Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Study: Association between mask mandates and Covid infections in North Dakota

researchsquare.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

51–60 of 105 posts

Re: Study: Association between mask mandates and Covid infections in North Dakota

#51

Post by nerfhammer »

bsilvereagle wrote: post #10
glerk wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This has been known since 2020. From the beginning, the public health message could have been "protect yourself using a N-95 mask", but for some reason they went with "protect others using a cloth/surgical mask". The only reasonable explanation I can find for this is that N-95 masks were in short supply at the time and they had to be saved for medical professionals. We needed a distraction to prevent the general publ…

> whether masks with holes orders of magnitude larger than the airborne virus particles they are supposed to stop are effective N95 masks work due to a dipole charge, not necessarily because of the mechanical filtration size. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7724761/

minutephysics has a nice video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eAdanPfQdCA

Re: Study: Association between mask mandates and Covid infections in North Dakota

#52

Post by taf2 »

ceejayoz wrote: post #16
bsilvereagle wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> whether masks with holes orders of magnitude larger than the airborne virus particles they are supposed to stop are effective N95 masks work due to a dipole charge, not necessarily because of the mechanical filtration size. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7724761/

They've also got a substantially better seal around the edges.

Which makes them super comfortable

Re: Study: Association between mask mandates and Covid infections in North Dakota

#53

Post by AlexandrB »

bsilvereagle wrote: post #10
glerk wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This has been known since 2020. From the beginning, the public health message could have been "protect yourself using a N-95 mask", but for some reason they went with "protect others using a cloth/surgical mask". The only reasonable explanation I can find for this is that N-95 masks were in short supply at the time and they had to be saved for medical professionals. We needed a distraction to prevent the general publ…

> whether masks with holes orders of magnitude larger than the airborne virus particles they are supposed to stop are effective N95 masks work due to a dipole charge, not necessarily because of the mechanical filtration size. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7724761/

Errr, the linked study directly contradicts your point:

> In both respirators, large decreases in the dipole charge density were observed after several heat treatments. However, there was no significant drop in filtration efficiency because multiple parameters (i.e., mechanical filtration) were involved in the filtration performance.

Re: Study: Association between mask mandates and Covid infections in North Dakota

#54

Post by gibbitz »

It seems that we're missing that this trend is likely due to the students contracting the disease outside of school. Most accidents happen within 30 miles of home doesn't mean you can take your seatbelts off when you are 31 miles away. This whole study exists to allow people to say masks don't help when they don't want to wear one. I get that there was a unique opportunity to compare and contrast here but what was being measured was only partly affected by the mandate. Regardless of the quality of the science here, the results are surprising, but I wonder what the comparison with a blue state district where the same mandates were in place would be...

Re: Study: Association between mask mandates and Covid infections in North Dakota

#55

Post by [deleted] »

HKH2 wrote: post #28
ISL wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I believe that you are entirely correct. One of the big lessons-learned is that the response should have been: "N95s work. They are very important. If you hoard them, healthcare professionals will die. Please donate your extras to your nearest hospital." I saw firsthand, working with findthemasks.com, just how many people came to that conclusion on their own and rapidly aggregated and donated as many N95s as they cou…

How long can you wear an N95?

[deleted]

Re: Study: Association between mask mandates and Covid infections in North Dakota

#56

Post by creato »

ISL wrote: post #11
glerk wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This has been known since 2020. From the beginning, the public health message could have been "protect yourself using a N-95 mask", but for some reason they went with "protect others using a cloth/surgical mask". The only reasonable explanation I can find for this is that N-95 masks were in short supply at the time and they had to be saved for medical professionals. We needed a distraction to prevent the general publ…

I believe that you are entirely correct. One of the big lessons-learned is that the response should have been: "N95s work. They are very important. If you hoard them, healthcare professionals will die. Please donate your extras to your nearest hospital." I saw firsthand, working with findthemasks.com, just how many people came to that conclusion on their own and rapidly aggregated and donated as many N95s as they cou…

I’m fully on board with “N95s work” but I still think this information is near useless from a public health point of view. They need to be fitted properly, which among other things, means being clean shaven. If you thought mask mandates were political trouble, just wait for the shaving mandate.

Re: Study: Association between mask mandates and Covid infections in North Dakota

#57

Post by vpilcx »

HKH2 wrote: post #28
ISL wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I believe that you are entirely correct. One of the big lessons-learned is that the response should have been: "N95s work. They are very important. If you hoard them, healthcare professionals will die. Please donate your extras to your nearest hospital." I saw firsthand, working with findthemasks.com, just how many people came to that conclusion on their own and rapidly aggregated and donated as many N95s as they cou…

How long can you wear an N95?

they were designed to be disposable, but when they were in short supply at the start of the pandemic, medical professionals were wearing them up to a month. There was a study that you could treat them with, I think, UV light, oh no wait, it was put them in the oven at a certain temperature, to extend their viability up to a certain point, but I think practically, most people switch off every week or so unless in extremely high risk situations.

Re: Study: Association between mask mandates and Covid infections in North Dakota

#58

Post by nabakin »

philliphaydon wrote: post #26
amluto wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In Asia, actual decent factory-made masks seem to have been widely available for years. I would believe that the effects of people in Asia wearing masks sold in Asia is not the same as people in America wearing masks sold in America.

I don’t know what the quality of masks is like overseas but one thing you don’t see is cloth masks. If you do see them they are always over the top of an actual mask just for a fancy design. But never cloth only.

What is considered an actual mask here? N95, surgical, or something else?

Re: Study: Association between mask mandates and Covid infections in North Dakota

#59

Post by chiefalchemist »

> Our findings contribute to a growing body of literature which suggests school-based mask mandates have limited to no impact on the case rates of COVID-19 among K-12 students.

As expected.

Simply put, as the science now states, the majority of masks weren't worth wearing. If it's not a KN95 or better, it's all but pointless. That is, you're effectively wearing no mask at all.

We know this. Yet occasionally mask mandates kick in again, and the updated science (i.e., KN95 or better) is completely ignored.

The disconnect - and those virtue signaling with subpar masks - is disturbing.

Re: Study: Association between mask mandates and Covid infections in North Dakota

#60

Post by chiefalchemist »

AnthonBerg wrote: post #3

We also did not have data on the types of masks being worn or on masking adherence rates in the two school districts It is known that this is an aerosolized pandemic. Airborne. Cloth and surgical masks do not work. Source – there are many to choose from: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S014067362... The posted study on mandates has effectively no meaning. Closed FFP2/N95-style masks work. This is fa…

Source? How about the CDC? They came out on this as well and that science has been completely ignored. There's been no massive public health push, etc. Nothing.

Makes ya wonder.

Post reply on HN