Ars covers the efficacy of face masks

[Sarcany]

https://arstechnica.com/science/2020/04/...a-we-have/

[freeradical]

I wonder why people wear masks in their own cars.

[Markintosh]

Here's the critical paragraph:

In a 2015 randomized controlled trial involving 1,607 healthcare workers, researchers compared the rate of influenza-like illness in healthcare workers wearing cloth masks or medical masks to those in a control group (which sometimes used masks). Wearing cloth masks resulted in significantly higher rates of infection, the authors found. They also noted that in their test, the cloth masks were only 3 percent effective at blocking particles.

All of those homemade masks may make us feel better, either in wearing them or making them...but the reality is that physical distancing and hand washing are just so more important.

[Carm]

Those cloth masks are N03 rated!

[jdc]

And and critical take, which my wife has commented on many many times while on the testing lines in the last weeks. Shes been "doffing and donning" testers...

A similar study, also in 2019, confirmed that respiratory viruses are often found on the outside surface of medical masks and can be a source of self-contamination.

If you do wear a mask, be sure to remove it from behind your head. Don’t touch the surface of the mask. If you do touch the surface, immediately wash your hands or use hand sanitizer.

Its the same as your checker at the supermarket wearing gloves -- the gloves themselves are the worse carriers -- gives peeps a false sense of "security". They take them off, put them back on... and they are technically contaminated. Putting hand sanitizer on a glove just breaks down the gloves protection, and medical gloves are very fragile...

[d4]

jdc wrote:
A similar study, also in 2019, confirmed that respiratory viruses are often found on the outside surface of medical masks and can be a source of self-contamination.

If you do wear a mask, be sure to remove it from behind your head. Don’t touch the surface of the mask. If you do touch the surface, immediately wash your hands or use hand sanitizer.

Short 2 minute video on correct way to wear and dispose of masks.
from World Health Organization

[www.youtube.com]

[NewtonMP2100]

....the mirror has two.....faces.....

[PeterB]

The problem with this article is that it's not really an unbiased view of the scientific literature; and the ArsTechnica author is not an expert (she has a Ph.D. in microbiology, but this really requires specialized knowledge of a virologist or infectious disease expert). ArsTechnica itself is also not unbiased.

[Sam3]

Well then, how about this commentary by two expets on respiratory protection?

https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/news-perspect...sound-data

cidrap.umn.edu wrote: Sweeping mask recommendations—as many have proposed—will not reduce SARS-CoV-2 transmission, as evidenced by the widespread practice of wearing such masks in Hubei province, China, before and during its mass COVID-19 transmission experience earlier this year. Our review of relevant studies indicates that cloth masks will be ineffective at preventing SARS-CoV-2 transmission, whether worn as source control or as PPE.

[Sarcany]

PeterB wrote:
The problem with this article is that it's not really an unbiased view of the scientific literature; and the ArsTechnica author is not an expert (she has a Ph.D. in microbiology, but this really requires specialized knowledge of a virologist or infectious disease expert). ArsTechnica itself is also not unbiased.

No, but on the second page, they report on some studies which may be helpful in forming your own opinion.