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Comment by chaostheory | Hacker News Reader

Masking with n95 or higher rated masks (95% efficacy or higher) is really important these days if you want to avoid COVID, mitigate air pollution from near constant wildfires, and now this.

However, I understand that not everyone can afford to keep buying good masks, or have a nice enough climate to be able to wear one outdoors. if the weather is too warm & humid, you’ll likely die from heat exhaustion instead.

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> However, I understand that not everyone can afford to keep buying good masks

As a tip for fellow price-constrained folks out there: upgrading to an elastomeric respirator can help substantially with costs. Dentec's marketing copy suggests about a 90% reduction in costs compared to using disposable respirators [0]; given a pack of 50 duckbills on projectn95 [1] is roughly the same price as a new elastomeric w/ filters [2], seems to check out.

As an added benefit, going in on an elastomeric can help a bit with both mask fit and comfort.

[0] https://dentecsafety.com/usa/products/respiratory-protection... [1] https://www.projectn95.org/products/aci-surgical-n95-respira... [2] https://www.criticaltool.com/style/dentec-400nx-black-half-m...

Short us using a PAPR these are expensive with some P3-100's attached it is near impossible to use such masks working in a field as it just gets too hot and tiring. More common these days is to buy farm equipment that is enclosed and has a good cabin filter, ideally HEPA but unfortunately there are many tasks that must be done manually.

There are plenty of DIY PAPRs now, many of which need some refinement to be truly comfortable, but they're certainly affordable.

You've got my interest. I would love to see some articles if you have any handy. I found some cheaper off-brand PAPR's on Amazon but they have really bad reviews and look sketchy.

Is there any evidence of a sizeable effect from wearing masks outdoors, especially considering the risk of transmission outdoors is so much lower than indoors[0]? I thought this practice was debunked early in the pandemic. Even indoors, the effect is small at best[1], but outdoors the volume of air and other factors contribute to the near-impossibility of effectively transmitting any serious kind of live viral load.

0 https://academic.oup.com/jid/article/223/4/550/6009483 1 https://www.cochrane.org/CD006207/ARI_do-physical-measures-s...

If you’re referring to only COVID, you’re right. Wearing a mask outdoors is pointless. It only makes sense indoors, but I was also referring to air pollution from wildfires and Valley fever where both are still dangerous outdoors

Valley fever fungus survives outdoors, so the mask can help. COVID does not, so the mask is good indoors or in crowds.

It’s crazy to think about but we may soon be in the dystopian future where everyone has a rebreather system while they walk around in grungy neon lit cities. It’s preparing us for what colonizing other planets might look like I guess.

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