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newtoRI22 t1_j435zwo wrote

Reply to comment by Scapuless in Employee masking forbidden? by s16016wb

Surgical masks are not N95 respirators. They are designed to prevent droplets (effectively spit) from entering the surgical site.

N95s and other respirators work to prevent aerosols from being circulated to/from the user.

Two entirely different designs for two different use cases. Surgical masks and cloth masks do not provide good control of aerosols.

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Augnelli t1_j45wv00 wrote

>They are designed to prevent droplets (effectively spit) from entering the surgical site.

And how is COVID passed most frequently?

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newtoRI22 t1_j46v46i wrote

Aerosols.

Droplets are not the same thing as aerosols. Airborne transmission - that is transmission via aerosols - is the primary mechanism: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-00925-7

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Augnelli t1_j47h3mc wrote

Great! And what form do aerosols take in the human respiratory system?

Oh, that's right, water droplets from expectorants! Of which, mask, even cloth ones, are effective at slowing or preventing their wide ranging spread. God damn, did you wake up today and decide to be stupid, or is this your default?

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newtoRI22 t1_j4hgfti wrote

Calling me “stupid” is unnecessary and speaks more about you than me.

I’m not going to dox myself, but I can assure you that I’m better qualified to make a physical distinction between droplets and aerosols than anyone in this comment thread.

If you had bothered to read the coverage by Nature (one of the most widely respected scientific outfits in the world) that I linked, you would have seen this:

> The seemingly uncontroversial statement marked a clear shift for the Switzerland-based WHO, which had tweeted categorically early in the pandemic, “FACT: #COVID19 is NOT airborne,” casting the negative in capital letters as if to remove any doubt. At that time, the agency maintained that the virus spreads mainly through droplets produced when a person coughs, sneezes or speaks, an assumption based on decades-old infection-control teachings about how respiratory viruses generally pass from one person to another. The guidance recommended distancing of more than one metre — within which these droplets were thought to fall to the ground — along with hand washing and surface disinfection to stop transfer of droplets to the eyes, nose and mouth. > > It took until 20 October 2020 for the agency to acknowledge that aerosols — tiny specks of fluid — can transmit the virus, but the WHO said this was a concern only in specific settings, such as indoor, crowded and inadequately ventilated spaces. Over the next six months, the agency gradually altered its advice to say that aerosols could carry the virus for more than a metre and remain in the air (see ‘Changing views of how COVID spreads’).

Droplets are significantly larger than aerosols even though both are quite small. Droplets ante not considered airborne. Aerosols linger in the air for long periods of time whereas droplets tend to settle within a few seconds. This is important because the transmission mechanisms of viral particles contained within droplets or aerosols are different.

For a detailed scientific discussion of the difference between droplets and aerosols, as well as the impact on pandemic policies, see here: https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsfs.2021.0049

I hope you’ll reconsider insulting people in the future.

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Augnelli t1_j4hlho6 wrote

It's not airborne or in water droplets! It's in small droplets of water that are airborne!

I will not reconsider calling out bad faith arguments and cherry picking wherever I see it. If that means calling people like you stupid, so be it.

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newtoRI22 t1_j4hssda wrote

Bad faith? Are those italics supposed to be my words?

> It's not airborne or in water droplets! It's in small droplets of water that are airborne!

I never said it wasn’t airborne. I said that surgical masks aren’t meant to protect against aerosols. (Ironic that you say I’m arguing in bad faith while you falsely imply I hold positions that I do not.)

Would you do asbestos remediation with a surgical mask? Surely not. (Asbestos particles span both droplet and aerosol sizes.) You would select an appropriate respirator for the job.

A proper respirator seals around your nose and mouth to prevent the aerosols from coming in. An N95 can do that reasonably well for viruses when proper fit is achieved. A surgical mask can’t because they are not designed to seal. They’re designed to capture spittle droplets from the wearer.

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