My grandmother was the Head Nurse at Seaview Hospital in New York City during the TB and Influenza outbreaks from 1910 through 1930. She lived well past 90 and I never remember her sick a day. She wore a mask.
Then again a hundred years ago medicine was a bit different. New York had a Public Health system but millions of immigrants. People and troops were coming and going and needless to say the understanding of viruses was nil. Yet by late 1920 things returned to normal. Masks were accepted as a medical necessity, nothing else was available, and they were not politicized.
Now 100 years later they seem to be the focal point of political intrigue. The CDC has a "mask" web site that allegedly lays out the "science". They note:
Multi-layer cloth masks block release of exhaled respiratory particles into the environment,along with the microorganisms these particles carry. Cloth masks not only effectively block most large droplets (i.e., 20-30 microns and larger)but they can also block the exhalation of fine droplets and particles (also often referred to as aerosols) smaller than 10 microns ;which increase in number with the volume of speechand specific types of phonation. Multi-layer cloth masks can both block up to 50-70% of these fine droplets and particle and limit the forward spread of those that are not captured. Upwards of 80% blockage has been achieved in human experiments that have measured blocking of all respiratory droplets,4 with cloth masks in some studies performing on par with surgical masks as barriers for
Now the real problem is not the mask but the aerosol transmission. Here are some as of yet unanswered questions:
1. In an infected person, we know that the virus replicates in the cells and that the cells exude virions which can be set free when the infected person breaths out. What does the vehicle of the expirated virion look like? Is it a hydrogen bonded water sphere with the virion inside, or something else. How large is this expelled aerosol and how many virions are in it?
2. We know the virus replicates at 98F in the lungs and seems dormant at 94F in the nasophyranx. We think. Now in a vaccinated person, we also know that if the immune system is properly functioning that virions that make it to the lung are attack and neutralized. Is this the same with the dormant nasopharynx virions? If no then is the nasopharynx virions the transmission agents,
3. If aerosols are the dominant means of transmission, and if the aerosol particles containing virions are the transmission elements, and if these aerosols are say 100 nm, 0.1 micros, we know from Stokes law that they just hang in the air for a real long time. Is this the real cause for transmission? If so six feet is useless. Masks may help, but immunization is the only answer.
4. It appears that despite the now substantial research that little has been done on real viral transmission. We see people singing, droplets flying about, but the aerosol effects almost disregarded at the small nm level.
Understanding how the virus is transmitted is in my mind the number one question now and in the future. I also would not totally negate surface infections. Yet.
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