NYT accidentally admits that masks don't work

[Tech]

Saw an interesting quote. You see a restaurant closed due to a positive test but in all this time, Walmart hasn't. Home Depot, Lowe's, you local grocery store haven't had one positive test that we know of.

Something fishy about that.

Talked to a manager of a local grocery store with close to 200 workers. The manger says no positives at the store. The Sheetz is closed twice in a week. A family/home life problem?

 

[PeoplesElbow]

Talked to a manager of a local grocery store with close to 200 workers. The manger says no positives at the store. The Sheetz is closed twice in a week. A family/home life problem?

My guess is the 2nd person got it from the first.

 

[SamSpade]

Here's hoping she never does.

Found out she's home already. Which would explain why she never answered the phone at the hospital.
False positive or not, she's not sick because of da Corona. She's got other problems.

 

[rmorse]

Here's hoping she never does.

Out of all the positive cases, it's only a small percentage of them that actually get sick. So the CDC says today, but tomorrow they may say something different. But if this virus is as contagious and dangerous as "they" say, every single one of us would be seeing evidence of it no matter where we live. So far I know one person who knows a person who is actively sick with COVID. I don't personally know anyone who is sick with it.

I spoke before about knowing someone young with it, who got hit hard. I’m now up to knowing about 5 people who have gone through it. They all lived; they all said “that sucks and I don’t want to do it again.” They are all in various levels of health and age. None of them were admitted to the hospital or thought that they were dying.

 

[TPD]

I spoke before about knowing someone young with it, who got hit hard. I’m now up to knowing about 5 people who have gone through it. They all lived; they all said “that sucks and I don’t want to do it again.” They are all in various levels of health and age. None of them were admitted to the hospital or thought that they were dying.

So similar to the flu? It sucks and don't wanna do it again and didn't go to the hospital.

 

[TPD]

Here's an interesting piece with actual numbers to back up the findings. I need someone to tell me what I'm missing here. A bit of a read but worth it IMO.

Mask Facts

curated by Marilyn M. Singleton, M.D., J.D. – Updated September 26, 2020 Introduction COVID-19 is as politically-charged as it is infectious. Early in the COVID-19 pandemic, the WHO, the CDC …

aapsonline.org

Some excerpts:

Note: A COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2) particle is 0.125 micrometers (μm); influenza virus size is 0.08 – 0.12 μm; a human hair is about 150 μm.

• The CDC’s most recent statement regarding contracting COVID-19 from touching surfaces: “Based on data from lab studies on Covid-19 and what we know about similar respiratory diseases, it may be possible that a person can get Covid-19 by touching a surface or object that has the virus on it and then touching their own mouth, nose or possibly their eyes,” the agency wrote. “But this isn’t thought to be the main way the virus spreads. https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2020/s0522-cdc-updates-covid-transmission.html.

N95 – A properly fitted N95 will block 95% of tiny air particles down to 0.3 μm from reaching the wearer’s face. https://www.honeywell.com/en-us/newsroom/news/2020/03/n95-masks-explained.

• But even these have problems: many have exhalation valve for easier breathing and less moisture inside the mask.
• Surgical masks are designed to protect patients from a surgeon’s respiratory droplets, aren’t effective at blocking particles smaller than 100 μm. https://webcache.googleusercontent....nical-bulletin.pdf+&cd=13&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us
• Filter efficiency was measured across a wide range of small particle sizes (0.02 to 1 µm) at 33 and 99 L/min.
  • N95 respirators had efficiencies greater than 95% (as expected).
  • T-shirts had 10% efficiency,
  • Scarves 10% to 20%,
  • Cloth masks 10% to 30%,
  • Sweatshirts 20% to 40%, and
  • Towels 40%.
  • All of the cloth masks and materials had near zero efficiency at 0.3 µm, a particle size that easily penetrates into the lungs.

Note the particle size of the virus (.125) and the particle size where cloth masks and materials had near zero efficiency (.3), a much larger particle size.

• Another study evaluated 44 masks, respirators, and other materials with similar methods and small aerosols (0.08 and 0.22 µm).
  • N95 FFR filter efficiency was greater than 95%.
  • Medical masks – 55% efficiency
  • General masks – 38% and
  • Handkerchiefs – 2% (one layer) to 13% (four layers) efficiency.

N95 PROPERLY FITTED has efficiency of 95%. Who here has had their N95 WITHOUT EXHAUST VALVE properly fitted?

