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Comment by avian | Hacker News Reader

I was at a conference with around 1000 attendees in Germany this summer. The organizers put out a lot of recommendations for visitors regarding Covid (wear masks, be vaccinated, test yourself before and after the event, etc.), but none could be enforced on site since there was no legal basis for it. The result was that precautions were largely ignored by everyone at the event. The aftermath was that the entira orga team, most presenters on stage and (as far as I could judge by social media) a large number of attendees contracted Covid.

My personal take from this was a) FFP2 masks work - I strictly wore one indoors and didn't get sick b) things are not back to normal, despite what some people say. I don't remember this many people getting sick after an event before Covid.

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> a) FFP2 masks work - I strictly wore one indoors and didn't get sick

Great! So if people are still afraid of catching COVID, they can just protect themselves with the masks. Problem solved.

the whole point is that covid is no big deal. It's at best a minor flu at this point. People "contracting Covid" are irrelevant

While I do think CCC made the wrong call here, probably ending Congress for good, let's just assume that the kind of people who attend Congress may not be the most healthy of the bunch to begin with.

> (wear masks, be vaccinated, test yourself before and after the event, etc.)

               ^^^^^^^^^^^^^

> The result was that precautions were largely ignored by everyone at the event.

You don't know if the attendees were vaccinated. You don't know if/how they tested. When I got vaccinated, and also when there wasn't a wave, I got more lax. It requires focus and attention span to follow the precautions. Except for vaccination. That's a shot, perhaps some side effects, and you're good to go for a while. Masks have more adverse side effects. And I say that as someone who has a needle phobia, got vaccinated multiple times, but also who wears glasses and prefers the fresh air over the mask (nausea).

I've also done self-tests which, in start turned out nothing, and then once it onset (I already felt ill) suddenly bingo.

> My personal take from this was a) FFP2 masks work

> I strictly wore one indoors and didn't get sick

N=1

Masks primary role is to ensure you don't spread COVID, not that you don't contract it.

The more plausible explanations that you don't got COVID is that you were a) lucky b) vaccinated c) used more precautions like social distancing / didn't frolic around the crazy 'social' people who YOLO.

With masks it requires cooperation in order for it to work. It doesn't work like a condom: put one on, be protected. Everyone puts one on (a good one, as you asserted, though even a mediocre one is 'Good Enough') and then the chance it gets spread is minimal.

FFP2 / N95 masks surely massively reduce the personal risk of infection if they are fitted properly and not taken of.

Even a poorly fitted one is going to do a lot more than wearing nothing.

I believe there was a study ranking masks' protective value for the wearer as: tight-fitting FFP2/N95 > surgical mask > FFP2/N95 with bad fit (since they are so dense that you're effectively breathing unfiltered air through the gaps unless there is a tight-ish seal)

Bad fit can be anything between "barely prevents direct lines of sight up the nostrils" and "almost but not quite perfection". I'd give very little on the part of the result that says "surgical can be better than badly fit FFP2/N95"

> Masks primary role is to ensure you don't spread COVID, not that you don't contract it.

Not true for FFP2s, N95s, and the likes. Which are more common in Germany than in most other places.

A tight fitting (in occupational health this means "proved via fit testing") N95/FFP2 or higher filtering facepiece respirator is excellent protection for the wearer regardless of what anyone else is or isn't wearing. Assuming of course that the wearer doesn't remove the mask to eat something, etc.

Masks, which can be loose fitting and have lower filtration performance, are where you really need everyone wearing them since they perform best as source control. But for those who want to be more cautious, wearing a N95 class "mask" (FFR) even if others around you are not masking is still highly effective.

The more plausible explanations that you don't got COVID

How you got to/from the conference is also a huge factor. Spending a lot of time in packed airplanes and crowded international terminals are probably at least as big a risk factor as the conference itself.

It's much harder to get COVID through eyes than the nose

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