Experiments with masks

[mtbc]

With the advent of the omicron variant, I have been upping my masking game. I'm unconvinced by my experiments with P100's, I don't think I'm getting enough of a seal against my face, though I'd say the 3M feels as if it fits better than the Honeywell, and I remain intelligible from behind each. Also, I have safety glasses with side panels all around, to help protect my ACE2-receptor-rich eyeball surfaces from passing viral miasma, and these don't sit well against my face atop the bulk of the P100's. I also plan to cut larger HEPA filters for the pouches of my cloth masks, I worry there is still too much surface for airflow through the cloth only. So, my current go-to for grocery shopping will be the glasses with a cloth+HEPA mask atop an FFP2. I won't look much like a crazy person at all, even if the inner me would rather prefer to be wearing a full-face CBRN respirator for such excursions. No long COVID-19 for me, thank you.

Comments

[wpadmirer]

Pat and I have switched to KN-95 masks. They seem to work pretty well for us.

[mtbc]

I'm glad, I hear they're quite effective. My FFP2s are similar and fairly comfortable.

[thewayne]

Yeah, long Covid is a pretty frightening prospect.

[mellowtigger]

Wait, wait, wait. ACE2 receptors on the eye? Ok, I did not know that, and it's important. :(

Which safety goggles do you use? I have a pair (pictured here in my thumbnail) that I was using only when my glasses were fogging up at work. Maybe now I need to use them always at work.

[mtbc]

Yeah, a random couple of interesting examples:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7300893/ - clearly demonstrating specific ACE2 expression in conjunctival epithelial cells, providing the receptor for direct entry of SARS‐CoV‐2

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8193301/ - eyewear was associated with a reduced risk of infection

I am using black-framed https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08P2RFJWR but even prescription ones can be found at https://wearstoggles.com/ - so subtle enough I can wear them in the grocery store without looking like a crazy person but not really any seal as such so perhaps my vanity is detrimental. Then again, I don't know what larger kinds would fit well over my double-masking.

[mellowtigger]

Thanks for the links.

Aside: And new links for my permanent-infection theory. Still unsure about the heart cell vector, but clearly infection can be permanent even for people who were asymptomatic.
https://www.researchsquare.com/article/rs-1139035/v1
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fncel.2021.662578/full

[mtbc]

Thank you, interesting to see they found virus even many months afterward though I'm not yet managing to figure how well they argue against reinfection.