• Conclusion: Wearing masks will not reduce SARS-CoV-2.
  • N95 masks protect health care workers, but are not recommended for source control transmission.
  • Surgical masks are better than cloth but not very efficient at preventing emissions from infected patients.
  • Cloth masks will be ineffective at preventing SARS-CoV-2 transmission, whether worn as source control or as personal protective equipment (PPE).

“Masks may confuse that message and give people a false sense of security. If masks had been the solution in Asia, shouldn’t they have stopped the pandemic before it spread elsewhere?”

And the last sentence says it all - false sense of security.

This is the guidance on masks from WHO, if you can believe them.

https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/332293/WHO-2019-nCov-IPC_Masks-2020.4-eng.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y

This from page 6

Results from cluster randomized controlled trials on the use of masks among young adults living in university residences in the United States of America indicate that face masks may reduce the rate of influenza-like illness, but showed no impact on risk of laboratory-confirmed influenza.(62, 63) At present, there is no direct evidence (from studies on COVID- 19 and in healthy people in the community) on the effectiveness of universal masking of healthy people in the community to prevent infection with respiratory viruses, including COVID-19.

 

[Sneakers]

masking of healthy people

I'd take a little more from this if they defined 'healthy'. Is asymptomatic their concept of healthy? Or are they referring to non-infected individuals, non-positive?

As far as I'm concerned, if you are untested, your status is an unknown.

 

[vraiblonde]

Well, I bought two cute masks at this ginormous 5 & 10 in Branson so I could carry them with me just in case and throw out that paper freebie I got from somewhere. Today we went to Eureka Springs, AR (review coming up) and most places required a mask for entry. One store defiantly stated that they didn't give a damn what the state mandate was, you didn't have to wear a mask in their store.

 

[PrchJrkr]

One store defiantly stated that they didn't give a damn what the state mandate was, you didn't have to wear a mask in their store.

That sounds vaguely familiar.

 

[Lurk]

Masks don't protect the people wearing them, and they don't PREVENT the spread of any virus that can be caught through airborne particles. .

 

[Louise]

I agree. I love being home vs. going places so in that regard I have less exposure than you. But I love my job and to do it well requires me it interact with people thus exposing me. If I paid attention to the hype, I would do strictly teleworking and greatly lessen my exposure. Others that do the same type of job do so, but I decided it makes a huge difference to my customer to be onsite at times so I go in when I deem necessary and sleep well at night. I don't believe not living life in the name of hiding from the virus will make a difference in the end.

Hype being the key word. Keep on keepin’ on. Great post.

 

[GURPS]

Out of all the positive cases, it's only a small percentage of them that actually get sick.

In MD .... Numbers from https://coronavirus.maryland.gov/

Total Infected - 77,206
Deaths - 3238

or 4.19 % Death Rate

Testing Numbers

914,954 - Total Tested
643,780 - Negative Results

4.44% - Positive

Numbers Nationally [from a Google Search ]

3,780,000 - total infected
142,000 - Deaths

3.76 % Death Rate

or 1.15 % of the total US Population infected ... based on 330, Million Population Numbers

or .043 % of the Total US Population has Died ... based on 330, Million Population Numbers

 

[GURPS]

If masks had been the solution in Asia, shouldn’t they have stopped the pandemic before it spread elsewhere?”

But Sapidus SWEARS this is why Japan wasn't so hard hit ....
Japanese people, as a society, mask up at the slightest sign of being sick ....

 

[rmorse]

So similar to the flu? It sucks and don't wanna do it again and didn't go to the hospital.

Yes in the sense that a broken toe is similar to the flu. A broken toe sucks and I don’t wanna do it again and I wouldn’t go to the hospital.

As far as symptoms/what you go through, no, it does not see similar to the flu.

 

[Clem72]

Saw an interesting quote. You see a restaurant closed due to a positive test but in all this time, Walmart hasn't. Home Depot, Lowe's, you local grocery store haven't had one positive test that we know of.

Something fishy about that.

As far as I have seen, closures (like Sheetz) have been voluntary, to show how "committed" they are to keeping the environment safe for customers.

 

[PrchJrkr]

Yes in the sense that a broken toe is similar to the flu. A broken toe sucks and I don’t wanna do it again and I wouldn’t go to the hospital.

As far as symptoms/what you go through, no, it does not see similar to the flu.

We have a young man at work that contracted something that was flu like back in February, before I hired on. He said it was the worst he has ever felt in his life and he never wants to go throw something like it again. Now, being an over dramatic 20 something may have something to do with it, but what he described sounded worse than any flu I remember and hung on a very long time. He claims his breathing still isn't what it used to be prior.