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Comment by pjkundert | Hacker News Reader

Thus exposing the astonishing idiocy of "mask" requirements.

All masks have wildly varying protective capability, for the wearer, or others. Laws requiring "wear a mask" are therefore simply virtue signalling, not actually useful.

If you are at risk -- you would be protected only by wearing a personal powered HEPA filtration unit, and eye goggles.

If you're not at risk, you don't protect other at-risk people by wearing most masks. If the mask you're wearing would allow you to smell someones smoke -- you're not being protected; small vapor particles carrying active viral loads are similar in size to smoke particles.

The whole thing is so astonishingly stupid, it's breathtaking.

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Covid primarily spreads through droplets, which are largely stopped by regular surgical masks. There is lots of evidence that shows masks like surgical masks, which don't filter out things like smoke, do slow the spread.

Those kind of masks certainly won't protect you from others, at least not entirely, since you can breath in droplets through gaps in the mask, but they protect others from your breathing or coughing.

> Covid primarily spreads through droplets, which are largely stopped by regular surgical masks.

Interestingly I don’t think that’s quite true.

Droplets don’t explain almost any of the super spreader events.

And it is the super spreader events that are so concerning.

Note: I have no idea if masks help with the clearly airborne super spreader events.

Wait, why do surgical masks (not N95s) exist then? Have doctors been virtue signalling for decades?

For one time limited use in sterile environments. And they don't touch or adjust them either.

As it happens, kind of:

"A recent review concluded that it is not clear whether face masks prevent surgical wound infections, and the scientific evidence for this practice is weak and insufficient." https://anesthesiology.pubs.asahq.org/article.aspx?articleid...

> Laws requiring "wear a mask" are therefore simply virtue signalling

What "virtue" is being signalled?

> What "virtue" is being signalled?

Care for others in your community?

Yes. If I wear an N95 mask with exhalation bypass (The most common type here in Canada, due to our freezing weather) — I’m not protecting anyone else, at all. As for protecting myself, if someone infected sneezes in my proximity, I’m stopping the large particles, but inhaling about 5% of the billions of small water droplets in the air around me. Remember, if you can smell it, you’re breathing it.

So, virtue signaling. And, deluding the elderly and those w/ comorbidities that you are caring for them and that they are “safer”, neither of which is true.

As I said - if you are at risk, you should be wearing a HEPA filter and sealed eyewear.

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