We're talking here about the kind of what masks most people are wearing today, which are either at least two ply, reasonably well fitting cloth face masks, or garden variety off the shelf.
They're called surgical masks, but I've worn actual surgical mask was caught cost five times as much and fit better. So they're not really surgical masks. They're more like clinical use masks that you can buy fairly cheap but places everywhere from Harbor Freight to Walgreens or whatever. You can buy them lots of places, but they're called surgical masks and they're made of the same kind of material.
That's the kind The stuff we're talking about lightweight, all over the place can get them anywhere these days, garden variety masks, somebodies respiratory droplets of the size that can carry viral particles, or that can carry flu particles or the carry cold viruses, or that carry a whole bunch of other sensitive viruses that only biologists bother to memorize all the names for.
Tthey catch the respiratory droplets that carry those, when you exhale, they catch them with somewhere between 65 and 85% efficiency, depending on the specifics of the masks. So most effective when they're catching stuff coming out of the breathers, respiratory tract.
But also, they're stopping something like 60% of incoming particles that are already in the air that somebody less careful has exhaled at is bringing it in
Go to Beans, Bullets, Bandages & You by clicking HERE!
We're talking here about the kind of what masks most people are wearing today, which are either at least two ply, reasonably well fitting cloth face masks, or garden variety off the shelf.
They're called surgical masks, but I've worn actual surgical mask was caught cost five times as much and fit better. So they're not really surgical masks. They're more like clinical use masks that you can buy fairly cheap but places everywhere from Harbor Freight to Walgreens or whatever. You can buy them lots of places, but they're called surgical masks and they're made of the same kind of material.
That's the kind The stuff we're talking about lightweight, all over the place can get them anywhere these days, garden variety masks, somebodies respiratory droplets of the size that can carry viral particles, or that can carry flu particles or the carry cold viruses, or that carry a whole bunch of other sensitive viruses that only biologists bother to memorize all the names for.
Tthey catch the respiratory droplets that carry those, when you exhale, they catch them with somewhere between 65 and 85% efficiency, depending on the specifics of the masks. So most effective when they're catching stuff coming out of the breathers, respiratory tract.
But also, they're stopping something like 60% of incoming particles that are already in the air that somebody less careful has exhaled at is bringing it in
Go to Beans, Bullets, Bandages & You by clicking HERE!
Hello, everybody. Hello
Salty:everybody and welcome to the show the big show the most important and critically acclaimed podcast that is recording our car and today we are in the 300. a studio. That's right, the Chrysler 300 the Hemi powered studio
Spice:must make it a high powered podcast then. Dude, seriously cover that up?
Salty:I got. I've got it covered up.
Spice:Yeah, he does have it covered up. He's wearing a mask as we speak here in our 300 Studio.
Unknown:In the car, and he's not
Spice:dying. He's not
Salty:suffocating. I'm not passing out. It is in no way affecting my ability to both drive and do a podcast
Spice:and I am aware of the signs of both hypoxia and carbon dioxide poisoning. And he's showing neither.
Salty:There is actually one downside to what I'm doing. And if I have to be careful, because the mask does fog up the glasses. don't actually want to become blind, so I can't dry. So there is that.
Spice:But that's why I wear masks that have bars over the noses.
Salty:And I don't because well I don't
Spice:I wear doesn't spend as much time in masks as I do. Right.
Salty:I use Anyway, she spends her pay Anyway, she spends all day in mass and I know. So welcome to the show. Not surprisingly, the show today is who is that masked man.
Spice:The wise man his mask.
