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Estimated 1.56B face masks will have entered oceans in 2020

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Re: Estimated 1.56B face masks will have entered oceans in 2020

#101

Post by Spivak »

worker767424 wrote: post #81
Spivak wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not sure what people expected to happen when we started producing billions of disposable masks and distributing them to everyone instead of just medical staff that have to follow disposal procedures. This shit happens with literally all of our single-use disposable garbage. Any system that requires billions of individual people to follow rules that inconvenience them without any sort of enforcement or consequence…

> reusable cloth masks There might be issues with reusing masks (I haven't seen any data on this). This is more like one of those problems you sort out later and worry about it less when it's happening. The one thing I'd propose is do what we can to not use synthetics in them so they'll at least biodegrade.

I actually agree with you on this. I can't blame people for just rolling out what we had as fast as possible and dealing with the consequences later. It's frustrating but undoubtedly a good call in the moment.

But I hope that we eventually get to the point where we have most people using reusable masks and that the disposable ones are biodegradable.

Re: Estimated 1.56B face masks will have entered oceans in 2020

#103

Post by worker767424 »

yibg wrote: post #34
matz1 wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Masks don't provide 100% protection, So 1% protection ? >but nothing does. However, masks are important, because they enable people to safely perform essential activities like grocery shopping, and most jobs. fortunately that the chance of getting sick from covid from doing those activities without mask are very very low. infection is not useful metric because only small percentage actually cause sickness. Masks: Th…

how much protection would be enough for you to wear one? 50%? 75%? Hell, even 1% is higher than 0 and really, what's the harm? Yea most people don't get very sick, except for the 300k that are dead just in the US.

> and really, what's the harm?

If people think a mask offers them more protection than it really does, they might engage in riskier behavior.

When I see people out walking around the neighborhood with masks on, I really wonder what they're trying to accomplish. You're not going to get covid walking outdoors passing within 6 feet of someone for 5 seconds.

These days, my theory is more people get infected at home than out in public.

Re: Estimated 1.56B face masks will have entered oceans in 2020

#104

Post by ogre_codes »

jasonv wrote: post #78

I don't know about the estimates, but as an avid hiker/runner, everywhere I go.. on any trail, I'll see more then a few masks lying on the ground. In every parking lot, there are masks lying about. People are definitely losing/tossing masks, and not all of them are going to get swept up by cleaning functions in commercial areas.

Yep, it's pretty frustrating, I see them outdoors all the time. Not quite as frustrating as people who fill doggie bags then leave them on the side of the trap for the crap fairies to pick up.

Easy come/ easy go.

Re: Estimated 1.56B face masks will have entered oceans in 2020

#105

Post by deegles »

napier wrote: post #83

It’s surprising that after a year, people still haven’t figured out that reusable elastomer respirators with long life replaceable filter cartridges and >99% small particle filtration effectiveness are the best option from the perspectives of safety, overall cost and sustainability. I’ve been using the same pre pandemic 3M P100 industrial respirator with a retrofitted exhalation valve filter for months. It fits with…

Masks with exhalation valves (edit: and no filter :) are inconsiderate to others since they do not stop you from spreading virus particles.

https://www.nist.gov/news-events/news/2020/11/new-airflow-vi...

Re: Estimated 1.56B face masks will have entered oceans in 2020

#106

Post by ogre_codes »

subpixel wrote: post #84
f311a wrote: post #55

I lost all faith in humanity in 2020. I still can't believe people can be that stupid. We won't be able to safe ecology when people can't follow simple rules.

I live in a near-pristine area on the coast where people pay high prices to eat seafood dinners on a pier while they gaze at the sunset and let their plastic straws and oyster cracker foils blow into the ocean below them. I estimate conservatively that at least one piece of something plastic from every table winds up in the ocean.

> I live in a near-pristine area on the coast ... one piece of something plastic from every table winds up in the ocean.

You do not live in a near-pristine area.

