Face Masks

Planigale said:
Ignorance is not a sin, failing to fact check your claim that what I say as an expert is false is foolish.
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Ok, since you're determined to keep making the same error, I'll walk you through it slowly.

You claimed I said something.

That was false.

You then again claimed I was saying something.

That was also false.

You're arguing against something that doesn't exist.
 
Something occurred to me earlier.

I can't remember a single dentist or dental nurse not wearing a mask since the 1970s, and with 4 kids and a set of very British teeth, I've seen far too many of them.
 
Orphia Nay said:
And I've been recommended dodgy supplement drinks and acupuncture by other nurses. I wouldn't take medical advice from a nurse on face value.
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I had a nurse tell me that I needed to drink orange juice with a tablespoon full of salt to stop leg cramps in my left leg.

I mentioned this to the Doctor that was treating me, for an injury that was rubbing on a tendon and causing the leg cramps, and he explained that she had once worked as a post operation recovery nurse, which caused her to believe that everyone was suffering from a lack of electrolytes.

Such is life I guess.
 
Something that may be missing from this discussion, is the other precautions that are being taken.

I haven't had a face-to-face appointment with my GP for a long time. Almost all appointments are handled via phone.

At various clinics that I have to attend, they measure my temperature at the door, and if you don't pass, you're sent away.

People that have to sit close, the dentist and the 'mole check' technicians for example, always wear masks and they're wearing them properly, similarly the technician that ran the bone scan for me last week.

In the USA, there is increased risk of morons exploding about freedumbs and deliberately coughing and spitting in peoples' faces, I'd imagine that would make medical staff a little more reticent about masking up.
 
novaphile said:
Something that may be missing from this discussion, is the other precautions that are being taken.

I haven't had a face-to-face appointment with my GP for a long time. Almost all appointments are handled via phone.

At various clinics that I have to attend, they measure my temperature at the door, and if you don't pass, you're sent away.

People that have to sit close, the dentist and the 'mole check' technicians for example, always wear masks and they're wearing them properly, similarly the technician that ran the bone scan for me last week.

In the USA, there is increased risk of morons exploding about freedumbs and deliberately coughing and spitting in peoples' faces, I'd imagine that would make medical staff a little more
reticent about masking up.
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I think you meant something else? "Diligent", perhaps? Maybe I'm not taking the scenario correctly...
 
ahhell said:
I think the average person is just doing a risk reward calculation. Wear a mask and there is a 100% chance of discomfort and inconvenience. Don't where it and there are a lower chance of mild illness and an even lower chance of severe illness. Now, I'm not saying folks are explicitly doing that calculation but more of a subconscious thing. Also, they look around and nobody else is so they don't. Again, I don't think most of are actually thinking about it that much. I'm also not saying folks are determining risk correctly, we probably aren't.
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You're right, but it's not the risk/reward calculus you are thinking about. For the majority of the human race, risk/reward is all about status. Your pecking order in the pack - and we truly remain pack animals, with a handful of outsiders and an even smaller number of "alphas" (though not a good term IMO, but you get the idea)
 
Darat said:
That's a "surgical" environment. Not a general consultation environment.
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If a nurse is cleaning my teeth, it's not particularly surgical, and no more so than sticking a tongue-depressor on my tongue.
 
novaphile said:
No, I meant reticent.

If you have faced multiple physical attacks from the freedumbers, you may be more reticent about masking up all the time.
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Sadly. there are people who do actively harass and even assault other people for the sin of wearing a mask.

A couple of blokes here have been jailed for severe assault due to mask attacks.
 
The Atheist said:
If a nurse is cleaning my teeth, it's not particularly surgical, and no more so than sticking a tongue-depressor on my tongue.
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Perhaps you do it differently in NZ, but in the UK having your teeth cleaned at the dentist requires a bib and goggles on the patient because of the spray of toothpaste, plaque and saliva.
 
The Atheist said:
Something occurred to me earlier.

