The consequences of telling the public that simple cloth and paper face coverings are protective

by philg

On arrival in Florida, which coincided with a (presumably typical going forward) summer COVID-19 case peak, I noticed that the wearing of face masks was actually more common than in Maskachusetts. This surprised me a little, given that MA has been the land of ordering people to wear masks and FL has been notable for its lack of mask orders. But, of course, given the hysterical media stories about Florida as the worst-afflicted state in the nation (except for all of the other states where the death rate has been much higher (and the COVID Olympics score would be even more in FL’s favor if you adjusted for percentage of population over 65)), it is natural that the more fearful residents and visitors would wish to protect themselves from a raging plague.

What was interesting was how the fearful had chosen to protect themselves. Instead of wearing N95 and P100 masks, as you might expect for people concerned about an aerosol virus, they were wearing simple cloth and paper masks, about as effective as a chain link fence against sand. I wonder if this is partly due to the media and government telling us that bandanas, paper surgical masks, and stylish cloth masks are “protective”. (I am aware that the theory is that if 100 percent of people wear such masks that transmission will be reduced (such that everyone gets COVID a few weeks later than otherwise? What is the point if R0 is not reduced below 1?), but this is seldom explained clearly. Certainly no public health official says, in public, “it is pointless for you to wear a mask if nobody else is.” (though sometimes they say that in private; see “Fauci Said Masks ‘Not Really Effective in Keeping Out Virus,’ Email Reveals” (Newsweek))

Some of the same phenomenon is on display with vaccine propaganda. A guy in his 60s cited Dr. Fauci for his belief that 99 percent of people having problems with COVID-19 are unvaccinated (according to the UK’s far superior medical record system, however, the Delta variant kills without distinction; roughly 60 percent of those hospitalized with COVID-19 in Israel are fully vaccinated). To show his concern regarding COVID-19, he was wearing a cloth mask emblazoned “Combat COVID” …. under his nose.

22 thoughts on “The consequences of telling the public that simple cloth and paper face coverings are protective”

  2. I’ve been wondering about surgical masks worn below the nose, too. Is it a fashion statement like pants that only cover half of one’s bottom?

    • It’s people not wanting to wear a mask but having to, making a kludge to obey while not complying.

    • Mario: You may be right in general, but the guy described in the original posting was a cheerleader for COVID-19 Karenhood and was wearing his mask voluntarily (#BecauseFlorida).

  5. > vaccine propaganda

    Yes, it’s surely been the biggest propaganda campaign in history. Oddly, one positive aspect of vaccination hasn’t featured prominently, if at all. From a famous vaccine expert in February 2010:

    “The world today has 6.8 billion people. That’s headed up to about nine billion. Now, if we do a really great job on new vaccines, health care, reproductive health services, we could lower that…”

    What can he have meant?

  6. The latest maskology news. The experiments look sound as opposed to many previous attempts. Note that they studied only exhale filtering efficiency (aka protecting others):

    “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.”
    https://www.studyfinds.org/face-masks-wont-stop-covid-indoors/

    From the published study itself(including experiment movies with a breathing manikin):

    “one-way valve reduces the mask’s apparent efficiency by more than half (down to 20.3%), while a loose-fitting KN95 provides a negligible apparent filtration efficiency (3.4%)”

    “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.”

    “Based on the apparent filtration efficiency, tests performed with no mask at an air-change rate of 1.7h−1 (and higher) outperform cases with high-efficiency masks (KN95 and R95)”

    https://aip.scitation.org/doi/10.1063/5.0057100

  8. > they were wearing simple cloth and paper masks, about as effective as a chain link fence against sand.

    The other night I got takeout at a MA chain restaurant curbside pickup. Long day at work and I wasn’t dining in. I have a stash of N95s that I keep in the car so I don’t look like a Republican.
    Roger that. The server brought out the order as she made her way around the back of the car, I donned my mask and rolled down the window. She was wearing hers under the chin, one of those zexy leopard print numbers to make sure you know she’s a stylish cat of a waitress who cares about COVID.

    Of course she was embarrassed and and fumbled with one hand while dangling my food from the other. “Oh I’m sorry, I should have.” I said: “Don’t be sorry, I understand. It’s nuts. It’ll drive you crazy if you think about it.”

    She said: “But it’s so much better safe than sorry! That’s what I tell everyone, much better safe than sorry! It’s just so nice to get out I forgot!”

    I felt badly. I said: “I agree with you 100% and thank you for bringing this out to me so quickly.” then tipped her in cash.

  9. N95’s are available again. We’re stocking up, yet, on a flight recently… it was insane. Nobody knows how to wear any masks at all. KN95’s with nose clips not tightened, taking a cloth mask down every time they talk so others can hear them, etc. Sigh.

  10. Quadrupling down. No stopping now!

    “Illinois governor mandates COVID vaccines for teachers, college students and health care workers, and imposes indoor mask mandate for all.”

    https://i.ibb.co/5vH2Smm/pritzker-mask.jpg

    https://www.chicagotribune.com/coronavirus/ct-covid-illinois-mask-teacher-vaccine-mandates-20210826-7fwd3sxlarfp7jeztlyggytbv4-story.html

    From a friend in another area of the Elsewhere:

    “KISS concert tomorrow will probably be postponed because Paul Stanley tested positive for covid and he along with the band and entire road crew are fully vaccinated.”

