New Nose Only Covid Masks

“The real issue is that N95 masks used in contaminated environments should be discarded after a max of 8 hours.”

There might be a solution to that problem:

https://www.news-medical.net/news/20210324/New-copper-based-foam-filter-could-be-used-in-facemasks-or-air-filtration-systems.aspx

“The team found the metal foams had excellent filtration efficiency for particles within the 0.1-1.6 µm size range, which is relevant for filtering out SARS-CoV-2. Their most effective material was a 2.5 mm-thick version, with copper taking up 15% of the volume.

This foam had a large surface area and trapped 97% of 0.1-0.4 µm aerosolized salt particles, which are commonly used in facemask tests.

According to the team’s calculations, the breathability of their foams was generally comparable to that of commercially available polypropylene N95 facemasks.

Because the new material is copper-based, the filters should be resistant to cleaning agents, allowing for many disinfection options, and its antimicrobial properties will help kill trapped bacteria and viruses, say the researchers. In addition, they are recyclable.

The researchers estimate that the materials would cost around $2 per mask at present, and disinfection and reuse would extend their lifetime, making them economically competitive with current products”

end excerpt

We need good masks for the future. The Wuhan virus may not be the only biological problem we face in the future. I read yesterday where 40 people in the United States were being monitored for Ebola virus, after they returned recently from Africa.

The Wuhan virus has taught us quite a lot. Some good, some not so good.

One good thing is medical research has been turned up to 11, and progress is being made on many diseases, and ways to treat them, as a result.

I saw numbers yesterday showing that deaths from the normal flu virus were about 1,800 this year verses a normal year where about 300,000 would be expected to die from the flu.

Is this the result of more people wearing masks or is it an accounting error?

There seems to be a lot of development going on with masks.

One idea I read about today was a device that is worn on the hip and is connected to a face mask, and it purifies the air you breath before you breath it.

If the air you breathe in and out can be brought in contact with a good strong UV-C light source, the virus will be controlled. it won’t be killed, per se but prevented from replicating and made relatively harmless. The light DOES kill any bacteria in it’s path. The trick is to make sure the light does NOT shine in your eyes. These systems would be of HUGE benefit in the air ventilation system of any home, business or hospital.

So what we need to do is perfect a mask to prevent our immune system from exposure to the normal challenges that make it function properly. That way every piddling virus can be declared a pandemic and great profits will ensue. Good plan!

What’s your plan if a new virus with 10 percent lethality pops up in the human population? Are you just going to take your chances, or are you going to try to prevent yourself from contracting the virus? I know what I’m going to do. I’m going to get hold of the best protective gear I can find. You are free to practice your theory.

So what you are saying is that while there is no evidence that masks are medically effective, you are adamant about wearing one for its unproven health benefits. This makes the mask a talisman against deadly miasmas.

And to think that for thousands of years in every land and culture, not one person ever found that they can remain disease free by wrapping their head in cloth – but today, any cloth will do!

“So what you are saying is that because there is evidence that masks are medically effective” There, I fixed your typo!

And you wear your mask 24 hours a day, including at home and in bed? Right…

Long ago, before Covid, most of us have learned to cover our mouth/ nose when we cough or sneeze. I guess you weren’t listening.

Proximity is BS. If you think about it for a few seconds and realise what virusses and virus particles actually are in physical form, yoy will realise that.

I have thought about it a great deal and don’t see how “proximity is BS”. What other “form” could a virion be but “physical”? One must be in the vicinity of a source of infection (proximity) to become infected.

Nope. A virus particle needs to enter your body. Thereś a quazillion ways that can happen. The source can be at the other side of the world, doesn matter.
How long and it what way and form do virus paricles exist outside of hosts? Thatś the real question. No proximity in there

Please describe how you can become infected by a virus on “the other side of the world”.

Before contact, the native Americans were unfamiliar with many serious infections common to Europeans and had no immunity. After contact they suffered tremendously from these diseases, dying in thousands. That is the effect of proximity. No proximity, no infection.

Correct. Only point of contention it was “dying by the tens of millions”. The wipe out was heavy especially in the Caribbean and Central America. Definitely not thousands.

