BA.2 variant - new study suggests severity concerns

[disneysteve]

Which raises the question, what type of mask? There are plenty of less effective masks being worn every day both in terms of the materials used and the fit.

FWIW, when I wear a mask I wear an N95 mask that I found fits me very snugly with very little, if any, leakage. I challenge the latest variant to get past it.

The experts have said for a while now that everyone should be wearing an N95 or KN95 and get rid of the homemade cloth masks, cheap giveaway masks from various places, etc., but every day I still see a ton of people wearing them.


The one thing many people don't realize is that N95s need to be fitted. There is an actual formal fitting process that you need to go through. We're required to do it annually at work because things like gaining or losing some weight may change what size you need. There are multiple brands and a medium in one brand may not fit you while a medium in another brand will.

 

[mf15]

Just found out. Daughter has covid,fully boosted,wears masks,in Indianapolis.
Oldmike

 

[Another Reader]

The experts have said for a while now that everyone should be wearing an N95 or KN95 and get rid of the homemade cloth masks, cheap giveaway masks from various places, etc., but every day I still see a ton of people wearing them.


The one thing many people don't realize is that N95s need to be fitted. There is an actual formal fitting process that you need to go through. We're required to do it annually at work because things like gaining or losing some weight may change what size you need. There are multiple brands and a medium in one brand may not fit you while a medium in another brand will.

Medical professionals have an easier time getting masks fitted. The average consumer guesses and hopes he or she is right. The Aura, which is very popular, is too big for me and does not seal. There needs to be easy to follow consumer guidance on YouTube.

 

[RobbieB]

I continue to use my double layer cotton/poly T-Shirt masks because I like them.

I can stuff them into my pocket easily and they don't take up much room, I can remove them from my pocket and deploy quickly and easily, I can wash them when they get dirty, the "nose wire" is not there and doesn't get bent out of shape and I only wear it when the sign on the door says I have to.

 

[Chuckanut]

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2022/01/does-it-help-wear-mask-if-no-one-else/621177/

The above link is to an article whose author tells us that when one is vaccinated, boosted and wears a good N95 mask, that's about as good as it gets in protecting a person from infectious disease that spread via the air. I was glad to see an estimate of how a somewhat leaky N95 filters. 57-85% effectivness is not bad. (Never let the perfect become the enemy of the good.)

If you are vaccinated, boosted, and wearing a well-fitted N95 or similar indoors, “your risk is extremely low,” says Joseph Allen, a COVID and ventilation expert at Harvard. “I mean, there’s not much else in life that would have as low a risk as that. I would qualify your risk as de minimis.” An N95 mask filters about 95 percent of airborne particles. But two surgical masks—one on me, one on you—filter only about 91 percent, Allen wrote recently for The Washington Post. Because most people’s masks aren’t perfectly sealed onto their faces, studies show that N95s reduce the wearer’s uptake of coronavirus particles by 57 to 86 percent. And that’s on top of the protection that vaccines and boosters already offer.

Below we get a few tips to judge the fit of the N95 that we non-medical professionals can use. It would be best to get fitted by a pro. But, that ain't gonna happen for most of us.

The caveat is that your mask has to fit well, and it has to be an N95 or similar—cloth masks offer scant protection against Omicron. “Well fitting” means you shouldn’t have any air leakage out of the sides of the mask, near the nose, or by the chin. If you wear glasses, they shouldn’t fog up. “If you breathe in, the face piece should collapse inward just a little bit,” says Lisa Brosseau, a consultant and an expert on industrial hygiene. “If you breathe outward, you should get a little bit of expansion of the face piece.”

If you have a CO2 meter the author advises leaving any area where the CO2 level is above 700 per million. Above that level, ventilation is suspect. Now where did I leave the CO2 meter I got last Christmas?

 

[audreyh1]

The Aranet 4 seems to be popular CO2, although rather expensive.

Unfortunately readings in plane boarding areas, and inside planes before takeoff are well above 700. So flying at all would be out.