I can't remember a single dentist or dental nurse not wearing a mask since the 1970s, and with 4 kids and a set of very British teeth, I've seen far too many of them.
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That's pretty obvious given what they do, mucking about inside your mouth with power tools and the like. I think it's as much for self-protection from getting sprayed in the face with your spittle as it is for the patients' protection. Obviously the patient cannot wear a mask in the dentist's chair.
 
Ivor the Engineer said:
Perhaps you do it differently in NZ, but in the UK having your teeth cleaned at the dentist requires a bib and goggles on the patient because of the spray of toothpaste, plaque and saliva.
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At my dentist here in Japan they give you a bib and put a (clean) towel over your eyes. Not only does it protect the eyes from flying liquids, but also the glare of the bright spotlight they shine into your mouth. I like it myself. It's more relaxing.
 
Cat in the Hat on X, Jan 31, 2026
This post is from astronaut Jeremy Hansen (@Astro_Jeremy), one of four crew members of NASA’s upcoming Artemis II mission, the first crewed flight around the Moon in over 50 years.
Notice something key?
Everyone's wearing N95 respirators, NOT loose surgical masks.
NASA know.
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Jeremy R. Hansen on X, Jan 30, 2026
Reviewing a few emergency medical procedures with CSA Flight Surgeons today, hopefully this will ensure I don’t need these skills on the mission.
Image
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It must be to protect themselves from the rocket fuel fumes, right?!
It can't have anything to do with microbes.
NASA is not a medical institution.

Cat in the Hat on X, Jan 31, 2026
Now wouldn’t it be great if the @WHO & the medical profession followed suit?
It’s not rocket science!
Surgical masks do NOT protect against airborne transmission.
N95 / FFP3 masks do.
So why are surgical masks still the default for use in healthcare settings?

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Apropos of Doctors knowing what they are talking about, this is from an article today in Sweden's Expressen newspaper. Machine translated -
Now Tobias Ramseid-Foss sees patients without masks, but that does not mean that the thinking has returned to how it was before.

"Just the other day, there was a patient who wanted to shake hands. We have almost stopped doing that. You show in with a smile and open hands instead.

Did you shake hands this time?

"We did – and then we both disinfected our hands.

After the isolation during the pandemic, immunity became lower. This has led to an increase in invasive infections with streptococci, pneumonia with mycoplasma and RS virus.

"At the health centre, we have to adapt to this," says Tobias Ramseid-Foss.
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(1) With covid and other respiratory viruses, handwashing does next to nothing.
(2) this "immunity debt" thesis is, was, and always has been utter nonsense

He's ignorant, because he's being trained by people who are ignorant.

www.expressen.se

Så blev deras liv efter pandemin

Livet går vidare. Det gör faktiskt det. Hannu Tabell, 72, löptränar igen efter att covid nästan kostat honom livet och Solveig Wihede, 94, har slutligen bestämt sig för att sälja villan. Pandemin tänker de sällan på. Det gör däremot läkaren Eva Schmidtke. – Vi måste lära oss av krisen. Nu...
www.expressen.se www.expressen.se
 
dann said:
It must be to protect themselves from the rocket fuel fumes, right?!
It can't have anything to do with microbes.
NASA is not a medical institution.
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Who knows why? Or why they have different coloured masks, I suspect just to make the the picture more exciting. Do all NASA staff wear masks all the time at work?

What is the object of the mask? Is it to protect the medical staff from patients? If so the evidence doesn't show that this is a significant risk. The major risk to medical / clinical staff is from friends, family and colleagues in a non-work situation. Masking patients (with simple surgical type masks has been shown to be effective at reducing infection risk. The major risk to patients is not from staff but from other patients, family and friends.

You first have to define the problem, only then can you start looking for a solution. Yes FP95 masks do filter air more effectively than simple surgical masks, but there is no point in insisting on a more costly and complicated solution to a problem that doesn't exist.

You also need to go beyond the physics, to the behavioural, will people actually use these masks correctly if not the you lose the benefits.

As has been said, engineering solutions (e.g. ventilation) that aren't dependant on human behaviour are probably better. UK (especially Scottish) readers will be familliar with the issue.

 
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