Surgical masks reduce Covid-19 spread, large-scale Stanford study shows • Hacker News Board

Re: Surgical masks reduce Covid-19 spread, large-scale Stanford study shows

#231

Post by numbsafari » Mon, Sep 06, 2021, 11:59 PM UTC

gotoeleven wrote: post #113

numbsafari wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The masked group might just take longer to get there. That's not a bad thing. Remember "flatten the curve"? Avoiding everyone from getting it isn't the goal. Preventing the collapse of the healthcare system is.

We are now into month 17 of two weeks to flatten the curve. Even in the height of the initial wave hospitals were mostly not overwhelmed. Remember the field hospitals and hospital ships that sat empty in New York City?

Yes. We just stopped caring.

https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20210906-in-covid-swam...

Re: Surgical masks reduce Covid-19 spread, large-scale Stanford study shows

#232

Post by kragen » Tue, Sep 07, 2021, 4:47 AM UTC

gunapologist99 wrote: post #150

kragen wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Given a really effective intervention for a contagious disease, the effectiveness on a community level will be much lower on an individual level. Think about PRC vs. USA: 4636 deaths in PRC, 618591 deaths in USA, even though it's a four times smaller country. There is no measure that even comes close to reducing your risk of death from covid by a factor of 600 on an individual level, but because they were able to get…

> 4636 deaths in PRC That number is completely laughable. It's literally communist propaganda.

I come to HN for intelligent discussion, not xenophobic conspiracy theories so far-fetched no intelligent person could believe in them.

Re: Surgical masks reduce Covid-19 spread, large-scale Stanford study shows

#233

Post by timr » Wed, Sep 08, 2021, 6:56 AM UTC

rualca wrote: post #230

timr wrote: post #228

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Instead the study shows that mask wearing combined with other factors have a clear and unquestionable correlation with reduce Covid spread. The study shows that cloth masks (combined with other factors) have no effect on seroprevalence. It shows that surgical masks (combined with other factors) has a small-but-significant effect on seroprevalence. The confidence interval on the surgical mask group overlaps zero, so…

> The study shows that cloth masks (combined with other factors) have no effect on seroprevalence. No, not really. If you happen to take a few minutes to read the paper, you'll notice that the study was conducted with a type of cloth mask produced locally which had a filtration efficiency rate of around 37% with a standard deviation of 6%, compared with the surgical mask's filtration efficiency of 95%. The study also…

> If you happen to take a few minutes to read the paper, you'll notice that the study was conducted with a type of cloth mask produced locally which had a filtration efficiency rate of around 37% with a standard deviation of 6%, compared with the surgical mask's filtration efficiency of 95%.

I read it, thanks. The mask they used was much better than what most people are wearing:

> The cloth mask had an exterior layer of 100% non-woven polypropylene (70 grams/square meter [gsm]), two interior layers of 60% cotton / 40% polyester interlocking knit (190 gsm), an elastic loop that goes around the head above and below the ears, and a nose bridge

If a cloth mask with three layers of different materials and a nose bridge is dramatically less efficient than a simple surgical mask, then that's pretty damning for the whole idea of a cloth mask, in general.

Re: Surgical masks reduce Covid-19 spread, large-scale Stanford study shows

#234

Post by exabrial » Wed, Sep 08, 2021, 8:34 PM UTC

mullen wrote: post #20

exabrial wrote: post #6

This is truly great news, as we've need some controlled studies. However, _mandates_, literally threatening people with police violence, bodily or financial harm, is not the correct way forward. I think the best solution is improved mandates for airflow. It's a lot easier to improve airflow in a building than it is to police and enforce a mask mandate.

This is naive. There is a significant portion of the population that are not going to cooperated with health safety protocols unless there is a real chance of them going to jail or getting a fine. We're talking wearing a mask and saving lives.

> We're talking wearing a mask and saving lives.

What if they don't want your input in their lives?

Re: Surgical masks reduce Covid-19 spread, large-scale Stanford study shows

#235

Post by kgarten » Thu, Sep 09, 2021, 11:22 PM UTC

timr wrote: post #233

rualca wrote: post #230

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The study shows that cloth masks (combined with other factors) have no effect on seroprevalence. No, not really. If you happen to take a few minutes to read the paper, you'll notice that the study was conducted with a type of cloth mask produced locally which had a filtration efficiency rate of around 37% with a standard deviation of 6%, compared with the surgical mask's filtration efficiency of 95%. The study also…

> If you happen to take a few minutes to read the paper, you'll notice that the study was conducted with a type of cloth mask produced locally which had a filtration efficiency rate of around 37% with a standard deviation of 6%, compared with the surgical mask's filtration efficiency of 95%. I read it, thanks. The mask they used was much better than what most people are wearing: > The cloth mask had an exterior layer…

> I read it, thanks. The mask they used was much better than what most people are wearing.

Can you give a citation for that? I think you might be in a strange place. Here nearly everybody wears surgical masks, most people were 2 : a surgical and cloth mask.

Also I'm interested in an experimental design or study design you would find acceptable. I saw your comments now on 3 papers showing evidence for mask wearing. It seems you are moving goal posts ever time.