I used to work in the Defense Industry in Chem-Bio Defense, literally supported the Aerosol Sciences Team.
I make no claim of Authoritative Expertise, but I knew enough to know that, while long virus chains clinging to aerosolized water vapor particles are bigger than chemical agent particles, which also glom, I was pretty confident that,…
I used to work in the Defense Industry in Chem-Bio Defense, literally supported the Aerosol Sciences Team.
I make no claim of Authoritative Expertise, but I knew enough to know that, while long virus chains clinging to aerosolized water vapor particles are bigger than chemical agent particles, which also glom, I was pretty confident that, if even KN95 masks would prevent the transmission of bio agents, no one would have gotten $KaBillion to make carbon-based (not HEPA/particulate) filter JSPGM masks, that are verified to fit a face and properly seal by virtue of what had been the M40 Mask Tester.
TL;DR - I was skeptical. I won't flood this comment with links but suffice to say that, the holes in mask fabric, even N95s, is _much_ larger than the particles.
NOTE that, if the infected aerosol particles were sufficiently large that they could be captured by the mask weave, then Gravity rears its Ugly head and the particles too large to stay airborne for long. They're [edit - dag, another homophobe] not 'aerosolized,' which completely obviates the mask in the first place.
Side anecdote: When the CA wildfires were raging in the summer of (I think) 2021, Masking was all the rage.
I was in the care listening to a Dr. Fauci interview on the radio and the host noted, "Well, it's a good thing we're wearing masks so much with all the smoke in the air." to which Fauci quickly replied, "Oh, no - smoke particles are much too small to be caught by masks!"
You know what kind of particles are even smaller than smoke particles? Freaking aerosolized virus particles!
And even in all their MOPP gear, if the contagion is significantly concentrated in an area, it might be better to just avoid it - IF IT'S REALLY DANGEROUS IF NOT DEADLY, which COVID was mostly not.
I used to work in the Defense Industry in Chem-Bio Defense, literally supported the Aerosol Sciences Team.
I make no claim of Authoritative Expertise, but I knew enough to know that, while long virus chains clinging to aerosolized water vapor particles are bigger than chemical agent particles, which also glom, I was pretty confident that, if even KN95 masks would prevent the transmission of bio agents, no one would have gotten $KaBillion to make carbon-based (not HEPA/particulate) filter JSPGM masks, that are verified to fit a face and properly seal by virtue of what had been the M40 Mask Tester.
TL;DR - I was skeptical. I won't flood this comment with links but suffice to say that, the holes in mask fabric, even N95s, is _much_ larger than the particles.
NOTE that, if the infected aerosol particles were sufficiently large that they could be captured by the mask weave, then Gravity rears its Ugly head and the particles too large to stay airborne for long. They're [edit - dag, another homophobe] not 'aerosolized,' which completely obviates the mask in the first place.
Side anecdote: When the CA wildfires were raging in the summer of (I think) 2021, Masking was all the rage.
I was in the care listening to a Dr. Fauci interview on the radio and the host noted, "Well, it's a good thing we're wearing masks so much with all the smoke in the air." to which Fauci quickly replied, "Oh, no - smoke particles are much too small to be caught by masks!"
You know what kind of particles are even smaller than smoke particles? Freaking aerosolized virus particles!
Even if they had efficacy they would they would have to be worn at all times by everyone.
Yup.
And even in all their MOPP gear, if the contagion is significantly concentrated in an area, it might be better to just avoid it - IF IT'S REALLY DANGEROUS IF NOT DEADLY, which COVID was mostly not.