Major League Baseball is using the absolute WORSE form of face mask to contain the spread of the virus.
August 9, 2020
By Tamar Lapin
...The scientists (click here) also discovered that neck fleeces, or neck gaiters, often worn by runners, were the least effective and actually allowed more respiratory droplets to escape than not wearing a mask at all.
That’s because they were shown to break down larger droplets into smaller particles, allowing them to slip out the sides of the covering more easily.
“We were extremely surprised to find that the number of particles measured with the fleece actually exceeded the number of particles measured without wearing any mask,” Martin Fischer, one of the study’s authors, told CNN....
I am going to tell you about the filter mask I finally decided on as the best. I have no relationship with the company, it has been around for a long time and they don't make just filter masks. They make all kinds of medical masks, including those that people use to help breath when they sleep.
The company is out of Canada, but, has manufacturing plants in the USA. It is a really nice company and they practice "give back" in donating masks to firefighters of wildfires and citizens that find themselves compromised by wildfire smoke and dust.
I could be mistaken but I believe the manufacturer is SOLD OUT of these masks. The reason I chose this mask is that its filter comes closest to N95 masks. This company also makes a surgical mask that was sold out some time ago.
O2 Canada (click here) electrostatic filters are charged with pockets of both negative and positive ions, which attract, trap and neutralize small particles. They efficiently filter particles at 0.1 microns and larger. The highly effective O2 Canada filter traps mechanical pollutants found in pollution as well as bacteria and diseases, and based on average use the filter can last up to 2 weeks.
The icon is O2 (two dots) for the electrostatic charge of the filters. O2 is the chemical symbol of oxygen. I like the filter mask a great deal. It fits well and it is the best mask I have worn that actually allows me to breathe easy and forget I am wearing a mask. It has a cushion on the rim of the mask that adds comfort to the face and reduces irritation and pressure on the skin. It can be washed regularly even after each use outside with soap and water. Alcohol-based cleaners are not recommended for the plastic mask. The filters are good for two weeks OR unless they are visibly dirty from looking at the outside shell. The filters should not be washed and should be put in a dry place as a precaution while washing the mask with soap and water or any non-alcohol based cleaner.
This mask was purchased after a short advertisement campaign to the point where it is sold out. They should consider increasing their production and perhaps the size of their manufacturing plant.
The filters are what makes the difference in my choice of this mask. Again, I have no relationship with the manufacturer at all. My only interest is promoting a mask I found helpful as a consumer of such products. This virus is a really lousy episode in USA history and I believe this mask provides better confidence. At least it does for me.
FYI, below.
N95 masks are designed to remove more than 95% of all particles that are at least 0.3 microns (µm) in diameter. In fact, measurements of the particle filtration efficiency of N95 masks show that they are capable of filtering ≈99.8% of particles with a diameter of ≈0.1 μm (Rengasamy et al., 2017). SARS-CoV-2 is an enveloped virus ≈0.1 μm in diameter, so N95 masks are capable of filtering most free virions, but they do more than that. How so? Viruses are often transmitted through respiratory droplets produced by coughing and sneezing. Respiratory droplets are usually divided into two size bins, large droplets (>5 μm in diameter) that fall rapidly to the ground and are thus transmitted only over short distances, and small droplets (≤5 μm in diameter). Small droplets can evaporate into 'droplet nuclei', remain suspended in air for significant periods of time and could be inhaled. Some viruses, such as measles, can be transmitted by droplet nuclei (tellier et al. 2019). Larger droplets are also known to transmit viruses, usually by settling onto surfaces that are touched and transported by hands onto mucosal membranes such as the eyes, nose and mouth (CDC, 2020). The characteristic diameter of large droplets produced by sneezing is ~100 μm (Han et al., 2013), while the diameter of droplet nuclei produced by coughing is on the order of ~1 μm (Yang et. al., 2007). At present, it is unclear whether surfaces or air are the dominant mode of SARS-CoV-2 transmission, but N95 masks should provide some protection against both (Jefferson et al., 2009; Leung et. al., 2020)....
