[champagnois]

N95s work via an electric polarity of the filter. This charge is what captures the viruses. Filtration fades when the charge is lost.

I don't need to see your studies because I have helped build and certify N95 factories and know a lot about it. The masks arent usable for long and arent reusable, either.

Cloth masks do nothing and are not a consideration to any serious adult.

[AlexandrB]

> N95s work via an electric polarity of the filter

...as well as mechanical filtration[1].

> To minimize the effect of electrostatic attraction, we used isopropanol (IPA) to remove nearly all dipole charges in the filter layer (Figure Figure77C) and measured the filtration efficiency. The filtration efficiencies of N95 respirators after IPA treatment decreased about 7–15% after removing all dipole charges. Such decreases in filtration efficiencies indicated that electrostatic charges contributed to the filtration performance.

Others here have pointed to studies RE the efficacy of cloth masks. Which, while not great, is not 0 either. I'm willing to be wrong, but do you have any research showing that "Cloth masks do nothing"?

[1] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/labs/pmc/articles/PMC7724761/

[elsonrodriguez]

Why make the claim that n95s don't filter viruses and then say that they do indeed capture viruses?

Also yes the filtration fades but there's data out there showing 40 hours of use on KF94s still showing filtration percentages in the low 90s.

[champagnois]

You misunderstood or I was not clear. N95s do filter viruses when used properly and still within their rated window of use.

[323]

> The masks arent usable for long and arent reusable

Only because lawyers got involved and are trying to minimize liability (ie: you used it wrongly, not our problem anymore).

Or are you telling me that if I put an N95, and remove it after 5 min, I can't reuse it 1 hour later, but it's fine if I wear it 8 hours straight. Yes, yes, it could get contaminated on the inside surface in between, I know. But will it stop filtering viruses just because I took it off?

[AnthonBerg]

Masks are eminently reusable.

From a Twitter thread by Dr. Claire J. Horwell, Director of International Volcanic Health Hazard Network (IVHHN), Professor at Duram Volcanology – “here's a short thread to answer the question: can you wear a disposable #facemask more than once? The answer is YES. Many manufacturers state that masks should be disposed of after 8 hours but this is not true. […] Unless a mask has become clogged full of particles in a very high exposure scenario (e.g. mining, construction) or the worker is in a contaminated front-line healthcare setting, it is still perfectly useable after 8 hours, unless it is broken.”

https://twitter.com/claire_horwell/status/146640027013763072...