<story><title>The end of the pandemic is near</title><url>https://donaldgmcneiljr1954.medium.com/the-end-is-near-no-seriously-142683fb085e</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>tluyben2</author><text>I don&amp;#x27;t know anymore what the latest is (it changes from yourself, others, both, none in the newspapers here), but doesn&amp;#x27;t the person wearing the mask protect others, not themselves by wearing it?</text></item><item><author>deegles</author><text>I plan to keep wearing my mask on public transit and crowded places forever. I like the anonymity and I&amp;#x27;ll be protected from influenza and the common cold. It&amp;#x27;s a small price to pay.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>graeme</author><text>No that was a scientifically incorrect meme spread by health authorities (which historically have been anti mask pre pandemic) and people motivated by altruism.&lt;p&gt;Studies are clear though. This one found non-N95 masks filter 20-80% of particles. &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;jamanetwork.com&amp;#x2F;journals&amp;#x2F;jamainternalmedicine&amp;#x2F;fullarticle&amp;#x2F;2774265&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;jamanetwork.com&amp;#x2F;journals&amp;#x2F;jamainternalmedicine&amp;#x2F;fullar...&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;It defies common sense to say that won’t help the wearer! We haven’t done challenge trials, but the burden of proof is on those saying that a material covering the face and which filters out 20-80% of virus sized particles somehow won’t stop viral infections.</text></comment>
<story><title>The end of the pandemic is near</title><url>https://donaldgmcneiljr1954.medium.com/the-end-is-near-no-seriously-142683fb085e</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>tluyben2</author><text>I don&amp;#x27;t know anymore what the latest is (it changes from yourself, others, both, none in the newspapers here), but doesn&amp;#x27;t the person wearing the mask protect others, not themselves by wearing it?</text></item><item><author>deegles</author><text>I plan to keep wearing my mask on public transit and crowded places forever. I like the anonymity and I&amp;#x27;ll be protected from influenza and the common cold. It&amp;#x27;s a small price to pay.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>reincarnate0x14</author><text>Surgical masks are mostly about protecting the everyone else from the weaer, yes, but do provide a small benefit to the wearer as well as least with virions for influenza and coronaviruses. Depending on what study, rates of transmission reduction were 10-20% for the wearer, which doesn&amp;#x27;t sound huge but greatly reduces transmission at scale.&lt;p&gt;The filter masks like N95s (which are usable for all kinds of non-medical purposes like working around airborne particles of fiberglass or metal debris or whatever) offer a high degree of protection to the wearer as well.</text></comment>