Masking

When does masking help stop transmission?

Masking only helps stop large particle transmissions.  Large particle transmissions appear to occur when someone is sick & is coughing & sneezing, and using a poorly ventilated bathroom soon after someone who is sick as fecal particles in the air appear to transmit infection at a high rate.

This explains why some studies show masking helps even though it doesn’t stop small particle transmission when it is only in the presence of people who are infected & likely the particle concentration in the bathrooms that matter.

Hospital studies where medical personnel wear masks when with patients with covid yet still get sick but stopped getting sick when wearing masks all the time were quite possibly getting sick from large particle transmission in bathrooms.

Update protocols

We could get all the safety of masks by wearing them only when in the presence of infectious patients- including when people are coughing & sneezing- and when in bathrooms.

A major improvement in bathroom safety could be tripling the flow rate of exhaust vents in bathrooms; have automatic door closing; and have a floor vent or  opaque diagonal door vents pointing down for good air flow.