Yes, over time it did add up to the millions, world wide. I remember reading James Michener’s Hawaii and he describes the measles epidemic of 1848 with a terrible death toll (possibly 30%). But it is estimated that diseases like common cold, flu and others had already killed about 75-80% of the pure Hawaiian population by 1819.

Globalism has taken its pound of flesh, for sure. Populating the world hasn’t come without cost.

I wrote: the source can be at the other side of the world. That is why social distancing is B.S. Virus and virus particles can exist outside a host for months, yes multiple. For instance ebola:

https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/services/laboratory-biosafety-biosecurity/pathogen-safety-data-sheets-risk-assessment/ebolavirus.html

With the source of the virus at the other side of the world and a qazillion ways of transporting the virus outside of a host, anythting is possible.

That is also why 1.5 meters of distance is nonsense. The average person walks at a speed of 5 km/h. The time needed to walk 1.5 meter is about 1 s. Right into that big cloud of virus particles left behind by the previous occupant of that space.

You’re talking utter nonsense. Active Ebola exists somewhere in the world right now. I’m not in the least bit concerned I will become infected. If there was a case of Ebola in the house next door (the proximal source) I would be concerned. You’re conflating the original source with the source of an outbreak. How the Ebola got to the house next door is another issue altogether.

Social distancing and lockdowns are pointless, but not because of what you wrote. It’s pointless because of how few people are infected. We’re locking up healthy people and wearing useless face diapers so that unhealthy people can walk around unrestricted.

Right into that big cloud of virus particles left behind by the previous occupant of that space.

Except there is an almost nonexistent statistical likelihood that the people we pass daily will be carrying an infectious version of the virus. However if you do get close to an infected person (proximity) the odds improve that you could become infected.

Quote: “How the Ebola got to the house next door is another issue altogether.”

So your neighbour has a different risk profile just because he is not you?

The virus doesn’t care wether it is you or your neighbour, all other things being equal.
Again in our modern world, distance means nothing because the time needed to cross that distance is very short in relation to a virus’ lifespan outside a host.
Social distancing is total nonsense because there is virtually no time needed to get to a virus being ejected from a host compared to the time the virus will be hovering in the air.

You might have missed the word “if” in Ray’s post. Go back and look, it’s there. (His neighbor might have just come back from a trip to west Africa, as has apparently happened recently–see the news.)

You might have missed the “all other things being equal”. Go back and look it’s there.
Point is you do not have to be near a known source of infection. Because of modern life where distance have no real meaning anymore everything is a possible source of infection.

So your neighbour has a different risk profile just because he is not you?

Of course he does. Perhaps he went to a location in Africa wear he was in the proximity of an active strain of the virus. Perhaps he had a house guest from there. Proximity to an active virus is paramount to infection. No one is exposed all the time to all active virions, regardless of location.

Again in our modern world, distance means nothing because the time needed to cross that distance is very short in relation to a virus’ lifespan outside a host.

Nonsense! You’re suggesting viruses are magic … in all places at all times.

The virus doesn’t care wether it is you or your neighbour, all other things being equal.

Except “all things” are NOT equal. Everything is subject to its own variables.

You’ve made so many hasty generalization fallacies it’s hard to keep up.

There are NOT a quazillion ways of transporting virus in the air. As for walking, most of the need for distancing is based on the situation where people are sitting or standing in one place, like a restaurant or a crowd. But even if you are walking, the virus has already dispersed some during that second, and the air the walker displaces is also serving to disperse the virus. And finally, you walk through that other person’s cloud pretty quickly–quickly enough that you may not even be inhaling at the time.

The “in the air” claim is yours, not mine.
You do not have to be inhaling to become infected, what a strange idea. Apart from that dispersion is a statistics game, not relevant here. It takes only 1 virus particle to infect you.
All of this is not hard to understand.

Actually, there are only a few ways that a virus can enter one’s body. Furthermore, almost all viruses, even those that are encapsulated tend to break down in the environment. Hepatitis B will last months while COVID breaks down in a matter of hours at best.

Of course there’s proximity. For one, viruses don’t last long outside the body; UV and other things get them. For another, dispersal, particularly as the droplets bearing the virus sink to the ground, but also just diffusion. That takes time and distance, aka proximity.

Many thanks to you as well for expanding (refreshing) my education. I’ve learned a great deal on this thread and you’ve forced me to dredge up some long forgotten memories from over 50 years ago.