Salty:It's so funny. I hear so much whining and moaning and complaining about masks that that I've got to this to this point where I'm just like, Really? Are you seven? Is this kindergarten? What what was wrong with you? Yeah, I mean, are you do you whine complaining and moan about brushing your teeth? I mean, yeah, something we do every day. Well, I hope we do it at least once today, you know, and it's just it is what it is. Now, I know for a lot of people you're out there probably listening just ready to just explode freedom. And you can't tell me what to get. You're right. I can't tell you what to do. You have the freedom to wear a mask mask. Don't wear a mask. You have the right. You have the right to walk around inside your own yard if you have a wall around it without any pants on when it's 20 degrees closer you have the right you have the right to jump off a 50 foot cliff, you have the right you have the right to do a lot of things that may be really aren't a great idea.
Spice:But you have the right this podcast isn't about laws not about what laws are not about what law should be?
Salty:No, it isn't about politics either. This is not a political pot This is about asks are not a political statement unless you make them one
Spice:seriously.
Salty:The only people who are who think master political statement are the people who make it one period.
Spice:I guarantee to you that medical people of all political persuasions, have been wearing masks when they treat you for as long as you remember. And who's complained about that.
Salty:My dentist. Well, he's retired now. But up until a couple of years ago, he was my dentist and he's been my dentist for 25 years. And he is as conservative is a conservative, evangelical Christian, okay. And he wore masks the entire time that he treated me as a patient because it was about his personal safety, my personal safety and had nothing to do with politics. It still doesn't it is still though. But we the idea for this was sparked by coming out of a store where it's in a place where there is a mandate but a lot of people were wearing them down under their nose, which doesn't even the workers are wearing under the nose. Were just like, Well, okay, you know, there's no point in wearing a mask if you're not gonna wear it correctly. There's really no point I guess he could you coughed it could still catch the cough if you're wearing. Like I want to put this under my nose right now, which, you know, we're in our own vehicle. I mean, I don't really need to be wearing a mask right now. So I'm gonna put this under my nose. And I do breathe easier, but I feel dorky, even.
Spice:So, here's the science of it. We're talking here about the kind of what masks most people are wearing today, which are either at least two ply, reasonably well fitting cloth face masks, or garden variety off the shelf. They're called surgical masks, but I've worn actual surgical mask was caught cost five times as much and fit better. So they're not really surgical masks. They're more like clinical use masks that you can buy fairly cheap but places everywhere from Harbor Freight to Walgreens or whatever. You can buy them lots of places, but they're called surgical masks and they're made of the same kind of material. That's the kind The stuff we're talking about lightweight, all over the place can get them anywhere these days, garden variety masks, somebodies respiratory droplets of the size that can carry viral particles, or that can carry flu particles or the carry cold viruses, or that carry a whole bunch of other sensitive viruses that only biologists bother to memorize all the names for, they catch the respiratory droplets that carry those, when you exhale, they catch them with somewhere between 65 and 85% efficiency, depending on the specifics of the masks. So most effective when they're catching stuff coming out of the breathers, respiratory tract. But also, they're stopping something like 60% of incoming particles that are already in the air that somebody less careful has exhaled at is bringing it in. So
Salty:nobody said there was gonna be math,
Spice:science, math, it's a thing. The other part of it is, it's not just about stopping transmissions, so you don't get exposed at all. One thing that a lot of people overlook with this is it's about dose, when you get a virus, basically, any virus, unless you're horribly immuno compromised, your immune system is going to try and eliminate it. And at the same time, the virus is getting into your cells, and causing your cells to replicate it. If viral replication outstrips your immune system, you get sicker. If your immune system outstrips the viral reproduction, you get rid of the virus faster and have fewer symptoms.
Salty:No, so your political persuasion. If you are a liberal or trying to make this point here, the virus doesn't care. It just cares about how much of it gets in you.
Spice:It doesn't even care about that. It just replicates. That's all it does.
Salty:its effectiveness. Yep, is determined by how much of it gets in you, at least in part,
Spice:it's like starting a race. If you give the other guy a really big head start, the other guy is more likely to win, all other things being equal. If you wear a mask, the virus doesn't get as big a headstart. If the guy who's got the virus wears a mask, the virus has an even bigger chunk taken out of its headstart. And if both you and the guy transmitting the virus have the mask, the risk is very low.
