N95 Masks vs. Surgical Masks: Which Is Better at Preventing The Coronavirus?

Lila

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jul 15, 2019
Messages
74

I was very surprised by the findings here. I stand corrected on a statement made in another post where i mentioned an N95 mask as being the only true effective mask for protection when out and about against infection of corona virus. 😷
 
Last edited:
May I ask if this is a rhetorical question?
OR do you have some supplier somewhere with masks?
Are they back on the market again?
 
Excellent info! Thank you for sharing! I think a mask worn by the infected will prevent them from coughing or sneezing on you. So...wear a mask regardless as a safe measure. You may be infected but show no symptoms until later and in most cases won't even know it until symptoms began to arise. By then you could have infected others. I think it best to be proactive and not reactive. Right? Any thoughts?
 
Last edited:
May I ask if this is a rhetorical question?
OR do you have some supplier somewhere with masks?
Are they back on the market again?
This is not meant to be a rhetorical question by no means at all. We all know that droplets that become airborne after someone coughs or sneezes are micosize. I had read in the past that only N95 mask/respirators were effective at catching or stopping these airborne droplets. Thus about 2 months ago i purchased 4 of them on Tokopedia. They are not cheap, and not very comfortable to wear and use, besides being very restrictive on ones breathing when worn. They block up to 95% of airborne particles. I have scoffed at the use of surgical masks in times past and thought them to be useless in protecting oneself. This article states, if I am not mistaken, that surgical masks can block up to 80% of airborne pathogens. A surgical mask is much cheaper to buy, less restrictive on breathing, much more comfortable to wear, nearly effective as an N95 mask, and hopefully more readily available online. My point is...the N95 mask/respirators are not the only effective choice in helping protect oneself against infection as was mine and perhaps others previous belief prior to reading this article. Thus, the article contained within this thread is worthy of reading. The title of this thread is merely restated from the article mentioned herein. The article is informative and thought others might find it helpful in part to staying healthy. Be smart, be safe, be healthy. ☺
 
I see on Tokopedia that there are sellers offering child mask that were once found in Ace at 4 mask/Rp8,000, now for Rp100,000. You would think that there was someone stopping these thieves.
I may not be able to find mask but I refuse to be charged some ridiculous price because someone wants to take advantage of people in time of need..
 
Masks do not prevent you from getting the virus. They only help slow the SPREAD of the virus, by stopping your cough droplets from landing on other ppl and surfaces. This information can be found on EVERY responsible health website and has been repeated ad nauseum for weeks now.
 
Masks do not prevent you from getting the virus. They only help slow the SPREAD of the virus, by stopping your cough droplets from landing on other ppl and surfaces. This information can be found on EVERY responsible health website and has been repeated ad nauseum for weeks now.
Then no need for medical personnel wearing them and the shortage for them is just fake news. While I agree they do best to keep others from catching something you may have, they do assist in protecting you is in fact you get the proper mask. like this thread was discussing.
 
Then no need for medical personnel wearing them and the shortage for them is just fake news. While I agree they do best to keep others from catching something you may have, they do assist in protecting you is in fact you get the proper mask. like this thread was discussing.

Medical personnel wear masks for even routine tasks having nothing to do with viruses. It's all part of the uniform. Did you think they were gonna take em off during the CV crisis just to show they didn't need em?
 
Medical personnel wear masks for even routine tasks having nothing to do with viruses. It's all part of the uniform. Did you think they were gonna take em off during the CV crisis just to show they didn't need em?
No, I certainly wouldn't think so. The thing is, the right mask offer a level of protection. If that level is 95% protection, it sure seems better than no level of protection. They also offer something very important to the wearer. Peace of mind.
 
surgical mask, prevent the one who sick to infect other, other kind of mask...... protect the mouth and nose but....well the virus just entered your body via eyes, or ear canal :oops:
 
surgical mask, prevent the one who sick to infect other, other kind of mask...... protect the mouth and nose but....well the virus just entered your body via eyes, or ear canal :oops:
The properly equipped medical personnel are wearing face shields or goggles. Some protection is better than no protection. If we plug our ears too, then what is next to be plugged! Oh my!!! 😀😯😲🤤
 
