Some General info about various breathing devices

[ben94122]

I cut up an old N95 mask and put it over the exhale valve to protect others. I don’t see how many liquid particles could get out of the check valve and cover, but if anyone knows what they’re looking at they know a respirator only protects the wearer. Maybe they’ll realize I’m protecting them too. Ordered 20 of the particle only P100 filters when this started instead of the harder to breath through Multigas cartridges I had. Much better for long duration wearing. My glasses fog, so I don’t like surgical type masks. MSA Comfo half face.

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That's a very good point that a respirator with an exhale valve only protects the wearer. I hadn't thought of that!

 

[ben94122]

I think they wanted to keep people from panic buying masks.

That is absolutely the reason. Masks aren't magic, but they help decrease the amount of virus that an infected (even asymptomatic) person releases, and help reduce the amount of inhaled virus that a healthy person is exposed to. One thing to remember is that it's not a binary or all or nothing exposure: there is a concept called ID 50 (median infectious dose). This is the number of infectious particles (virions in this case) that a subject needs to be exposed to in order to develop the disease. This means that there's a range, a bell curve. It's also the reason that, for example, anesthetists or respiratory therapists may develop more severe cases of COVID-19 if they intubate a patient or give a nebulizer treatment or positive pressure ventilation without wearing proper PPE. They are exposed to a large amount of the virus all at once, overwhelming the host defense.

But after what we did with toilet paper, imagine trying to get a mask!

 

[RockCastile]

Anyone know of R&D projects by 3M et. al attempting to revolutionize respiratory PPE, specifically to prevent virus transmission, something that might essentially make masks obsolete? Something along the lines of nostril and mouth covers that form a sealed adhesion to the skin/lips? Maybe an advanced mesh material that the screen is made of (nanofiber, graphene?) that blocks 99.?% of virus particles or perhaps a tiny chamber that employs UV light to sterilize? Surely it's been imagined, attempted, and didn't work before, but I'd be surprised if there's not a product engineer(s) very much back at that drawing board right now. If feasible, what a bona fide game changer, the vaccine for Covid-25, SARS 2.0, etc, will always be some time off from Patient Zero, in the meantime we'd have our life saving nasal and mouth screens. Bring your own goggles and you're set. Pipe dream?