Most Masks Allow 90 Percent of Exhaled Aerosols to Pass Thru--New Study

This was research from the University of Waterloo, testing aerosol droplets passing through different masks.
What it found was that the most commonly-used masks (cloth and surgical) are 90% ineffective at stopping exhaled aerosols which could carry virus.

Only N95 and KN95 masks showed any promise of being even remotely effective at stopping about 50% of exhaled aerosols.

Most face masks won’t stop COVID-19 indoors, study warns

WATERLOO, Ontario — N95 or KN95 face masks may be the best way to avoid COVID-19 during crowded indoor events. That’s the recommendation from a new study reporting most cloth masks just don’t do the job when it comes to stopping the spread of coronavirus within enclosed spaces.

Researchers from the University of Waterloo simulated a person breathing in a large room with a cloth face mask on. Despite wearing a mask, the study finds a large buildup of aerosol droplets suspended in the air.

Researchers theorize many people wear masks that don’t fit their face properly. As a result, many cloth and surgical masks only filter about 10 percent of exhaled aerosols. The rest make their way past the mask, most through the top, and spread into the surrounding environment. Conversely, higher-quality, more expensive N95 and KN95 masks filter over 50 percent of all aerosol droplets.

In light of these findings study authors recommend that everyone wear a N95 or KN95 mask if possible whenever indoors in the company of others.

www.studyfinds.org...
uwaterloo.ca...

The study also points out that, indoors, using 6 feet or more of social distancing between individuals makes no difference.

Studies continue to show that aerosols exhaled by infected individuals can indeed infect others with COVID-19, even if someone is standing more than six feet away.

a reply to: IAMTAT

Amazing how all of us common folk seem to be way ahead of the "experts" on all of this stuff.

a reply to: IAMTAT

But but but it was only the large droplets that carried covid 19……

a reply to: norhoc

It's as simple as not drinking CNN from a fire hose.

The masks are so stupid, we joke about it all the time at work because we’re in the same space all day long and it doesn’t make a real difference at that point.

We only wear them when performing surgeries now or follow up stuff. Only time we wear full gear with PAPR and all is imaging COVID patients in virtual autopsy.

You know we’re passed the point of stupid when we only wear them in hallways so EHS doesn’t yell at us. In the office and lab space we have to take them off. Many of us are starting to react to them, sneezing, red and watery eyes, skin irritation.

I’m done with them but my kids still have to wear the things at schools, mostly for the teachers who are terrified for some reason. Plus the heroes who wear them in cars by themselves with gloves with everything they touch, yet they still use their phone for some reason and never seem to clean it.

a reply to: TheAMEDDDoc

They wonder why we don’t like mask mandates.

Slippery slope on human rights…

Taliban reportedly shoots and kill Afghan woman for not wearing burqa

news.yahoo.com...

Some times it is about keeping the right to say stuff it.

a reply to: neutronflux

I guess but that’s a whole other issue. I know people who claim how nice they are now and we’re going to be friends.

Meanwhile they’re confiscating weapons and doing their thing. It’s going to be another human rights black hole once they have the weapons and we leave.

I forgot how to breathe the other day in the store and inhaled spit and starting choking and of course people start complaining and clearing out really quickly. Not sick but coughing is a crime now apparently. Then you have the people who are legitimately sick running around and doing their thing, coughing over everything.

But if you have a mask it all magically disappears and is ok. That’s how stupid people are, they believe a mask will prevent infection, they believe a vaccine or prior infection will prevent future infection. All because some moron on a TV tells them so and then they wonder why the thing still spreads and they blame vaccines or the unvaccinated.

This thing has always been and will always be about controlling you and your family. That’s the worst part of this.

This info has been available from the beginning of this corona nonsense, but has been suppressed. Just look at the sizes.. a coronavirus is 150 nanometers. A N95 mask only filters 300nm, the holes in cloth and surgical masks are a lot bigger. The influenza virus is even smaller at 100nm! Which totally nukes the idea of the flu being wiped out by “face masks and social distancing” while the coronavirus wasn’t?? Gimme a break! And respiratory droplets? Yeah, that’s why surgeons wear masks to keep coughs, sneezes and talking spittle out of your body for bacterial reasons.. not to stop a virus! If you are sick and “symptomatic” stay home or wear a mask! Everyone else, take them the F off! Masks breed bacteria! The fraud Fauci, headed a Spanish flu study that found post virus bacterial infections are what really killed so many people..not the virus itself! All their decisions seem to go against what has been learned in the past..almost to make and keep this pandemic going on as long as possible...

a reply to: IAMTAT

Your source:

“There is no question it is beneficial to wear any face covering, both for protection in close proximity and at a distance in a room,” says study leader Serhiy Yarusevych,

Not perfect. Better than nothing.

a reply to: IAMTAT

I could not agree more.

Plaese do not try this at home.

a reply to: Phage

Right. The researcher is pro-mask...which makes his results deliciously disappointing to him.

a reply to: IAMTAT

The researcher is pro-mask

Because they work, perhaps.
But is that in the article or did you make it up?

See for yourselves if masks are useless or not.

a reply to: grey580

Worn properly, correct fitting, right type of mask, and in the right environment, yeah they can provide benefit. It’s when it turns into a chore, no one cares anymore, people are tired of it that it becomes useless. I think we’ve reached that point now that I see medical professionals with their noses hanging out or the thing around their chin.

We can’t do it forever, there’s debate around long periods in the same space, plus indoors vs outdoors, type of mask and whatever. And if they worked very well or 100% then there’s the impact to our immune systems, a bored immune system that isn’t stimulated can be dangerous at some point and it gets lazy.

originally posted by: Phage
a reply to: IAMTAT

Your source:

“There is no question it is beneficial to wear any face covering, both for protection in close proximity and at a distance in a room,” says study leader Serhiy Yarusevych,

Not perfect. Better than nothing.

Is it worth the damage they’re doing to kids in school?
www.zerohedge.com...

“Children born over the past year of lockdowns – at a time when the Government has prevented babies from seeing elderly relatives and other extended family members, from socialising at parks or with the children of their parent’s friends, and from studying the expressions on the faces behind the masks of locals in indoor public spaces – have significantly reduced verbal, motor and overall cognitive performance compared to children born before, according to a new U.S. study. Tests on early learning, verbal development and non-verbal development all produced results that were far behind those from the years preceding the lockdowns.”

Especially when kids do not have trouble with this virus?

a reply to: SeventhChapter

That article is about babies. Babies don't wear masks.

originally posted by: Phage
a reply to: IAMTAT

Your source:

“There is no question it is beneficial to wear any face covering, both for protection in close proximity and at a distance in a room,” says study leader Serhiy Yarusevych,

Not perfect. Better than nothing.

It's just not worth it.

Covid just isn't that dangerous unless you're already near death.

originally posted by: Phage
a reply to: SeventhChapter

That article is about babies. Babies don't wear masks.

Oh that’s right, because kids stop studying facial expressions after age 2....

originally posted by: Phage
a reply to: SeventhChapter

That article is about babies. Babies don't wear masks.

You should probably read the quote before replying.

a reply to: Phage

The quote seems to be about babies' development as it relates to watching/learning from and interacting with others, and how masks worn by adults and kids around the babies slows their development.