Salty:And then if you were to follow the rest of the guidelines and keep socially distance of six feet high, guess what transmission becomes not impossible, but certainly unlikely.
Spice:And if you get a lighter dose to start with, because you've been taking precautions, the risk of having a serious infection drops, even if you do show symptoms, you are way more likely to show mild symptoms, and far less likely to end up trying to get into a hospital. And as we do this podcast in northern Missouri, in the first week of December, there aren't any hospital beds left open anymore. So good luck with that in this region. But you're less likely to need them. So you're reducing your risk of getting exposed in the first place. And if you do get exposed, you're much more likely to have one of those asymptomatic infections. And an asymptomatic infection provides protection for at least months, perhaps years. We don't know yet.
Salty:And here's the thing. You know, there's so many excuses for people not wearing masks. You know, we all know them. I absolutely don't like wearing a mask. I hate it. It stinks. It has changed me wearing a mask has changed my behavior. Like I will go to the gym and wear a mask. I won't do it, because that's an ulterior it changes the equation of whether it's worth going to the gym. For me, it raises a hassle level to be just too high.
Spice:We bought a home exercise bike instead. Because exercise is important.
Salty:And it's not just because of the going to the gym or the Coronavirus because I also hate ice. I cannot stand ice I have I have trouble standing up on regular monocyclic stuff. It's a genetic thing in my family, we tend to fall over a lot, just for no particular reason, whatever because we're klutzy but anyway you know we all hate it. It's a doctors hate it the nurses hated the dentist for the last 25 years as hated, but it's just a cost of doing business. Now you can do it or you cannot but you know just realize that if you choose not to and you choose to ignore all of the the rest of the warnings Okay, good luck then that's all I gotta say good luck Yeah, hope you case you get doesn't get you that bad. You know, that's the best I can do is hope here. Hope it you know, doesn't hurt you.
Spice:Yeah, I I gotta be honest with you. I'm not terribly worried about getting this virus because I My health profile is such that probability is high, if I got this virus, I would get an asymptomatic or mild case of it. So I'm not that worried about it. But I still wear masks. Every time I'm out in public where there might be transmission. I don't want to be the person who's asymptomatic and spreading this around to my elderly neighbors. I don't want to be the person who's spreading it to my spouse,
Salty:But I am not going to be responsible. We both been inv lved me as a coach and her as player in a ref in the sport of roller derby. And we're going to go a little bit PG her, not just g rated. But PG r ted here. Because I want to tel you what the first rule of r ller derby is,
Spice:don't be a dirtbag,
Salty:we'll give you almost
Spice:that's pretty close to what
Salty:is the adult version of the word, dark back. But don't be a dirtbag. And that's part of why I wear a mask is I don't want to be a dirtbag. I don't if I have it. And I might who knows, I haven't been tested. If I have it, I don't want to give it to anybody else. Because that's part of being a responsible human being. This is a gift I do not want to pass on.
Spice:You're not worried about it. Fine, you're an adult, that's a threat to you. But think for a moment, maybe you're out at a restaurant, and the person who brings you your meal, walking by you several times and leaning over you to to pick up stuff and set down stuff and things like that. Maybe she is the sole support for a couple of kids. And this is this job is their only income. And if she gets sick, what are they going to do for a paycheck? Do you not care about that either? Maybe you don't. But it's it ought to be part of the equation at least. It's not all about you and your freedom. Unless you decide that's the only thing that's important.
Salty:You can hear at least in my voice. And I'm pretty sure you can hear at hers. There's there's some frustration here because I think at least to me, I can't speak for her, I guess we're not discussed this, at least for me. It's a matter of selfishness versus selflessness. Since we both understand that masks do reduce the transmission of the disease
Spice:and the intensity of the disease it
Salty:insensitive to see and it's been published in medical journals. We've just we were researching them right before we went on the air, she was looking at the journal Nature. It's true.
