[HN Gopher] MIT study finds indoor mask wearing much more effect... ___________________________________________________________________ MIT study finds indoor mask wearing much more effective than social distancing Author : antattack Score : 19 points Date : 2021-04-25 21:43 UTC (1 hours ago) (HTM) web link (www.pnas.org) (TXT) w3m dump (www.pnas.org) | excerionsforte wrote: | I mean respiratory virus meet respiratory system. You cover your | respiratory system and you are most of the way there for | protecting yourself. Social distancing indoors wouldn't be | effective without ventilation as you'd be breathing in the same | air that others are exhaling. Touching on the other hand, it is | very effective for. | | You still wouldn't want to be in a room for extended time if | someone is exhaling the virus as the mask can only do so much. | | Just more evidence for what I think is obvious. | briefcomment wrote: | "By assuming that the respiratory droplets are mixed uniformly | through an indoor space..." | | ... Is this a reasonable starting point? Social distancing | assumes the distribution is not uniform. You would think the | researchers would try measuring the distribution first instead of | just assuming that a priori. | | Edit: Haha, I'm struggling to understand the point of this study | when they state something like this: "These models are all based | on the premise that the space of interest is well mixed; thus, | the pathogen is distributed uniformly throughout. In such well- | mixed spaces, one is no safer from airborne pathogens at 60 ft | than 6 ft." | barathr wrote: | I hope we can get to a place by the Fall that everyone leaves | windows open in public buildings, workplaces, etc. if they can be | opened. It's the simplest mitigation strategy. The next easiest | is changing the HVAC system to pull outdoor air in rather than | recirculating the air, and putting in a higher MERV filter. Mask | wearing is good too, but should be seen as a bonus on top of | these simpler strategies. Less surface cleaning and more focus on | air. ___________________________________________________________________ (page generated 2021-04-25 23:00 UTC)