quote:

Originally posted by ShiroKuro:
What is Everclear?

Very high strength drinking alcohol. Booze. Favorite of high school and college kids looking for max buzz for the buck. Corn squeezins. Grain neutral spirit. About 75% alcohol -- nearly double most liquor like vodka, gin, whisky, etc. Has a warning label on the bottle not to consume it unless it is combined with a non-alcoholic beverage.

Makes a great solvent. Consumption-grade, non-poisonous solvent. No "denatured" alcohol, also called methanol, which is quite poisonous and is added to things like marine stove fuel to keep kids from drinking it. Can be used for cleaning things like smoking pipes, harmonicas, and anything else you want to clean and sanitize before you stick it in your mouth.

So after doing some more reading, using alcohol on a disposable mask can kill the electrostatic charge on the middle layers that help 'grab' the little nasties... Probably still better than a fabric mask, but not up to the 95% or 98% filtering that a fresh mask offers.

BUT - the main reason for the masks is to upset the laminar flow (how far particles travel when speaking) and catching droplets, so I think spraying with alcohol is still a good practice for use in public. Might not be best for those working in Covid units...

quote:

I think spraying with alcohol is still a good practice for use in public

Well, or, if you wear a mask out (say to the grocery store and for other errands) and then set it aside for a week, couldn't you safely rewear it? Without cleaning it I mean? (because I'm trying to avoid causing some degradation through cleaning).

Now the other question is, say I wore a mask for a much longer time, like while teaching three classes(so I'd be talking mostly the whole time) could I put it aside and rewear it in a week or two? Or no?

I reuse procedure masks, but only after letting them sit in UV-C rays for 10m using one of these.


https://www.phonesoap.com/prod...3-phone-uv-sanitizer

That method is the original photo doesn’t create a seal on the sides. Look how it pockets out.

We tried it, that’s how we know.

quote:

Originally posted by QuirtEvans:
That method is the original photo doesn’t create a seal on the sides. Look how it pockets out.

We tried it, that’s how we know.

Yes, I’ve read that doing the figure 8 on the earloop makes it not fit as well.

quote:

Originally posted by ShiroKuro:

quote:

I think spraying with alcohol is still a good practice for use in public

Well, or, if you wear a mask out (say to the grocery store and for other errands) and then set it aside for a week, couldn't you safely rewear it? Without cleaning it I mean? (because I'm trying to avoid causing some degradation through cleaning).

I keep one in the car and if it's been a week since I last used it, I figure it's good.

All the reports say that the virus remains viable for up to 24 hours on cardboard (in a lab environment). Natural fibers dry out the fatty outer casing of the virus. So I figure an all-cotton mask that has sat in the car for a week doesn't have any viable viri.


Remember that the point of a cloth mask is to keep the wearer from spreading viri to others, especially if it's an asymptomatic infected person. If everyone wears one, the overall prophylactic effect should be very high. Even surgeons wear masks to prevent flecks of spittle from the surgeon landing on the patient, not to protect the surgeon from stuff coming off the patient. In that respect, even the folded bandana works.

You really do need an N95 or better mask to effectively prevent breathing in airborne viri. The COVID-19 virus is 0.125 microns in diameter, about 1/1000th of the width of a human hair. Two layers of cotton fabric will catch at most 20% of airborne viri.

quote:

Originally posted by ShiroKuro:

quote:

I think spraying with alcohol is still a good practice for use in public

Well, or, if you wear a mask out (say to the grocery store and for other errands) and then set it aside for a week, couldn't you safely rewear it? Without cleaning it I mean? (because I'm trying to avoid causing some degradation through cleaning).

Now the other question is, say I wore a mask for a much longer time, like while teaching three classes(so I'd be talking mostly the whole time) could I put it aside and rewear it in a week or two? Or no?

I would think yes, if you keep track of the rotation, or use one of those UV lights like Jon mentioned. The battery wand one I purchased claims a 10 second coverage is enough, but how can I really know???

quote:

Originally posted by rontuner:
...but how can I really know???

With your battery hand-held scanning electron microscope!

Where did you get yours? Is it UV-C? UV-C only? I'm interested in getting one.

CNN had a story on how to stop your glasses from fogging up:

https://www.cnn.com/2020/05/05...ness-trnd/index.html

To defog?

Wash glasses with Soap and water

Which is what one should do with glasses regularly!

Kathy K first posted the best advice for nose wire..I am soliciting all my friends for the wires that come on the tops of coffee bags...They are the perfect strength and width, one bags worth fits two masks.

I am not happy with the pleated masks so I make the sized 'bra cup' style with elastic the goes around the back of my head, no ears...

As part of my job, I am out and about delivering food, so I have several masks now, about to make a new batch...Hoping the interfacing I ordered is really what is represented...last batch was unusable.

Since I now wear hearing aids, I’ve discovered that the mask’s ear cords will dislodge your hearing aids when you take the mask off.

Maybe there’s a neat way to avoid that but I haven’t looked into it.

I will say that glasses plus hearing aids plus mask make for a tricky combo.

quote:

Originally posted by RealPlayer:
Since I now wear hearing aids, I’ve discovered that the mask’s ear cords will dislodge your hearing aids when you take the mask off.

Maybe there’s a neat way to avoid that but I haven’t looked into it.

I will say that glasses plus hearing aids plus mask make for a tricky combo.

This is actually a huge problem for many. An acquaintance wears hearing aids and relies on lipreading. When she is required to wear a mask, she can’t wear the hearing aids, but everyone else is wearing masks so she can’t lip read. She basically has completely lost her ability to communicate. There have been a lot of very understandable tears and frustration, and she is very worried about what her future will look like if this is the new normal. I have a little girl in my class this year who is in the exact same situation, so I worry about what school might look like for her next year.

quote:

Originally posted by dolmansaxlil:

quote:

Originally posted by RealPlayer:
Since I now wear hearing aids, I’ve discovered that the mask’s ear cords will dislodge your hearing aids when you take the mask off.

Maybe there’s a neat way to avoid that but I haven’t looked into it.

I will say that glasses plus hearing aids plus mask make for a tricky combo.

This is actually a huge problem for many. An acquaintance wears hearing aids and relies on lipreading. When she is required to wear a mask, she can’t wear the hearing aids, but everyone else is wearing masks so she can’t lip read. She basically has completely lost her ability to communicate. There have been a lot of very understandable tears and frustration, and she is very worried about what her future will look like if this is the new normal. I have a little girl in my class this year who is in the exact same situation, so I worry about what school might look like for her next year.

The 7 son of my niece wears hearing aids. I suggested a face shield for her and her husband.
She thought that might be too scary.
I don't know what she did, but I will try to find out.
The voice of Bob, my partner got better when he started treatment for Parkinson's. Now his speech has become soft and faint and less clear.
My hearing aids cannot make up for that.
When he is wearing a mask, I cannot get any of what he says.