  11. I assume our host is referring to “paper” masks in a sarcastic way and knows there is no such thing as a paper mask. But for the benefit of readers let me explain that all “surgical masks,” sold at any price, are made from plastic, specifically non-woven polypropylene or polyester spunbond or meltdown membrane. Take a match to any mask to test this.

    N95 masks as a complete system block 95 percent of particles of a certain size. Few masks meet this standard, but virtually all mask membrane material, tested in isolation, does, even on cheaper masks.

    • The research I quoted above contradicts your 95% number for N95 — the number seems closer to 50%. With an exhaust valve, filtering efficiency falls to 20% on exhale. Besides, FDA does not recommend (form what it ‘s worth) wearing N95 by children:

      “N95 respirators are not designed for children or people with facial hair. Because a proper fit cannot be achieved on children and people with facial hair, the N95 respirator may not provide full protection.”
      https://www.fda.gov/medical-devices/personal-protective-equipment-infection-control/n95-respirators-surgical-masks-and-face-masks

      Ventilation with proper filtering appears to be the best way to protect people from viral particles in crowded spaces.

    • @Peter U: Yeah, OK.

      You can buy an N95 mask that’s sitting on the CDC’s NIOSH recommend list from an American manufacturer in bulk quantities, in (at least) two configurations, well-made, good materials, fresh as a daisy, etc. and have it shipped straight to your door with an NFC chip embedded to guarantee its authenticity – and get 50 of them for $65. I’m not picking on any specific manufacturer – this is a big business on Amazon and elsewhere. Check out Amazon’s top 100 products in “Home Repair and Improvement” over the past 12 months.

      They are approved under TC-84A-9353 and you can see the list here.

      https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/npptl/topics/respirators/disp_part/n95list1-a.html

      According to the manufacturer, they filter “More than 95% at 0.3μ.”

      That’s great! From the U.S. National Library of Medicine/NIH:

      “SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) By The Numbers”

      They take their high-end filtration number from a single paper done in 2017.

      https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7224694/

      “N95 masks are designed to remove more than 95% of all particles that are at least 0.3 microns (µm) in diameter. In fact, measurements of the particle filtration efficiency of N95 masks show that they are capable of filtering ≈99.8% of particles with a diameter of ≈0.1 μm (Rengasamy et al., 2017). SARS-CoV-2 is an enveloped virus ≈0.1 μm in diameter, so N95 masks are capable of filtering most free virions, but they do more than that. How so?”

      It’s just absolutely amazing. According to our government, a “properly worn and fitted” N95 mask clearing all the other hurdles filters more than 98% of particles 1/3rd the diameter of the ones it filters 95%+ of! That’s a #MIRACLE, and #SCIENCE doesn’t lie!

      You tell me who is full of ***t and has their fudge factors set up straight, and then tell me whether that mask on Pritzker’s face is doing anything other than hiding his big fat no-neck morbidly obese smile.

    • Here is #1 in “TOOLS and Home Improvement”

      https://www.amazon.com/Crayola-Kids-Face-Mask-Reusable/dp/B08B2P2736/ref=zg_bs_hi_1

      Here is #3, with the blonde:

      https://www.amazon.com/TCP-Global-Salon-World-Safety/dp/B08FXLL6CB/ref=zg_bs_hi_3

      “Ideal for most Workplaces: Our essential personal protective masks are worn all over the world in most common workplace environments. They are used by Salon and Spa Professionals, Food Service, Retailers, Warehouses, Offices, Schools, both Indoors and Outdoors.”

  12. The real fun will begun when kids in school, who are now required to wear masks, will simply not be able to follow the rules, put them on correctly or keep them on all the time as required.

    Can you picture a 5, 6, or even 10 y/o keeping a mask on and keeping it on correctly for the duration of a school day? What about some pumped up high schooler who might wear the mask in a funny way to impress his/her girl/boyfriend?

    I’m expecting to see a lot of drama and even fighting. The tension is already out there [1] with parents.

    But maybe not, because I think the real drama will be when 1 student, on week 1, is reported COVID positive, the whole school will be shutdown, if not, teachers will walk. At that point, let’s see how parents will deal with yet another remote learning.

    [1] https://triblive.com/local/north-hills/rowdy-north-allegheny-school-board-meeting-ends-abruptly-when-audience-members-refuse-to-don-masks/

  13. That “roughly 60 percent of those hospitalized with COVID-19 in Israel are fully vaccinated” is sort of lying with statistics. If 100% of the people were fully vaccinated, then 100% of the people hospitalized with COVID-19 would be fully vaccinated.

    Turns out that people are saying, from the Israeli data, that the vaccine was roughly 60% effective in protecting against COVID after 6 months. But if you segregate by age bands, within each age band it’s roughly 90% effective. A compelling real-world example of Simpson’s Paradox!

    https://www.covid-datascience.com/post/israeli-data-how-can-efficacy-vs-severe-disease-be-strong-when-60-of-hospitalized-are-vaccinated

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