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Ready for an N95? Here's how to find a high-quality one that fits you well

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Re: Ready for an N95? Here's how to find a high-quality one that fits you well

#121

Post by TylerE »

glofish wrote: post #78
TylerE wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> FP2 or N95 do not work either. You can't stop an airborne virus with a mask. Bullshit. Not even worth refuting someone so far removed from reality.

no worth refuting because you have zero evidence that they work. All the empirical evidence (like the epidemic curves in countries that do require N95) points that they don't.

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/emp2.12582

"The relative risk of 0.17 suggests that wearing an N95 respirator reduces the risk of a SARS-CoV 1 and 2 viral infection to 17% of this population wearing the surgical mask."

Re: Ready for an N95? Here's how to find a high-quality one that fits you well

#122

Post by phnofive »

spqr0a1 wrote: post #109

It boggles my mind that the general public, media, and even healthcare workers treat N95 mask as if they are as good as it gets. Industry routinely uses elastomeric half- and full-face respirators with P100 filters, and they have been easy to find in stock again since August 2020. P100 is a comparable grade to HEPA, both 99.97%. Respirators are more comfortable and seal well easier than purely fabric masks, they don'…

How is the nuisance odor filtering with the 7093?

I use the 60923 for this purpose, but it's a bit loud in appearance.

Re: Ready for an N95? Here's how to find a high-quality one that fits you well

#123

Post by mindslight »

dghughes wrote: post #98

The CEO of my local provincial health authority Dr. Michael Gardam had some comments on N95 masks. He said visitors to the hospital here were asked to remove their N95 masks and were given medical/surgical masks instead. Partly due to not knowing how old or contaminated the masks were of visitors but also for mask performance issues. Dr. Gardam said, paraphrasing, N95 are good at filtering when you breathe in but whe…

I too encountered anti-maskers at the hospital. A security guard wanted me to remove my P100 (in+out) and wear their cosplay mask instead. I escalated and talked to the Hospital's Director of Infection Control, who confirmed the policy. When I told them that I was not comfortable with their ask, I was met with all of the standard anti-mask tropes - "wearing a better mask is unnecessary" "Covid is too small to be filtered" "hard to breathe" "you will pass out from lack of oxygen" etc. It was bizarre.

Eventually we agreed that I could come back with an N95 and wear their cosplay mask over my N95, which was acceptable per their official policy (and that it would be on me if I were to pass out). Why they couldn't lead with that option, or even post signs with examples of acceptable PPE combos, I don't know. What I do know is we're two years into this pandemic and ignorance continues to dominate at every level.

Re: Ready for an N95? Here's how to find a high-quality one that fits you well

#124

Post by ars »

I have no intention of wearing one. I'm immunized, and I intend to expose myself to COVID frequently to ensure my immune response remains high, and if I get sick it'll be minor (and I'll quarantine in that case, since I don't intend to expose others).

There is no longer any reason to wear a mask or stay away from others if you are immunized, unless you are actually sick.

Re: Ready for an N95? Here's how to find a high-quality one that fits you well

#125

Post by david38 »

spqr0a1 wrote: post #109

It boggles my mind that the general public, media, and even healthcare workers treat N95 mask as if they are as good as it gets. Industry routinely uses elastomeric half- and full-face respirators with P100 filters, and they have been easy to find in stock again since August 2020. P100 is a comparable grade to HEPA, both 99.97%. Respirators are more comfortable and seal well easier than purely fabric masks, they don'…

The reason is obvious. We don’t want a massive run on P100s. Some applications absolutely need them and a run would wipe them out.

Remember when the feds were confiscating the current masks in transit? You can’t just overnight increase the production of these things.

Re: Ready for an N95? Here's how to find a high-quality one that fits you well

#126

Post by kevin_thibedeau »

nescioquid wrote: post #100
fallingknife wrote: post #2

I used to work in the oilfield. We had to be clean shaven on site because in an emergency we may be required to use masks, and your face needs to be clean shaven to form a seal. That's how things are done when there is a real safety risk. The lack of CDC guidance on this point speaks volumes as to how serious this is.

> The lack of CDC guidance on this point speaks volumes as to how serious this is. It speaks volumes, at least. Heckuva job, Brownie. I'm still flummoxed by Fauci's -- let's call it -- equivocation about masks being pointless, for which he later apologized and explained he was trying to conserve the supply of N95s for medical personnel. There is certainly an admixture of manipulating the public to achieve a desired o…

His boss at the time did have him on a leash.

Re: Ready for an N95? Here's how to find a high-quality one that fits you well

#127

Post by ars »

kspacewalk2 wrote: post #115
frogpelt wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From the beginning it has been obvious that the decision makers did not know what to do about this pandemic. I am not convinced that lockdowns and masks have decreased the positive cases based on comparisons between places that were heavy on lockdown and mask mandates and those that weren’t. Almost no one is wearing N95 masks. And many of those who wear masks only wear them some of the time or incorrectly. On a fligh…

Masks are our "doing our part" symbols, the Covid ribbon if you will. The science on anything other than N95 masks is flimsy, but it's low-effort and low-cost, so why not. It feels like better than nothing, it probably is, so we go along with it.

It's basically the same as the security theater at the airport - it makes you feel like you have control over something you don't actually control.

Re: Ready for an N95? Here's how to find a high-quality one that fits you well

#129

Post by GeekyBear »

tasha0663 wrote: post #97
GeekyBear wrote: post #21

Scientists spent several years trying to convince the powers that be that Covid spread was airborne. >In an open letter published today (July 6 2020), 239 scientists from 32 countries urge the World Health Organization and other bodies to address the potential for airborne transmission of the coronavirus. The authors write that a growing body of evidence suggests “beyond any reasonable doubt” that the virus spreads i…

> How sad that it has taken this long to reach acceptance that you need a mask capable of filtering the air you breathe. A lot of us were lied to about masks at the beginning of this, so it's not terribly surprising.

Unfortunately, it got politicized, at which point facts no longer matter.

When we thought that Covid spread by the large droplets you spray out when you cough or sneeze, wearing a cloth mask to catch those droplets before they landed on people or surfaces that people will touch made sense.

Re: Ready for an N95? Here's how to find a high-quality one that fits you well

#130

Post by colechristensen »

akg_67 wrote: post #108
colechristensen wrote: post #28

I really don’t see the point unless you’re immune compromised or at some other high risk. Omicron is the evolutionary result you wait for, better at spreading and less health impact so it significantly outcompetes other variants (it has, something like 95% of infections). Peak omicron is coming withina master of days or already passed across the US. It’s virulence is such that you can only delay not expect to forever…

Even if Omicron is 10x more contagious and not serious enough to require 1/10th hospitalizations than previous variants, the load on healthcare system doesn’t become lower than previous variants. Use of Masks slow down the rate of infections enough so that healthcare system doesn’t get overloaded again and cause more deaths and sufferings of both Covid and non Covid patients alike due to system load and failure. When…

The outcome we’re looking for and seem to have found right about now with a peak is the the virus sweeping though the population, literally exposing everyone, and running out of new people to infect.

The peak happens when a high enough proportion of people have already been exposed it had it that the virus runs out of new people to infect. Because the growth rate for this variant is so fast, the post peak drop will be very quick.

Population dynamics with exponential growth are like that.

It seems like the only thing left to do is chase the impossible or just accept the situation and move on.

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