Re: [tlug] GW projects

[Raymond Wan <rwan.kyoto@example.com>]

On 2/5/2020 2:30 pm, Curt J. Sampson wrote:
> On 2020-05-02 13:41 +0900 (Sat), Stephen J. Turnbull wrote:
> > Raymond Wan writes:
> Regarding masks, here's my current undersanding of them:
>
> > ...[masks] made out of cloth which are pretty much as effective (as
> > long as nobody literally sneezes in your face)...
>
> Wearing a mask like that is hardly more effective at stopping you from
> getting infected when people aren't sneezing directly in your face
> than when they are. But those non-N95 masks are highly effective on a
> societal level: they greatly reduce the chance that _you_ will infect
> someone else.


Funny that this should be mentioned but I've had people 
sneeze into my face here on multiple occasions, before the 
coronavirus started.  Maybe not next to me, but I most 
certainly got "hit".

Given I've been here and in Japan for the same amount of 
time now...and that it hasn't happened to met in Japan yet, 
I presume it's a matter of where I am and not who I am.  :-)

People here don't seem as quick with sneezing into their 
sleeve, a handkerchief, or, geez, the ground would be an 
improvement for me (maybe not for young kids...).  So, in 
that sense, I think the non-N95 masks here is useful.

But yes, they protect others from you.  No one here uses 
masks properly to protect themselves.  In theory, once you 
touch your mask with unclean hands, you should discard it. 
But people slip them off and on to eat, drink, smoke, etc. 
To protect yourself with masks, you probably need to go 
through a few in a day.

A year ago, there was all that debate (here, at least) about 
plastic straws.  Starbucks, McDonald's, etc. moved to 
paper-based straws.  The number of masks we now go through 
as a society in a day pales in comparison to the number of 
straws...  Just thought this was strange...


> > ...and then somebody will invent a wash-n-wearable comfortable N95 mask...
> So what you want is people at high risk of infection (medical staff
> and so on) wearining N95 masks and everybody else wearing pretty much
> anything else (a cloth bandana is good enough) that keeps their
> spittle and moisture from their lungs from flying about.


I don't know what's the situation in Japan like, but average 
people are wearing N95 masks over here.  It's few, but still 
a bit unfortunate because there is a shortage with medical 
professionals here, too.  (But not as bad as the USA, 
Europe, etc.)

Of course, I presume that they aren't paranoid but maybe 
have some risk factor like diabetes, asthma, etc.  Just 
strange to see them better equipped than doctors and nurses...

Actually, some people here wear gas masks, as well.  I 
presume it's just left over gear from last year's protests, 
which have restarted here the past few days...  <eye roll>

Ray