Last edited:
surgical mask, prevent the one who sick to infect other, other kind of mask...... protect the mouth and nose but....well the virus just entered your body via eyes, or ear canal :oops:
So in your perfect world that must exist in some other universe, all that are sick will be wearing a mask so we shouldn't be worrying ourselves. Well, thus universe says differently. Many do not even know they are sick yet and feel they have no reason to wear a mask. Wouldn't the healthy individual gain some protection from them if they were wearing a mask? I would think so. Take into consideration that we are in Indonesia. Not the best at diagnosis or treatment. The highest death rate from this virus in the world. People who refuse social distancing because god will protect them. People that congregate anywhere and everywhere. A government that has no clue as how to even attempt to handle this and is too pig headed to allow someone from the outside to offer sound advice.

Here, you can not do enough to protect yourself but if you think doing nothing is the answer, stay the hell away from those close to me or anyone for that matter. Those that think they are always safe or some invisible ghost will protect them are core to the spread of this virus.
 
At this stage, it's better for people to believe that they are protected by wearing a surgical mask even if it's not true because we all know that people in general are more likely to do something perceived as benefitting them first than benefitting others.
 
We now know a few things about the virus than we did before. Most importantly:

1) It is partially aerosolized, staying in air up to several hours.
2) It appears asymptomatic transmission is actually quite common.

We also definitely know that it is spread by droplets.

Therefore the guidance to only wear masks while sick should be scrapped. It should be for everyone to wear masks all the time when out. Not to prevent getting it, but to prevent spreading it.

Furthermore, any mask will be better than no mask, because having any kind of mask (even cloth ones, or a t-shirt wrapped around your mouth/nose), greatly reduces the speed at which particles leave your mouth/nose area. This in turn reduces the radius that you are able to infect.

So it is reasonable to have medical professionals wear the N95/surgical masks, while everyone else can wear the relatively cheap, reusable cloth masks.
 
The primary reason to wear any mask is to remind or prevent you from touching your face. The virus is spread by contact.
 
At this stage, it's better for people to believe that they are protected by wearing a surgical mask even if it's not true because we all know that people in general are more likely to do something perceived as benefitting them first than benefitting others.
Agreed, and it does keep people from touching their face so much. Everyone wearing masks is good as long as (1) it doesn't give people a false and brazen confidence, and (2) there are enough masks for doctors, nurses, and those with symptoms. I'm not sure either of those conditions are true right now.
 
Agreed, and it does keep people from touching their face so much. Everyone wearing masks is good as long as (1) it doesn't give people a false and brazen confidence, and (2) there are enough masks for doctors, nurses, and those with symptoms. I'm not sure either of those conditions are true right now.

Indeed. As Dafluff said, even people making their own mask with tissue is better than nothing to protect others. Leave the better quality ones to the front line.
 
We now know a few things about the virus than we did before. Most importantly:

1) It is partially aerosolized, staying in air up to several hours.
2) It appears asymptomatic transmission is actually quite common.

We also definitely know that it is spread by droplets.

Therefore the guidance to only wear masks while sick should be scrapped. It should be for everyone to wear masks all the time when out. Not to prevent getting it, but to prevent spreading it.

Furthermore, any mask will be better than no mask, because having any kind of mask (even cloth ones, or a t-shirt wrapped around your mouth/nose), greatly reduces the speed at which particles leave your mouth/nose area. This in turn reduces the radius that you are able to infect.

So it is reasonable to have medical professionals wear the N95/surgical masks, while everyone else can wear the relatively cheap, reusable cloth masks.

After Dr John Campbell commented yesterday on his podcast on the study showing the above(published March 17), N95 masks, especially 8211 with rubber seal disappeared from tokopedia/bukalapak online shops this morning. If you want to order, the answer is mostly "stok habis".
 
Tokopedia stated they cleaned house of those price gougers related to medical needs.
 

Users who viewed this discussion (Total:0)

Follow Us

Latest Expat Indo Articles

Latest Tweets by Expat Indo

Latest Activity

New posts Latest threads

Online Now

No members online now.

Newest Members

Forum Statistics

Threads
5,965
Messages
97,420
Members
3,039
Latest member
itsabouttimebc
Back
Top Bottom