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© Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.Is it better to wear an N95 or cloth mask?
By EMMA H. TOBIN NEW YORK©2024 GPlusMedia Inc.
37 Comments
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Sven Asai
If an estimated 60% are fake, you surely don’t expect me to care about that whole topic or even to spend any money on that bs. I am vaccinated and willingly of doing anything that makes a bit of sense when it’s about fighting the viruses, but surely I also have some red lines. And this is surely a quite bold one. lol
Suretto
You only demonstrate a deep ignorance about VOCs being as easy to catch as aerosols.
Completely irrelevant.
A VOC-absorbing mask is also "valuable and valid" against toilet stench. It's just very stupid and impractical, outside of some special circumstances.
Just as it's very stupid, impractical, ineffective and expensive to stick to personal protective gear as a state-level/global aerosol control measure for years. But it is just one aspect of how this is a pandemic of problem management stupidity and the virus itself is pretty irrelevant
virusrex
That only demonstrate a deep ignorance about the kind of particles the masks need to stop to be useful. Do you also believe condoms to be worthless because the virus is smaller than the latex pores? its the same mistaken assumption. You give zero arguments against the perfectly valid scientific data that demonstrate the value of mask wearing, simply running away from the evidence do not make it disappear.
If something can be demonstrated scientifically then there is no circus, at least not on the part of the people that just listen to what can be confirmed.
Local Gaijin
Room temperatures not teachers
Local Gaijin
I have switched to N95. I like the ones I’m using quite well. I’m getting a good seal as the fabric actually moves in an out with my breathing. I expected them to be stifling but I’m not finding that at all. I’m not sure how I’d feel in summer but as room teachers and humidity are lower right now, I’m fine with them. Quite comfortable and hopefully will protect me well.
People that want to attack me for masking and/or masking with N95, please refrain from doing so. You know nothing about my medical or professional situation.
El Rata
The best mask is the non-existent one, after that one, if you are forced to comply with the circus, a sponge one under the nose is the best. Works for me.
Suretto
If masks actually were a practical, effective and non-silly long-term measure, then they should also be the main method against toilet smells, instead of ventilation
wtfjapan
I'll keep breathing the way nature intended.
and youll get infected as nature intended, nature hasnt yet found a fool proof way to defeat masks easily,
it a reason why theyve been used so effectively during pandemics in over 100yrs
BackpackingNepal
Neither. Either be free of mask or just wear Ultraman helmet.
half-hearted jumper
Well, you weren't specific - you just used a plural form. Generally, when you say "vaccines" it means "more than one".
Not at all. I'm not the one here declaring science to be a fraud.
ebisen
A true HEPA air filter is gonna cost a whole lot more than 15000 yen...
virusrex
Why not? if no negative effects in health can be identified (even if some people have been using masks all day long in their work since a long time ago) it should be very easy to identify negative effects, if they existed.
All based on the same system of knowledge that prove the vaccines as safe and effective.
That is a false argument, you can discars 100% of what media and "regulators" say and you would still have the same consensus based on primary sources. Misrepresenting the origin of scientific knowledge is something that people do when they understand they can't do anything against science, so they pretend its the media the one that say things on their own.
Experimental and epidemiological data clearly points out it work, so there is nothing silly about it. There is no need to depend on impractical and cost ineffective filtration to observe an effect.
Suretto
Depends on whether you can afford a 15000 yen HEPA air purifier for home and workplace.
Relying on low-quality personal protective gear for aerosol control for years on end is quite silly. But entire nations do it. In Japan it even seems to work somewhat
nonu6976
what an absolutely useless article.
ebisen
Bronco:
As other pointed out, it is safe to assume you also shat in the woods, the way nature intended... and walk around naked as well...
Johnken6
Let me guess: you are a nudist and walk around naked ... you know ... with additional protection as required by cold or hot blazing weather... you know... "the way nature intended"
Raw Beer
Different diseases and different "vaccines".
Always blows my mind when someone believes that the MSM and regulators represent "science". Or perhaps you're an expert of the "accumulation of literally centuries of science."
half-hearted jumper
Interesting perspective. So... you'd have polio, tetanus, hep A/B, rubella, HIB, measles, whooping cough, rotavirus, chickenpox, and diphtheria just run rampant, huh?
Always blows my mind, when someone basically declares that they know more than the accumulation of literally centuries of science.
hattorikun
If someone is with an N95 mask here in Japan, s/he probably looks ridiculous to me. It’s almost non-existent if you walk around town. We are good with disposable masks here.
Jim
I guess you won’t be able to access many things easily if you are living in Japan and don’t wear a mask!
You probably don’t work in Japan where all offices, shops, restaurants, malls, supermarkets require masks to enter!
virusrex
There is no evidence mask use have any negative effect in the immune system, that is a myth from antiscientific groups without basis on reality.
That is also a personal opinion that can be proved mistaken with scientific evidence. Not vaccinating and not using masks can be proved to be much more risky for your health, which clearly contradict your beliefs.
What part of the “Our main message continues to be that any mask is better than no mask,” statement from the CDC did you not understand? it is not a decorative face covering (nor it was considered the same as better face masks from the very beginning).
spinningplates
''OnTheTrailToday 09:17 am JST
Two years of everyone walking around in cloth masks, now we learn they where "decorative face coverings". The ole' "scientific consensus" hard at work.''
Only if you've been uninformed or misinformed from the beginning.
In April 2020 WHO released findings about the efficacy of different masks as part of their early campaigning that 'any mask is preferable to no mask' The problem was (and remains) morons interpreted and twisted the study that showed cloth masks to be less effective as...'masks are ineffective'.
garypen
Cloth masks were always considered low protection and prevention, and recommended only as a last resort when proper masks are/were unavailable. That was always the scientific consensus.
garypen
The Korean KN94 masks are much more comfortable than N95, and offer nearly the same protection.
The key with any decent quality non-woven mask is proper fit. Most of those pleated masks just don't provide a good seal, especially around the nose.
The "3D" masks, which would include N95, KN94, and similar styles provide a much better fit than the pleated ones. Just make sure to buy decent quality, stick to known brands, and avoid "made in China", regardless of type/style.
And, cloth masks are nearly useless, as are the foam ones like Pitta.
garypen
I assume you walk around barefoot, the way nature intended.
And, walk everywhere, not taking a bicycle, motor vehicle, train, or aircraft, as nature intended.
GBR48
Most people will not be able to cope with N95 masks for any length of time. Omicron is far weaker than previous variants. It needs to run through the socially motile and it will. Most 'N95' masks available retail are knock offs.
This article is not particularly helpful and will just cause some folk unnecessary worries/expense.
Get a booster jab and wear your usual mask.
OnTheTrail
Two years of everyone walking around in cloth masks, now we learn they where "decorative face coverings". The ole' "scientific consensus" hard at work.
Raw Beer
Yes! That is how we maintain a properly functioning immune system, with regular exposures to diverse antigens. There is something very unhealthy with trying to keep one's environment as sterile as possible while relying on "vaccines" to protect us, injecting antigens (or even worse, their genes) directly into our bodies.
virusrex
That would mean getting infected as nature intented, and have a life expectancy closer to what nature intended as well.
One problem wit the N95, K95 etc. masks is that they require to be used in a skin thigh fit to be effective, and this is much more difficult than other types of masks. If a person is going to wear a badly adjusted respirator (and mostly breathing air that comes from openings around it) then it would be more effective to wear a three-layered surgical mask that is much easier to wear properly.