Eighteen months into the pandemic, we’re entering a new phase. While we have better Covid protection from vaccines and natural antibodies, we’re also returning to high risk environments like night clubs and offices.

What does that mean for face masks? trib.al/ntQaaQY
Research suggests that most of us can de-mask without guilt or worry in many instances — and not just outdoors.

Unfortunately, that doesn’t mean ditching masks entirely. Instead, it’s time to get tactical trib.al/ntQaaQY
Numerous studies have shown masks help a lot:

Transmission is most reduced when an infected person wears a mask. But wearing a mask also protects you from getting the virus.

If both parties wear a mask, the risk of transmission drops by more than 90% trib.al/ntQaaQY three photos of two people stood together. when the uninfectline chats showing risk of infection being reduced when ever
U.S. states that had high mask usage one month avoided high Covid rates in the subsequent month even after adjusting for masking policy, distance policy and demographic factors.

In contrast, most states with low mask usage ended up with high case rates trib.al/ntQaaQY
But it’s not just the act of wearing the mask that matters. What masks we wear, and especially how they fit, is key.

While N95s offer a higher level of protection, a well-fitted surgical mask blocks most particles trib.al/ntQaaQY line chart showing the % of particles of different sizes tha
One myth is that masks increase the amount of CO2 the user breathes, leading to feelings of illness or tiredness.

🦖But if a CO2 molecule were the length of a T-Rex, then the average pore size of an N95 mask would span a country the size of Italy 🇮🇹 trib.al/ntQaaQY infographic comparing the size of a CO2 molecule if it were
Denser reusable mask fabrics are much more effective than loosely woven scarves or cloth.

The design of face coverings can also make a big difference. Leaks can significantly reduce a masks’ effectiveness trib.al/ntQaaQY
Layering masks can also improve efficacy. A three-ply surgical mask blocked 42% of particles from a simulated cough; a three-ply cloth mask was pretty similar.

But the protection jumped to 92% when a cloth mask was worn over a surgical mask trib.al/ntQaaQY
Many of us aren’t wearing masks correctly, and that reduces efficacy by quite a lot.

Gaps, diaphanous cloth masks, scarves doing double-duty – all allow aerosols to penetrate or escape from them trib.al/ntQaaQY
Finding the right mask is highly personal. It can be particularly hard if you have:

👧🏽A small face
🤓Glasses
🧔🏻A beard

Here are some strategies for plugging the leaks:
Comfort is important to being able to wear a mask for long periods of time.

In addition to metal strips that can help a mask stay on better, straps that tie behind the head & mask extenders can help reduce soreness around the ears trib.al/ntQaaQY
All of this research doesn’t begin to get at what makes masks so emotive. Masks act as a:

😷Barrier to effective communication, making us less able to connect with others
😷Jarring visual reminder of what we lost when we got hurled into the pandemic trib.al/ntQaaQY
As much as we’d like to see the end of masks, the high transmissibility of delta and declining vaccine protection means we need them in our routines.

Masks will help prevent more variants from emerging and flu infections trib.al/ntQaaQY
To know whether a mask is a good idea or superfluous, check the risk factors:

👥How densely packed and how well-ventilated is the space?
🏃🏿‍♀️Will you be moving around or stationary?
📈What are the infection and vaccination rates where you are? trib.al/ntQaaQY
For example, it’s certainly good to mask up in an elevator or on public transport where people are pretty close together.

It’s probably not necessary in an open-planned, well-ventilated office trib.al/ntQaaQY

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More from @bopinion

20 Sep
New York is emerging as one of the world's most resilient cities in the wake of the pandemic.

Its success is more than just its size — it’s the Big Apple’s model of urbanism that offers something no other American metropolis can match trib.al/0SEiY77
New York was the first big city in the U.S. to be hit hard by Covid-19.

Immediately, people began predicting the pandemic would trigger a backlash against dense urban living. A wave of murder and violence followed the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests trib.al/0SEiY77 Image
For some cities like San Francisco, the exodus seems real.

But more people moved to the New York City metropolitan area during the Covid pandemic than moved out, according to an analysis of cell phone data.

Young people are especially eager to move in trib.al/0SEiY77 Image
Read 13 tweets
19 Sep
With millions of kids going back to school in September, their movements are frequently tracked by parents.

The idea of digitally surveilling kids is a tricky one. Keen parents seem largely oblivious to the institutional concerns about the practice trib.al/h0I0qfW
.@parmy talked with about a dozen British parents sending their 11-year-olds to secondary school with phones.

About three-quarters said they would monitor their child’s movements through an app of some sort, largely for safety reasons trib.al/SOm7D7w Image
Various institutions aren’t fans of parents tracking their kids' phones.

Ireland’s data protection regulator says in its draft guidance that geolocation tracking should be turned off “by default for child users” trib.al/SOm7D7w Image
Read 10 tweets
18 Sep
The world’s largest battery manufacturer — China’s Contemporary Amperex Technology — has officially unveiled a sodium-ion battery.

This technology could lead to widespread adoption in a market largely dependent on subsidies trib.al/vdv96sd
Sodium-ion batteries currently have a relatively lower energy density, but they run better at cooler temperatures and have a greater life span.

This makes them a better long-term investment trib.al/vdv96sd Image
China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said it would drive the development, standardization and commercialization of sodium-ion batteries.

This would provide a cheaper, faster-charging and safe alternative to the current crop on offer trib.al/vdv96sd Image
Read 9 tweets
16 Sep
Never ones to miss a chance to cry “hardship,” upper-middle-class, well-educated young Americans are getting in on the Chinese “lie flat” social protest movement, claiming they, too, are burned out and quitting their jobs to do nothing trib.al/e5rjiys
It started among Chinese factory workers burned out from grueling 12-hour, six-day work weeks, and the unrelenting pressure to climb the economic ladder.

So some Chinese millennials formed a movement to opt out of work and the pressures of society trib.al/e5rjiys
What this trend will mean for China is unclear, but Americans who choose to lay down in lieu of work may end up worse off than they think trib.al/e5rjiys
Read 12 tweets
15 Sep
On Labor Day, 7.5 million Americans lost their federal unemployment benefits, and another 3 million unemployed lost the $300 bonus that had been in place since March.

That’s a lot of people with no immediate way to support themselves and their families trib.al/pK04k9j
What would Franklin Roosevelt — who put America to work during the Great Depression — make of the way Washington has responded to this economic crisis? twitter.com/i/broadcasts/1…
The New Deal’s attack on the Great Depression had four main components:

💵Temporary direct relief for the impoverished
🔐A stronger social safety net
🇺🇸An expanded regulatory state
💼Jobs for the legions of unemployed
trib.al/pK04k9j
Read 15 tweets
14 Sep
18-year-old Emma Raducanu is taking the tennis world by storm.

Her victory in the U.S. Open turned her into one of those athletes who you can’t help but watch and want to know more, or even pick up a racquet trib.al/VKDcbjm
How big is this win? @ThereseRaphael1 asked Michel Masquelier, former chairman of IMG Media.

“It’s as good as it gets,” he says. “Tennis is an individual sport, so any individual who shines on that stage is instantly recognizable” trib.al/VKDcbjm Image
Alongside her championship title, Raducanu has other force multipliers for propelling celebrity and commercial success. There’s her international reputation:

🇨🇳Chinese mother
🇷🇴Romanian father
🇬🇧Raised in Britain
🇺🇸Shot to fame in the U.S.
trib.al/VKDcbjm Image
Read 13 tweets

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