We went through a drive thru this evening. The cashier was wearing a mask. She touched her face a total of 4 times in our 30 second interaction. It looked like it was a little bit too big for her and she was adjusting it. One time she pulled it down so that she could pull in some air through her nostrils. These things really don't work.
I mean that’s mostly just user error. They work better than not wearing a mask at all as long as people know how to use them.
If I was going into surgery I’d like the people in the room to at least be wearing a surgical mask so they don’t accidentally hock a tonsil stone into my abdominal cavity or something.
For surgery sure, but the makeshift cloth mask that is being pushed on everyone is being falsely articulated as protecting against the spread of a virus.
A cloth mask and even a surgical mask cannot stop a virus. Only an N95 or stronger can. Otherwise why wouldnt healthcare workers just wear bandanas if they are so effective?
Because they would be fired for violating policy. Surgical masks are now being worn for many places in the hospitals now instead of n95s. At our hospitals, n95s are required only for emergency, ICU and Covid Specialty units (for the hospitals that have them). If you have a covid positive tested patient in PCU, or Tele, n95s are still recommended, but not required if the patient is masked.
Like radiation exposure, the dosage makes a difference. Time X radiation intensity /distance for radiation exposure. Time X viral loading /distance for disease exposure.
If you only have a small chance of seeing a covid-19 patient in a day for a short time, you don't need a large reduction in risk. If you see many of them in a day and interact with them for a large amount of time, you need a much higher reduction in risk.
It’s not about stopping the virus itself, it’s about preventing droplets from leaving the mouth that are carrying the virus on them. At least that’s the story we’re told.
My point was obviously surgical masks have some level of effectiveness or else nurses would just not wear anything when performing surgery.
That's not what the article says.
We went through a drive thru this evening. The cashier was wearing a mask. She touched her face a total of 4 times in our 30 second interaction. It looked like it was a little bit too big for her and she was adjusting it. One time she pulled it down so that she could pull in some air through her nostrils. These things really don't work.
I mean that’s mostly just user error. They work better than not wearing a mask at all as long as people know how to use them.
If I was going into surgery I’d like the people in the room to at least be wearing a surgical mask so they don’t accidentally hock a tonsil stone into my abdominal cavity or something.
For surgery sure, but the makeshift cloth mask that is being pushed on everyone is being falsely articulated as protecting against the spread of a virus.
A cloth mask and even a surgical mask cannot stop a virus. Only an N95 or stronger can. Otherwise why wouldnt healthcare workers just wear bandanas if they are so effective?
Because they would be fired for violating policy. Surgical masks are now being worn for many places in the hospitals now instead of n95s. At our hospitals, n95s are required only for emergency, ICU and Covid Specialty units (for the hospitals that have them). If you have a covid positive tested patient in PCU, or Tele, n95s are still recommended, but not required if the patient is masked.
Like radiation exposure, the dosage makes a difference. Time X radiation intensity /distance for radiation exposure. Time X viral loading /distance for disease exposure.
If you only have a small chance of seeing a covid-19 patient in a day for a short time, you don't need a large reduction in risk. If you see many of them in a day and interact with them for a large amount of time, you need a much higher reduction in risk.
It’s not about stopping the virus itself, it’s about preventing droplets from leaving the mouth that are carrying the virus on them. At least that’s the story we’re told.
My point was obviously surgical masks have some level of effectiveness or else nurses would just not wear anything when performing surgery.