Re: Estimated 1.56B face masks will have entered oceans in 2020

#107

Post by ripecoconut »

deegles wrote: post #105
napier wrote: post #83

It’s surprising that after a year, people still haven’t figured out that reusable elastomer respirators with long life replaceable filter cartridges and >99% small particle filtration effectiveness are the best option from the perspectives of safety, overall cost and sustainability. I’ve been using the same pre pandemic 3M P100 industrial respirator with a retrofitted exhalation valve filter for months. It fits with…

Masks with exhalation valves (edit: and no filter :) are inconsiderate to others since they do not stop you from spreading virus particles. https://www.nist.gov/news-events/news/2020/11/new-airflow-vi...

That's why they put a filter on it

Re: Estimated 1.56B face masks will have entered oceans in 2020

#108

Post by DoreenMichele »

remote_phone wrote: post #98
DoreenMichele wrote: post #65

Maybe the takeaway we should try to get out of this is that, with so many people in the world, behavioral solutions -- like social distancing -- are overall superior to thing-based solutions (like masks). I tried to start a blog about this idea. I probably tried to start more than one. But with the hysteria in the air, I felt like I was going to attract a lynch mob for trying to critique the practice of turning to ma…

People who say that masks aren’t the answer frankly mystify me. If you were to tell a child “there is a disease that is spread from our breath. What do you think a good solution would be?” I would be dollars to donuts that their answer would be “what about a mask?” The answer is so obvious that even a child could come up with it. And it takes an adult to convince themselves otherwise. Even science says that masks are…

I live with a serious, incurable respiratory condition. I have many years of experience of managing it by first and foremost not exposing myself to germs rather than cavalierly exposing myself and hoping a little cloth over my face will somehow fix it.

But based on this comment and all the downvotes, it seems the decision to not pursue a blog in earnest promoting the idea "That maybe we can find a better-er answer" was the correct decision as a means to protect myself from people who don't want a better answer, they just want a dog to kick.

I'm trying to say something like "Instead of promoting condoms and prophylactic drugs for HIV and other diseases while saying casual sex is fine, we could suggest (alternatives like) celibacy and monogamy as better solutions."

But I imagine that would also be just as hated on. Can't tell anyone "Maybe keeping it in your pants sometimes when not doing so could kill you is a better answer."

Edit:

TLDR: Maybe adults should aspire to more sophisticated answers than ones even a five year old could come up with rather than attacking other adults as idiots for (supposedly) "not seeing something so obvious even a child could dream it up as a solution."

Re: Estimated 1.56B face masks will have entered oceans in 2020

#109

Post by ceejayoz »

deegles wrote: post #105
napier wrote: post #83

It’s surprising that after a year, people still haven’t figured out that reusable elastomer respirators with long life replaceable filter cartridges and >99% small particle filtration effectiveness are the best option from the perspectives of safety, overall cost and sustainability. I’ve been using the same pre pandemic 3M P100 industrial respirator with a retrofitted exhalation valve filter for months. It fits with…

Masks with exhalation valves (edit: and no filter :) are inconsiderate to others since they do not stop you from spreading virus particles. https://www.nist.gov/news-events/news/2020/11/new-airflow-vi...

> with a retrofitted exhalation valve filter

Re: Estimated 1.56B face masks will have entered oceans in 2020

#110

Post by rocgf »

frankfrankfrank wrote: post #87
f311a wrote: post #55

I lost all faith in humanity in 2020. I still can't believe people can be that stupid. We won't be able to safe ecology when people can't follow simple rules.

Could you explain what rule it is you think people are too stupid to follow? Since you bring up safe ecology; do you think it is plausible that the source of those 1.5 Billion masks is the same 9 rivers that make up 90% of all plastic ocean pollution, 7 of them being Asia and 2 in Africa?

> Could you explain what rule it is you think people are too stupid to follow?

If you have to ask this question after having lived through 2020, it does make me wonder...

I believe a more decent question would be: is there any rule that people are not too stupid to follow?

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