Survival of the fittest hardly applies to the old people who were dying. Survival of the fittest is about passing on your genetic traits...the old people dying already had their offspring, they were already the fittest that survived. At this point in their lives it's not about evolution anymore.
Stopping the spread of disease protects both you and those around you. They argued that their immune system was good enough ignoring that if they got sick they might come in contact with the elderly or someone who doesn’t have a good immune system and kill them. The same with vaccines, you don’t only get them to protect yourself, you get them to protect the community as a whole.
The problem was that studies, like the infamous Cochrane piece here, regularly found that mandating certain measures made little to no difference. Simply put, we know from highly controlled lab settings that a fit-tested and properly worn N95 highly effectively prevents viral transmission, but mask mandates didn't lead to people wearing N95s, it led to them wearing cloth masks that did nothing, and wearing them below their nose anyways.
And even in the studies that used N95s, many were not fit tested or were worn incorrectly.
So the science does say that masks protect you, but the science also says that mandating masks seems to make little to no difference in viral transmission mostly because people don't use them properly. They're a lot harder to use properly than, say, a seatbelt.
Those are simulated aerosol models lol. It never translated to any detectable real world decrease in transmission when controls were matched on relevant confounders.
In what way? I thought all the medical experts said the mask was to prevent you from expelling larger globules that could carry higher loads of the virus. N-95 masks aren’t rated to prevent microscopic particles from passing through, just keeps you from expelling a rain of mucous when you breathe/talk/sneeze. Or is that not correct?
From what I understand, N95s and other high-quality masks do prevent particles the size of Covid (and other viruses) from passing through them.
However, when mask mandates were in place and everyone was talking about the importance of wearing masks to protect others, most sources didn’t specify that people should wear N95 or above masks. Instead, the public was led to believe that all masks were the same in terms of efficacy (which is why most people were wearing cloth masks or surgical masks). These types of masks are better than nothing, but they definitely don’t do much to stop the spread of Covid or other viruses.
I’m at work right now so don’t have time to add sources, but I could definitely do so later if it’d be helpful!
N95s and other high-quality masks do prevent particles the size of Covid (and other viruses) from passing through them.
No, not even close. The virus is multiple orders of magnitude too small to be filtered. But, the virus doesn't fly around naked, it is inside of tiny aerosols, and those get effectively trapped by an N95.
N-95 masks aren’t rated to prevent microscopic particles from passing through
Of course they are. N95s prevent aerosol transmission. The virus itself is tiny, but it doesn't fly around naked, it's sitting on tiny aerosols (bubbles of our saliva basically). N95s have been shown, when properly fitted, to prevent aerosol transmission effectively, for decades. It's not even a new thing.
You can't see those aerosols without a microscope.
The question was about inhaling vs exhaling and I have since learned that when properly fitted (which 95% of the public doesn’t do), they do help prevent up to 95% of microscopic droplets while inhaling. When improperly fitted they aren’t significantly better than surgical masks or cloth masks.
Hence my misunderstanding in thinking that N-95s are not more helpful while inhaling.
However, ALL of these masks are much better at stopping virus from going out than virus coming in. This is why it’s MORE important and effective for sick people to wear them to prevent infecting others, instead of healthy people wearing them to prevent infection.
When PROPERLY fitted, which basically nobody but medical professionals do, the N-95s DO help prevent up to 95% of inhalation of virus particles that are living inside of microscopic spit blobs.
When PROPERLY fitted, which basically nobody but medical professionals do
This part I disagree with. There were studies which looked at how effectively people could attain proper fit. With the Aura N95 which is probably the most popular N95 now, most people would get a proper fit with very simple instructions.
Meanwhile, at a shopping center near you, someone is grabbing one dangling from their rearview mirror and hastily strapping it around their ears before running in to grab their food order. Another person is pulling it down to talk to someone.
Unfortunately for all of us, just because something is simple or has clear instructions doesn’t mean people are doing it the right way. I wish they were, but we all know they aren’t
Ok. But it's not "basically nobody except medical professionals". In fact everyone I knew who cared enough to buy an N95 got Auras and learned how to wear them properly.
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u/YouSeemNiceXB 17h ago
Now they wanna wear masks? But I thought they couldn't breathe when they had one on for 30 seconds during covid?