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Re:Japan's PM to ask all schools to temporarily close by TrueGeek on Thursday February 27, 2020 @12:26PM (#22435424)
The masks aren’t fine enough to trap germ particles coming in. There are such masks (n95) but these are more expensive, and require fitting and training to use. The off the shelf masks people are using do nothing for healthy people.
Re:Japan's PM to ask all schools to temporarily close by primordiaal on Thursday February 27, 2020 @12:39PM (#22435578)
"Well, Technically", 3-ply masks are fine enough to trap germ particles. They consist of a woven:non-woven:woven layer, the non-woven layer blocking nanometer particles. If you look at a n95 mask, it has the same woven:non-woven:woven layer structure.

The problem of 3-ply masks is that 10-25% of the air you inhale leak from the side/nose, bypassing the filter. n95 mask "fixes" the problem by tight(er) fitting, not by additional filtering layers.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nonwoven_fabric

Re:Japan's PM to ask all schools to temporarily close by Kiro on Thursday February 27, 2020 @02:53PM (#22437095)
> training to use

I keep hearing this but don't understand. What exactly needs training?

Re:Japan's PM to ask all schools to temporarily close by suzakus on Thursday February 27, 2020 @08:01PM (#22439649)
Typically it's about putting the straps on correctly and properly adjusting the nose bridge. When you don't put it on properly (i.e. straps above and below the ear, nose bridge properly adjusted) it'll be much less effective.

See https://www.bu.edu/ehs/files/2014/08/N95-Respirators-Trainin...

Re:Japan's PM to ask all schools to temporarily close by huonpine on Thursday February 27, 2020 @04:25PM (#22438095)
Common sense