Live data from Hacker News

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

researchsquare.com

81–90 of 105 posts

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

#81

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…

>Cloth and surgical masks do not work. this sort of statement really bugs me. anything that slows the airspeed/spread is helpful. and there for "works". A cloth mask is definitely better than no mask... its has a much higher chance of catching larger droplets than no mask, it has a much higher chance of rate limiting even smaller droplets than no mask. if 100% of the population worse cloth masks you would get a signi…

If we banned all access to beaches, that would be helpful and "work" to reduce the number of people who get killed by sharks. If we should mandate cloth masks, then why shouldn't we do that too?

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

#82
post #9

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…

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…

They’ve known since SARS… like 15 years. There’s a paper about SARS burning through an apartment complex because a breeze blew contaminated air out one window and into the open window of a neighboring building

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

#83

There’s been quite a few of these studies, all with similar results. What’s unfortunate is that the remarkable “penetration” of the idea that cloth and standard surgical masks provided “adequate” (by any measure) protection was so great and peddled by such influential persons that there are now those who, despite plain empirical evidence, still maintain masks provide some material amount of benefit. I wonder at what…

I had the (mis)fortune of being on a college campus during the height of covid. I'm totally down for taking precautions. I'm not down for the idea that this behavior can't go too far.

I remember seeing a kid forget to wear one and he was treated like a plague rat for the all of 5 seconds before he realized what was going on.

Also, the "mask" thing was _never_ clear. It flipped very frequently. Sure, science can change but if its "changing" that much, that fast it does make me loose a bit of faith.

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

#84
post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is it? I can’t find much real data, and, at least in the US, monkeypox surveillance appears to be at least as poor as COVID surveillance early in the pandemic.

The french health authority is suggesting they should be vaxxed along with sex workers and some trans people: https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/... They based the decision on data showing that almost all cases involve that demographic.

Is there near term availability of enough doses of a nice vaccine (e.g. MVA-BN/Imvanex/Jynneos) to vaccinate the entire MSM population?

The US has a large stockpile of ACAM2000, but it is unpleasant, potentially dangerous, and has at least a mild FDA warning for use in patients with HIV.

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

#85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Monkeypox is now at 10,000 cases worldwide with a growth rate of 12% per day and we're seeing the same lagged response as we did with Covid. We've learned nothing.

It is almost entirely in populations of men who have sex with many male partners in western countries. It is much easier to reduce number of partners and be monogamous for a while (basically removes risk of monkeypox) than lock down everything (needed to remove most risk of covid).

> It is almost entirely in populations of men who have sex with many male partners in western countries

That's in part because health authorities are using being in that demographic as a major factor (and in some cases, a mandatory criteria, even if a very clear symptom pattern is present) for getting tested. They've literally made a decision to avoid/minimize seeing it outside of that demographic.

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

#86

It's not necessarily because masks don't work, medical professionals use them to great success. Mask usage at the community level does not follow the same strict policies related to mask usage that medical professionals do, like discarding them between operations. Wearing the same mask over and over every day and removing it when you sit down to eat is a very ineffective policy. And it's kind of an abuse of power for…

This is a common misconception. The blame lies squarely on a grand failure of delivery of public health information. Outside an industrialized hospital sanitization chain, it’s actually fine to reuse a mask – as long as it’s a mask that works against SARS-CoV-2 aerosol to begin with. I can provide sources.

Please do. From what I've seen the best and science-based answer is that masks don't work. Air filtration does. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZFjLFqESxY0.

As another pointed out in a different sub-thread, N95s work as long as they are fit-tested and worn to spec. If you have facial hair, muss the banding so that it doesn't form a perfect seal, etc., the N95 might help, but is not a solution. This means that people with facial hair will not benefit from N95 neither in the form of protection of self nor others.

We have seen in the US that children are now develop-mentally behind. The US govern said what was normal for 24 month child is now normal for a 30 month child. All for a mask program that never worked.

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

#87
post #33

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…

That's awfully binary. With SARS-CoV-2 it is a probabilistic thing, where your chances of actually getting an infection depends on how much SARS-CoV-2 you are exposed to and for how long. Even a cloth or surgical mask does lower that probability. Not enough that it is likely to make a difference if you are going to be exposed for a long time, such as spending hours in room with infected people like might happen at sc…

No post body was provided.

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

#88

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…

>Cloth and surgical masks do not work. this sort of statement really bugs me. anything that slows the airspeed/spread is helpful. and there for "works". A cloth mask is definitely better than no mask... its has a much higher chance of catching larger droplets than no mask, it has a much higher chance of rate limiting even smaller droplets than no mask. if 100% of the population worse cloth masks you would get a signi…

Your argument, like many people made at the time this started, is purely technical. It only considers the virus itself to be the thing needing to be solved, rather than considering second-order effects.

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

#89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's nice. My kids' preschool in a blue state which mandated masks until spring of this year had constantly recurring COVID cases and exposures, including a Delta infection my kids brought home in October last year and passed to me.

A preschool is... not the best-case scenario for proper mask wearing technique.

I don't think GP was speaking about the technique but rather alluding to the uselessness of the mandates.

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

#90
post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How long can you wear an N95?

Not sure how to parse the question; answering both ways. How long can a person wear one? The few times I work in office I wear one all day, and don’t find it difficult. How long can a single N95 be reused? I’d read research indicating the real limiting factor seems to be the quality of the seal, and the straps tend to fail before the mask loses efficacy. Basically, if it seals without air escape, you’re good.

> How long can a person wear one? The few times I work in office I wear one all day, and don’t find it difficult.

I can't wear the 3M ones I have (with a decent seal) for longer than half an hour without getting lightheaded.

Post reply on HN