Texastiger2, if surgical masks are close to 0, do you wear one only because it’s required?
I’m not sure I’m following you.
Personally, I wear 3M Aura (N95) or LG Airwasher (KF94) when I’m seeing patients. Our rooms are small, and we get close in the slitlamp.
In situations where I’m a little less confined, I wear a Cranberry 360 ASTM L2 or L3 procedure mask. They’re a procedure mask, but they fit my face well enough to mostly seal.
I never wear a cloth mask. I don’t wear pleated masks either because they just don’t seal at all on my face. My PCP does though (Haylard).
The efficacy of an ASTM certified mask is very much related to how well they fit.
At the end of the day, only N95+ and their equivalents (N99, P100, KN95, KF94, etc.) are designed to filter on the way in. Surgical and procedure masks are designed to block what comes out of the wearer.
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Clarifying, you wear surgical provided by hospital and Envo?
What are your thoughts on KN95 and KF94?
Yes I wear surgical provided by the hospital
I have not worn N95 but have Envo if I ever need in a high risk situation
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I buy Lutema masks. They are made in San Diego. I like that they are US made. They are sold on Amazon and direct from the company and come in a variety of colors. Aaron Collins rates them pretty highly. They are not his #1, but he rates that they have a 99.2% filtration efficiency. They do have ear loops, but are pretty comfy for me.
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I work in a grade school that asks students and staff to wear a mask from home but does provide a supply of paper masks (three pleats, not fitted, rarely worn correctly by the children) at all the entry doors each day. There are about 575 kids in the school from Pre3 to 5th grade.
They posted they have spent $100k on masks (and maybe other supplies like hand sanitizer and wipes, but they said masks) since the pandemic began. There were also some cloth masks provided at some point with the school’s logo on them, but that was before I began (some, mostly teachers, are still wearing them).
If the paper masks are no good, $100k seems like a lot of money to spend on them. I pick up at least 20 on the floors every day (I’m obsessed with picking up crap in the halls, and it is mostly masks).
Honestly, there are too many people who report always wearing N95, not going out, not interacting with people, always sanitary and still getting omicron. Doing everything right. Sigh. All we can do is try our best and hope. Trust in the vaccine that for the most part, very few 3-dosed people are being hospitalized. I’m trying to decide when to get the 4th dose, understanding that the vaccine will not prevent disease. My most likely source of any infection would be via my son who returns to school on Tuesday. I’m going to get my antibody levels checked and if those are still high, won’t get the 4th dose yet.
My husband picked up the Aura in mid-December at our local Home Depot. They fit my narrow face better than any of the masks he’s gotten before. (Mostly KN95s.)
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Regarding these disposable N95/KN94/95 etc. how many hours can wear them before they start to breakdown or are not as effective? thx.
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Is it number of doses, or the recency of the most recent dose, at least for mRNA vaccines which primarily induce antibody responses that get to high levels but then decline to “maintenance” levels? With the vaccines being mismatched to Omicron, the “maintenance” levels may not be enough to prevent infection as they did with Alpha and earlier variants.
Also, what about J&J x2 or J&J + some other vaccine?
Have read they need to be discarded when visibly soiled, of course. Otherwise, have read it depends— IF you have several and rotate them, allowing them to completely dry and air out between uses for several days (like in separate paper bag apiece) and are only using them when running errands, they can last quite a long time (months). If you use it all day for 8+ hours, their life may be shorter, but still best if you can fully dry/air out in separate paper bag between uses.
It does seem obvious that a 5 minute dash into a store is very different from an 8 hour work day in terms of “using up” a mask.
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Short of a nasal vaccine, we have to deal with what we have at the moment. We can’t booster our way out of preventing Covid. Antibody levels decrease over time, with decreasing vaccine efficacy. Since my 3rd shot was in August, and Israel reports decreased levels after 10 weeks, do I want my 4th dose now? Overimmunization is a problem too (doesn’t given the immune system time to develop properly). Knowing most people with my vaccine levels are not being hospitalized, if my antibody levels are ok, I think I will wait until February, which is when the CDC says would be ok.
Studies show J&J + some other vaccine has bigger bump.
If i am going into a store that is known to be busy and heavily populated, I just double mask my “blue” masks. The second one somewhat seals the first one.
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Not sure what this is in response to for me specifically? I am satisfied with fit; my question is whether I can trust the authenticity of the masks I purchased on Amazon given some of the statements made above my question.
Sorry,@Marilyn. Just was responding to the thread.
The problem is there is no “policing” if you will of most things sold on Amazon regarding authenticity of things such as masks. Aaron Collins discusses this in multiple of his videos and articles in which he is interviewed.
The only thing I felt comfortable going was buying from sources he listed on his spreadsheet, with products he tested. I am not capable of testing masks the way he did and wouldn’t even attempt it.
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I had my third shot in August. In December I had a test done for Covid antibody. It came back with 11,650, and it said <50 au/ml is the standard range. When should people consider to get the 4th shot?
I was just coming on here to ask about Lutema. We’ve been using these pretty much the entire time.
I do worry about wearing a mask all day and if there’s any risk to the lungs breathing in fibers. Can anyone speak to that? I don’t have a choice but it’s a concern and I wonder if there’s anyway to avoid potential issues. I’ve actually been double masking lately and have been wearing a 3 ply cloth over the Lutema. Tried wearing the Lutema over the cloth but the fit isn’t as good.
I found it interesting to read about Bona Fide aka Ball Chain Manufacturing. I didn’t know what a ball chain was or even thought about it until then. The company makes the little chains that hang from ceiling fans among other things.
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