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PaperclipPerfector  11mo ago (text post)   27234 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of December 11, 2023

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... and wasn't a full-face powered respirator, yes

The reason masks don't work is that you can't really breathe that great when wearing something that is both well sealed and a fine enough filter to catch viruses, so some form of PAP is the only real option. (normal half-face cartridge respirators would probably have at least some benefit, but you won't get people to wear those all the time either -- and the reason they aren't approved for high-stakes use around immediately toxic substances is that you can't really tell how well they are sealing minute-by-minute, so you are liable to get a dose before you realize that it's shifted on your face or whatever)

That's possible, but I could also see that not being true for a variety of reasons (maybe the aerosol has a slightly different path through space than air, so a well designed mask can 'catch' the aerosol or something? i dunno). Anyway, that's what the rapid RCT challenge trials on a variety of different mechanisms are for.

It's been done already in the context of workplace safety -- a cartridge mask will theoretically protect you even from something as small and nasty as H2S, but by the time you notice any problems you are in pretty serious danger of death -- so supplied air is the approved approach. What kind of mask are you envisioning that people might be willing to wear but it's not so immediately obvious that it won't filter viral particles that an RCT would be redundant?

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