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If the mask can stop water droplets then why can you see your breath through a mask in the winter and why don't you know that the force of exhaling pushes the mask away from your nose and just makes your breath travel up, down, and around the mask?
It prevents the spread of a viral load. Breathe out normally and your breath reaches a couple of meters in front of you. Breathe with a mask on and it stays localised around you.
It’s a slight variation of coughing or sneezing into your hand/handkerchief/elbow.
It’s a slight variation of coughing or sneezing into your hand/handkerchief/elbow.
Coughs and sneezes don't happen 12 to 16 times per minute. Localization would only be a benefit if there isn't moving air or wind or people changing positions.
Both of you are right: Masks and distance make a difference - and in the end, that difference doesn't matter. We are talking about 10x virus particles with x=1 is enough for an infection. So if a mask reduces x from 5 to 3, this is a drastic reduction, but it will infect or spread anyway. A MIT study that looked at some well known super spreader events showed that all people in a room are similar affected, regardless if they sit 6 or 60 feet away from the spreader.
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