@pfred60 The point is kinda that they are mainly for protecting others. Why surgeons wear them. Why many folks don't - "it doesn't protect ME that much!"
@eyesquash it's true that #BaggyBlues aren't great at protecting against airborne pathogens / bioaerosols, either for the wearer or those around them, though if everyone was wearing them in shared air, levels of transmission would still be much lower.
Even imperfect, incomplete masking with non-respirators by a majority of the population contributed to the eradication of a particular strain of influenza in 2020-21. By now, however, SARS-CoV-2 has mutated to be far more contagious than any strain of flu; it's probably neck and neck with measles -- the most transmissible pathogen we know -- at the very least.
Respirators, otoh, are incredibly effective at protecting the wearer, though they are even better at protecting others.
In practice, an #N95 can achieve upwards of 99% inward filtration efficacy. #P100 is even better -- upwards of 99.97% -- rendering scv2 impotent, as long as the fit+seal are good.
That's why hospital infection prevention and control policy specifies N95s, elastomerics, or PAPRs in the presence of airborne pathogens -- and why it's unconscionable that they've continued to stick their collective heads in the sand, ignore science and the relevant in-field experts, and deny that #CovidIsAirborne.
It's unfortunate that so many have fallen victim to the deliberate mis/disinfo that masks don't work, especially given that so many of us have gone 3+ years without contracting #SARSCoV2 -- or any other respiratory infection, for that matter.
An excellent question. We have citizen data scientists in Aus continually chasing the sparse information to try to get the R0 number. I think it's getting close to impossible now. Also for it to be useful it should be timely and localised. We have neither of those anymore.
It's so disappointing to reflect on the observation that here in the USA, we went from having robust systems for expecting and managing a pandemic to having virtually our only metrics be provided by mass testing of sewage, plus hospital cases and deaths.
Same in Australia. What I want to know is which lobbyists campaigned the governments in both our countries to dismantle epidemiology and public health measures that for years have safeguarded the public.
@eyesquash@trendless in the early part of the pandemic it was almost exclusively about others (in part because I was told that masks weren’t “good enough” to protect me but were enough for source control). When I learned more and switched to respirators, it became much more about me.
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