A few years ago I thought personal masking didn't really matter. Wow, I was wrong! And not catching bs colds from weirdos on the bus or the grocery store makes it worth it.
My face isn't that pretty anyway.
Working in a grocery store, especially as a cashier, can be unpleasant to disgusting at times, especially when cash was a bit more common. I think you’re around everything all the time that your immune system tends to beef up a bit.
Conversely, the kids are getting hammered in winter time the last few years after covid after not getting sick between 2020-mid 2021.
I’m not so sure that humans evolved to avoid illness, despite how unpleasant it is.
Wearing masks does not compromise one's immune system: it just shields you from exposure to respiratory bugs. Kids are getting hammered because people have relaxed on wearing masks, so they are now more exposed than before.
Day to day i'm not religious about masking, but for things like public transportation, airplanes, etc I try to always have face protection on.
The standard for AC/H for offices is 3-4.
You can site all the statistics and propaganda in the world about plane ventilation. It clearly isn't enough to prevent viral spread (I don't care about air changes per hour or cfm or anything else, the only endpoint worth discussing is viral spread--I give precisely zero fucks about how fast the air is moving around). I'm using n95s on planes from here on out.
I'll take my mask off to eat/drink in the air, which I didn't do the one time I had to fly mid-pandemic.
I've been on a handful of flights in the last 2 years where the air system didn't work at all, and others where the climate control system was otherwise failing (80°F). This is accentuated by stale air when you embark and disembark when the aux generators aren't providing power.
That's a myth from the early pandemic. Viral dose doesn't correlate with disease severity:
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2021-11-relationship-viral-do...
the likelihood of becoming infected may rise with the size of that "dose."
So a small dose might still prime the immune system even if you don't get sick.
This is correct.
> So a small dose might still prime the immune system even if you don't get sick.
This does not follow.
If you don't get infected following a small dose, you'll have fought it off with your innane or intrinsic defenses. You won't generate any humoral immunity, form T-cells or B-cells or neutralizing antibodies and won't be any better off for the next round with the virus.
I have always looked at Japan as a mixed bag of things that the entire planet will be doing in 10-100 years (yes, even sex bots and other forms of liberal individualism). I am so glad that at least parts of the west have caught onto the practice of masking up when sick, if there were ever a silver lining from the pandemic.
I'm still looking for a solution to the mask straps biting into my ears on planes, but a few hours of discomfort is still way better than being sick when I get to/back from my destination.
Try getting a proper N95 instead of a flimsy ear-loop mask: https://www.amazon.com/3M-Aura-Particulate-Respirator-9205/d...
If you fly a lot, there are also very likely commercial solutions for this.
COVID-19 is 10.5 um. Water droplet to carry them just a tad bit above.
Hydrostatic testing to get that 50um in N-95 mask were based on 8.0 pH Latex hydrostatic droplets.
COVID-19 best infection spread rate is at 5.8-6.2 pH (opposite spectrum of Latex's pH).
So, more will pass thru that mask unhindered.
Nonetheless, the dispersal rate is lower only if the infected wears it. Tough to make a public policy on that to this day
The mask is rated to capture 95% of airborne particles generally, but it’s efficiency doesn’t correlate to the spacing within the filter media.
Now if they would construct a hydrostatic test using 5.8 to 6.2 pH aerosolizer, then the data becomes more robust.