“I can see it in the OR for the purpose of reducing drool, snot, spit, and sweat falling onto the patient, but for aerosol prevention, it clearly is a fail.”
I have to ask this question... Because I really don’t know the answer. Isn’t the purpose of a mask to knock down the aerosol distances from 14 something meters help curb aspirants dispersal from getting on everybody’s nose hairs?
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard from various sources, a multitude of sources that the mask is for protecting the other people not for the individual wearing the damn thing.
And I have to say that anybody who still thinks the mask is a preventative measure for the individual wearing it is crazy, and always has been, and that’s why surgical teams wear masks... to keep their germs from getting on the patient through the dispersal of aspirants.
I have no idea what idiot or idiots started this “wearing a mask is a preventative measure for the individual wearing it” And I don’t think I have ever read any official statement stating that at all, it’s always been to reduce the distance of aspirants coming from the wearer’s mouth.
I would hazard to guess if somebody’s not wearing a mask and sneezes right at you you’re probably better off wearing a shield, as in a protective shield that covers your face like we use when working with caustic chems.
If my memory serves me correctly, the first push for masks started after a simulation video showed someone coughing in a supermarket appeared in media. The aerosols drifted to adjacent isles. The Karens then got really fired up when simulation videos showing cloth masks cutting down on the distance of droplets and aerosols travelled during a cough.