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Comment by orofino | Hacker News Reader

Worth noting that the porous, "paper", type masks that you sometimes see people wearing (being in Tokyo right now I'm understating their prevalence), are entirely worthless for defending against viruses. They're too small for those masks to be effective.

They're good for blocking particulate matter though, so if you're trying to prevent blood spatter to the mouth, thumbs up.

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They are surgical masks worn as a courtesy by people who have a cold, so as not to infect others around them. In that sense they do work effectively...

One of the big advantages of wearing a mask (any mask) is that it stops you touching your mouth. Most people touch their mouths dozens of times a day without even thinking about it, and it's a fantastic infection vector. Person with a cold sneezes, gets rhinovirus all over their hands, touches a door handle, you touch the door handle, you bite your nails - hello cold!

The irony is that they're excellent for preventing aerosol droplets filled with virus from the wearer. Wearing one when infected is therefore responsible.

no, staying home and not getting your co-workers sick by bringing your sick to the office is responsible. Coming to work sick, even with a mask, is irresponsible.

Whilst the individual little virii can get through one, they're usually not found airbourne on their own; aren't they in big globs of snot and phlegm and the like? Surely that is stopped by the mask.

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