[nohat]

HN has been pretty hostile to the idea. I submitted Jeremy Howards video and research collation, and got a single borderline insulting comment. Unfortunately people have largely made up their minds thanks to the plethora of attacks on masks.

moral "Your stealing them from healthcare" (lots of people have a couple old masks, or can make one from a t-shirt)

paternalistic "You'll go do stupid stuff if you have a mask" (Exactly why we shouldn't have people wash their hands)

ridiculous "You'll touch the mask and get it on your hands" (Is that worse than inhaling it? Plus it physically prevents you from touching you mouth or nose, which is the real danger.)

insulting "You can't possibly wear a mask correctly" (and why can't we figure that out? Plus it still helps both for protecting other people and ourselves. If something doesn't work perfectly then we shouldn't do anything at all?)

just false "it doesn't work" (except in asian countries and for healthcare workers, and in studies, and in common sense)

[koheripbal]

...and experts in the field have been withholding evidence that masks are effective to protect their peers from mask shortages.

https://www.microbe.tv/twiv/twiv-special-lipkin/

timestamp: 33:30

[yread]

I agree that wearing a mask is a good idea but I think the risk is that as you breath or cough through a cloth mask it very quickly becomes wet and saturated with virus particles (if you're sick) and then every breath you exhale goes through a sieve full of virus particles greatly increasing the number of droplets in it.

If you touch it, you touch a reservoir of virus particles.

And it probably doesn't protect you significantly from other people's droplets or airborne virus particles as they are too small for the holes in the fabric.

On the other hand even if it reduces the risk 20% it still helps to reduce the R0

[xref]

If you’re coughing enough to “very quickly saturate” a cloth mask into a sopping wet rag...don’t go out.

[roenxi]

If you can slow down the speed of the water particles the virus is traveling on that will presumably have a positive effect.

Speaking in a 'might help' frame of mind; directing the force of the cough down towards the ground so the virus settles is probably a pretty decent mitigation. Virus on the foot is a lot less likely to infect someone vs virus coughed into their face.

We're not dealing with a parasite; viruses can't move unless we move them.

[vincentmarle]

> breath or cough through a cloth mask it very quickly becomes wet and saturated with virus particles

The alternative is to breathe or cough your virus particles in open-air? That doesn’t make sense.

[l_davis]

If you are going out for an extended period of time, carry an extra mask with you so you can change it if it gets wet.