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The New York Times

31 Oct, 8 tweets, 5 min read

With coronavirus cases rising in the U.S., Europe and many other places across the globe, wearing a mask is more important than ever.

In our animation, we’ll show you how effective a swath of fabric can be at fighting the pandemic. nyti.ms/31ZcCyn

Masks come in many styles and materials, but they generally work in the same way, using a system called filtration.

Layers of fibers capture large respiratory droplets and smaller airborne particles known as aerosols that can carry the virus. nyti.ms/3elEUIk

The animation shows how the fibers of a cotton mask present a dense forest that the particles must navigate.

If you were the size of an aerosol particle, you might have to wade through more than a mile of this fiber forest to get to the other side. nyti.ms/3elEUIk

Fibers of an N95 respirator, which are made of synthetic material, vary in size and are arranged randomly.

They also have an electrostatic charge that attracts and captures particles of all sizes, making them even more efficient. nyti.ms/3elEUIk

Masks of all kinds vary in how efficient they are based on their shape and fit.

A good mask will have a large surface area, a tight fit around the edges, and a shape that leaves space around your nostrils and mouth. nyti.ms/3elEUIk

When everyone wears a mask, the chance of transmission is reduced even more. Let’s say the mask you’re wearing filters half of the particles. Those that escape disperse and are further diluted. The ones that reach someone else’s mask get filtered again. nyti.ms/3elEUIk

We also have an augmented reality component that lets you stand in front of the magnified fibers of an N95 respirator and launch particles to learn how the mask fibers capture them.

This link will take you to Instagram if you’re on your phone.
instagram.com/ar/26674685735…

Good ventilation and social distancing further reduce the risk of transmission.

See more of our animation that explores how masks capture the airborne droplets that can transmit the coronavirus. nyti.ms/3elEUIk

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Rapid coronavirus tests that deliver results in minutes are becoming more widely available in the U.S.

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Antigen tests are faster than polymerase chain reaction (P.C.R.) tests, but are less able to detect low levels of the virus.

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Six states are critical to whether President Trump wins re-election.

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31 Oct

@mattfleg

The masks muffled the chants this election season. But often, in the campaign's final days, the theme was clear: It's something like survival, getting to 2021 in one piece, individually and collectively.

Here's what @mattfleg and @heislerphoto saw. nyti.ms/34J9bxv

Aside from the date of the election, almost everything is different.

On the campaign trail, on one side, campaign rallies have often been reduced to car-bound honk-fests. On the other, they're at once undimmed and discouraged by public health authorities. nyti.ms/34J9bxv

@mattfleg

The United States is “a house so divided that talk of jailing opponents registers as typical fare,” @mattfleg writes. “A country asking not what can be done, exactly, but whether anything can at this point.”

And yet, an election is happening on Tuesday.

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