https://www.self.com/story/wearing-a-mask-effective-if-nobody-else-is
"If you’ve diligently been masking up at the grocery store, at work, or in
other public spaces, you might have noticed your indoor mask comrades are
dwindling by the day, depending on where you live. The number of people wearing
masks now is in pretty sharp contrast to the height of the pandemic, when most
states and cities had indoor mask mandates in place—not to mention the federal
mask mandate on public transportation that virtually guaranteed that people
would be masked on planes, buses, and rideshares.
When cases dropped in early spring, the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention (CDC) eased its recommendations for indoor masking. And states
quickly followed, removing mask mandates that had been in place for months.
With COVID-19 cases on the rise again in some parts of the country, it’s
understandable to want to mask up indoors again—if you ever stopped masking in
the first place.1 But, the big question is: Are you protected if you wear a
mask and no one else does? “The short answer is yes,” Aaron Collins, a
mechanical engineer who specializes in aerosol science and has been testing and
reviewing the filtration properties of masks on YouTube, tells SELF.
There are still a few variables to consider, and they matter when it comes to
how well you’re protected if you’re the only masker in a sea of people. SELF
talked to Collins and three infectious disease doctors to talk through these
pressing concerns."
Via Joyce Donahue
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
