🧵 on N95s:
A few reasons (many more exist) on why they don’t work and they can’t work:
1. There is no seal.
In our macroscopic world, that means “water tight”. If there is a millimeter-sized gap— it’s useless.
Even if fitted, once you talk or move your jaw—it’s compromised.
2. A 95% efficient mask at 0.3 micron is still not good enough to “stop” an aerosolized virus.
The N95 rating is nominal— not absolute, so it may be rated to stop some 0.3 micron particulates for a few moments, but that’s about it.
3. There is no known mechanical filtration method, like masks or a woven filter, to stop a virus or even smoke particles.
4. So what does stop/kill a virus?
- A working vaccine, possibly.
- Light. High-intensity light, like ultraviolet light, at a very high dosage.
Commonality: fighting the microscopic virus at its size-level, not the macroscopic level of masks.
5. “Science” isn’t doing X and seeing if it worked or not.
Science is doing X and comparing to Y (the null set) where Y does nothing or compares it to something else.
Take N95s:
Most randomized control studies (RCTs) on masks account for:
1. The mask
2. The virus
3. Human interactions
Material science takes into account:
1. Masks
2. The virus
RCTs introduce human and virus behavior which skews results….badly.
A breakdown of the @cdc Director’s Twitter video comment that:
“masks reduce the chance of infection by more than 80%.”
From the CDC’s cloth mask study👇
Small-letter 14: “…even N95 could not completely block the transmission of virus droplets/aerosols even when sealed.”
N95s on kids are a mis-application.
Why?
N95s were designed for industrial work situations in adults (droplets, paint particles, dust, etc.) not submicron virus removal— esp. on kids.
Continuation of a 🧵:
Have you seen an N-95 manufacturer or an N-95 style manufacturer say their products works against a aerosolized, sub-micron virus?
No? No TV ads on masks?No radio ads on masks?
Why is that?
The N-95 series testing procedure STP-0059, developed by NIOSH, is a “determination of particulate filter efficiency level for N95 series filters against SOLID particulates”
A solid NaCl (salt) aerosol concentration is not the same nor behaves the same as a submicron virus 🤷♂️
Even @CNN resident “mask expert” tests masks with a NaCl (salt) solution which is not the same thing, nor likely behaves the same as a live virus.🤷♂️
Reason 12 (on this 🧵) that N95s cannot work—lines up with reasons 2,3,6,7,8,10 above:
N95 manufacturers cannot make the infectious disease guarantee.
h/t @RMConservative
Reason 13.
N95’s seal:
The seal on any mask is the weakest link because gases (like air…and liquids, too)— take the path of least resistance: around the seal.
Ex. Goggles work because of a rubber seal.
Pull off the rubber seal
—to become mask-like—
water gets in easily.
Reason 14–
N95s fail:
The air quality instrument used on N95 masks by CNN’s “mask nerd” uses evaporated salt particles to measure mask efficacy— not an actual virus (benign)…and the sensor limit is 0.3 micron.
Imagine there was a sensor to measure submicron virus particles.🤷♂️
1 Liter = 1 septillion nanometers^3
1 million virus particles at 120nm long/wide/deep takes up 2 trillions nanometers^3.
So 1 million virus particles takes up 2 trillionths of a liter.
The best Moldex 2200N95 mask test, per NIOSH, leaked ~0.5 Liter in an 85L/min test.🤷♂️🤷♀️🤔
All masks (filters) leak, so the tweet (above) is about the amount of leakage thru an N95 mask (performed by NIOSH) with a very expensive instrument setup.
NOW…imagine an N95 mask has a 1 millimeter gap somewhere around the “seal”— because the masks in the test were GLUED DOWN.
If 1 nasal droplet (sphere) is 5-10 micron in diameter and each virus particle is a 120 nanometer long sphere, and the nasal droplet is 1% virus by volume, works out to be 700-6,000 virus particles in a single droplet by volume.
This simple calc agrees with min eff dose….👇
Reason 18 N95s don’t work:
The NIOSH N95 test is both a penetration test and pressure drop test.
Limits of penetration test are mentioned above.
And the pressure drop test puts 10mm H2O of resistance on the mask..that’s 0.01 PSI
An average breath?: 1-2 PSI.
100-200x
Reason 19:
The N95 filter efficiency (95%) would have to be more like a mask filter efficiency of:
N99.999999 (micron level) to know submicron viruses were being stopped.
At 0.5L leakage in a minute, lots of particles are getting thru….and the mask is glued down while tested
Reason 20: N95s don’t work—
The N95s do block the large particles/droplets. 👍🏻
…but it’s the smaller aerosolized particles (<1 micron) that pose the real danger deep in the lungs.
Dirty little secret: there are orders of magnitude more of those little ones—by definition.
Reason 21– The Zeno’s Paradox of masks:
1. “ill-advised” to test a mask on a human with a virus—so the human infection dosage (HID) is unclear.
2. The NIOSH N95 mask test uses salt aerosols—not a virus —which behaves differently, selling false hope.
Never arrive at the answer
. Reason 22-
This graph below is why having a null-set comparison (no masks) is so vital to real scientific inquiry:
Else, mask studies done during:
-Jan. 1, ‘20
-Sept. 1, ‘21
-Jan 1, ‘21
Will falsely show the masks were “working” as peaks were reached:
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