I have worked from time to time in a sensitive area, one where there may have been some rather dangerous viral elements. Thus a full respirator, Tyvek outer garments etc. Plus vaccinations to the extreme. The worst mask I have ever worn was the N95, early on in the pandemic. I also use them in dealing with certain herbicide distribution to block not just the herbicide but the silica medium which frankly can be worse.
N95 require a clean face, no beard, double attachments, like a surgical mask but tighter, and proper placement. Try these for a full day.
They then accumulate a multiplicity of exhaled organisms that beginning their new life mm from your skin. In a nice warm moist nutrient rich environment! Again your face.
Now let us take a side trip as to the threat. The original COVID and I suspect through Delta was a lung resident virus which apparently was transmitted by nm sized aerosols. Say 100 nm with 30-40 nm virions. They could hang in the air by Stokes forces and manage to infect those about you. Omicron is a nasopharynx resident virus and most likely spread by droplets if not even surface contamination. The droplets at micro sized, about 30-100 micron in diameter. Thus N95 can stop these fairly well if worn diligently.
But having the DC folks sending out some 400 million and then I guess demanding we wear these things in utter nonsense. You wear an N95 once, since you have contaminated it with you own microorganisms and the outside worlds as well. So you would need an endless supply and the trash becomes a mass of medical waste! Besides the cost, the inconvenience, and the logistics, where are we to dump all of these non-decomposable masks!
My guess is that this is just another gimmick to assuage the folks and pretend that something is being done. NOT!
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