Spice:It doesn't get much more reliable than nature, folks, I'm sorry. It just doesn't. Yeah,
Salty:it's proven. And you could look up the research yourself. It's there, that it reduces both the amount of people who catch the disease and how the dosage is when they use the term the dosage but
Spice:because they're like medical people, and that's the term for it.
Salty:So anyway,
Spice:that's the thing. It's just it's a simple thing to do to take care of the people around you even if you're not worried about yourself, and how many chances do we do to get do something that easy, that might make a real difference to other people, either those we care about or those who come into casual contact in. And it's not a forever thing. But, you know, even if it was frankly medical people have been wearing masks for their entire workdays for their entire working careers. It's only as big a thing as people insist on making it and left to its own devices. It's just a mild annoyance.
Salty:Let's talk about the American people for just a second. You know, these are the people That you go to when your blood pressure is running high, and they give you medication. These are the people who, when your mom and your dad started having their health problems as they got older, they went to the doctors and they got their medications. And they lived a longer and longer, longer lifestyle or lifetime, largely because of the improvements made through modern medicine and modern medical techniques, which include hygiene, which include, you know, all the things that we we have in a modern society. When you look at the beautiful babies, and you realize that, you know, wanting to don't die before the age of 10, like 150 years ago, half the kids died. This is not an exaggeration here. Well, that was very interesting, wasn't it?
Spice:Yeah, we just passed a midnight work party.
Salty:Yeah, just an entire, probably 30 people out there walking around with rakes and bags, and they were cleaning up next to highway. Yep. In an area that doesn't do the Adopt a Highway. We're just doing it cool.
Spice:good neighbors. Cool. So as an epidemiologist, it's I can tell you that the biggest improvements in health, that we've seen the reductions in infant mortality, the increases in lifespan, they did not really hit their giant upswing of improvement. When we started developing good drugs. It's hygiene. It's first and foremost about hygiene. It's always been true for public health. It's still true for public health. So yeah, we're getting better at treating this thing. But it's much better to do the easy thing to reduce transmission, through prevention, the
Salty:stopping the germs,
Spice:hygiene is all about stuff or reducing transmission.
Salty:You can't stop this mass thing is a form of hygiene.
Spice:You don't get guarantees. That's not how medicine works. But you do get improvements in your chances. And it's worth it.
Salty:Okay, we have preached at you. I've done this whole thing with my mask on, you know, I've just drove 25 miles or ish, whatever it was, and did a podcast drove but I didn't pass out because of a lack of oxygen. I bet if you put the oxygen thing on my finger, it'd be just fine right now.
Spice:I actually do. You wear the mask myself when I occasionally I go to the gym early in the morning when nobody else is in there to do my weightlifting. And I do wear my mask in there. Because gyms are a place where people come and breathe heavy. So yeah, I wear my mask and I can wear it weightlifting and it's not a problem. I did find if I try and wear one when I'm working out hard and get it soaked through a sweat, then it became difficult to breathe and I had to slow down a little bit. But even a moderate workout like a heavy weight lift was not enough to pair me and I'm a 55 year old hundred and 20 something pound woman I mean, come on.
Salty:Yeah, so anyway, that's, that's the story. That's what we're gonna do. I'm about to take my mask off. Let's see how much can you hear this much? I know you might be able to hear the difference.
Spice:Probably can hear a little difference.
Salty:I can't take the mask off well, because it's all hooked in with my headset.
Spice:Yeah, let's drive instead of driving.
Salty:Anyway, so this is the master episode. I am the mass driver.
Spice:Who is the masked man? Salty, because I'm the mass driver.
Salty:Okay, yep, little sciency joke there a little physics joke. For those of you who didn't sleep to physics class, that'll be funny. Okay, we'll talk to you later. Bye bye.