local public health folks if this was OK (back when they were saying only wear if sick) pointing out it just costs pennies. They said not to believe "misinformation" but they would not arrest anyone for wearing a mask.

Vent makes it extremely comfortable, no glass fog etc. Then they said the vent somehow was bad for others, but let others wear cloth masks. That made no sense, the vent is a hard stop and then exhalation goes towards ground. There are still plenty of people who think / lecture about a vent being bad.

And the lists goes on.

I had a friend who was a doctor who did an N95 + face shield and did not catch covid for months treating covid patients, so I do have some faith in N95.

Whether the vent is bad for others depends on whether the air from your breathing goes through any filter. COVID spreads with aerosols, and the more aerosols in the environment, the higher the chance of infection. You actually need to breathe in quite a bit of viral stuff in order to get infected.

If the vent allows for more aerosols than a closed surgical mask, then the vent is worse for the people around you. It's not really relevant where the vent is in the mask. But whether the difference is significant enough to cause a problem, I don't know.

It doesn't go through a filter, it just hits the flap and stops / goes down.

This is still obviously equal to or better than 90% of the masks I see people wearing (surgical / cloth etc).

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