Reply to Are you going to send a mask with your kid to school?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote]One way masks could stop you getting the flu is by stopping your hand touching your mouth or nose. Aside from inhaling droplets, you can also get the flu from touching anything with the flu virus on it—the armrests on public transport, say—and then touching your face. And people touch their faces a lot without even realising it. A study from New South Wales found that people touch their faces about 23 times an hour.

There's one weak point in this plan: you can also get the flu from touching your eye with your contaminated hand. And even to stop the hand to mouth/nose transmission, you'd have to wear a mask 24/7, regularly disposing of the old ones while trying to avoid touching your face. And wearing masks can feel unpleasant and make communication difficult. So they're not very practical. One study found that only 21% of people are able to keep masks on for the recommended time.

No strong evidence

A study that is often cited as evidence that surgical masks work is a randomised trial from 2009 that compared surgical masks with a specialist mask called an N95 respirator—a mask that fits snugly and filters at least 95% of very small (0.3 micron) particles.

The study, published in JAMA, found that surgical masks were as effective as N95 respirators at preventing the flu, which is to say, not all that effective because, of the 446 nurses who took part in this study, nearly one in four (24%) in the surgical mask group still got the flu as did 23% of those who wore the N95 respirator. And, because both groups wore masks, it's impossible to say how they would have fared compared with not wearing a mask at all.

Basically, there is no strong evidence to support well people wearing surgical masks in public. Or as the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention put it: "No recommendation can be made at this time for mask use in the community by asymptomatic persons, including those at high risk for complications, to prevent exposure to influenza viruses."

The best thing you can do to stop getting the flu is to regularly wash your hands, and try to avoid touching your face. [/quote]

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2019-10-surgical-masks-flu.html

I seem to remember that part of what led to the discovery of viruses was that they could get through ceramic filters.

Low humidity can keep viruses circulating in the air (no heavier water droplets to fall to the floor, just wafting on the air currents)
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