What size is the Covid virus?
I wonder how effective these masks I see people wearing really are.
Back in college, we were told to wear a respirator , not a paper or cloth mask, to keep from inhaling heavy metal particulates and silica.
In the studio, one could literally see airborne silica particulates floating in the air. especially with the lights dimmed and a flashlight.
If we could see this stuff in the air and needed to wear a respirator, how effective are cloth,paper, old underpants or whatever material people piece them together with, in keeping out a virus that is much smaller than clay particulates?
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27 Answers
The virus attaches itself to water droplets and spreads that way, so the size of the actual virus is not really relevant to the effectiveness of masks.
@ragingloli -Evaporation would take place on the mask conducting it through, wouldn’t it?
@lucillelucillelucille The droplets get caught on the wearers mask. It’s imperfect, but it helps to significantly reduce the viral load getting into the air, and prevents what does escape from being thrown many feet out. That’s why everyone needs to be wearing them. The N95 are much more protective for the wearer, because it stops much smaller particles from getting in.
To answer your question I think the virus is about .12 microns if I remember correctly.
@JLeslie Thanks for your answer.
I was reading a study
done in 2015 by the WHO & another by the CDC stating their ineffectiveness.
What I’m hearing now is mostly anecdotal.
Personally, I have & wear them as respect for others but that’s as far as that goes
To be clear, the masks will do very little, if anything, to prevent you from getting infected. They help prevent you from infecting others.
@lucillelucillelucille It does. If everyone is wearing one, everyone is protected to a large extent. I don’t have a citation and am on my way out the door but that is the latest data I’ve seen.
Oh – I interpreted that wrongly. Your mask does not protect you but the other person wearing one protects you.
@lucillelucillelucille
You breathe in through the sides, and the virus can also infect you through the eyes. So no, it does not work both ways.
Here is a video worth watching. If it’s hard to sit still for the entire thing I recommend skipping forward to minute 4:18, but it is good to see the entire video if you can.
Keep in mind our bodies often can fight a few bad virus particles or bacterias getting in. It’s when our system is overloaded that our immune system has trouble fighting it. It multiples and divided out of control becoming an infection and gets us sick. Too much virus at once and we are already overloaded from the start.
Here’s the video: https://www.facebook.com/393532697351128/posts/3040375499333488/?vh=e
Edit: from what I have read the mask does protect you a little, it’s minimal if anything. You shouldn’t feel safe because you have a cloth mask on when the person next to you has no mask on. N95 will give you much more protection, and I think anyone working face to face with the public should have them even if they only use them some of the time and alternate with a cloth mask.
Or, a shield and mask combo seems like a really good idea to me for greater protection. Sometimes I just wear a shield alone.
@ragingloli -You’d think people would be wearing eye protection as well?
I wonder why Dr. Fauci was not wearing his mask while at that MLB game?
I always wear eye protection indoors if I think I will have a chance of not being able to distance. Supermarkets and other stores I always cover my eyes.
Fauci is constantly tested. I saw an article that he was tested the day before the baseball game. He had his mask down to eat or drink, and momentarily at other times. If people keep doing gotchas everyone will be gotten eventually. Again, it’s prolonged exposure and viral load. It’s all imperfect, people just need to do their best and it will help.
Countries that used masks from before cases got high have been able to keep cases way way down. Taiwan never closed businesses, there are 7 deaths there so far. They started wearing masks as soon as they heard about the virus.
@JLeslie -I have not been getting out much although I did go out to lunch awhile ago.
This stay at home thing has made me get some commission work done that I’ve been procrastinating on for a long time.
I have not seen the numbers on Taiwan.
Short video about Taiwan. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=iiUHhHcxHVM
Taiwan current count is 458 cases and 7 deaths, I just looked it up again. The video I linked says 6 deaths because it’s a few months old. Taiwan never closed businesses and schools are open. The schools are using desk shield for eating lunch and some other precautions.
Edit: for perspective, Taiwan has a population of about 24 million, so similar to Florida. Taiwan did stop travel in and out of the country early on and used quarantines for sick and exposed people.
@JLeslie -Thanks for the population data. I read that it’s about 3.9 times smaller than Fla.
Interesting.
^^You mean the land mass?
Taiwan has the advantage of really stopping travel in and out. In Florida we CONSTANTLY have people coming down here bringing their germs.
@JLeslie -Yep.
I read there was a Covid testing scandal down there.
Nothing surprises me anymore.
There does seem to be a problem with the reporting of the positivity rate. I’m sure they are looking into it. My governor relies on that rate to make decisions, I’m sure he’s pissed off.
According to the excellent link posted by @prabass91, the diameter ranges from 60 nanometers to a maximum of 140 nanometers.
I wonder what the molecular width of one virus is.
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