# If you (individual or country) are still masking, why will you ever stop? **URL:** \ **Category:** The Quarantine Zone\ **Tags:** covid-quarantine\ **Created:** [February 10, 2023, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-individual-or-country-are-still-masking-why-will-you-ever-stop/979554 "2023-02-10T01:17:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 107
**Author:** ![Bob\_Blaylock](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_blaylock/32/3235_2.png) [@Bob\_Blaylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bob_Blaylock)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2023, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-individual-or-country-are-still-masking-why-will-you-ever-stop/979554/107 "2023-02-12T22:11:49Z")
> [@Max\_S](#): > > Take it up with NIOSH, N95 literally stands for 95% effective at filtering non-oil particulate matter and I believe the filters are tested against 0.3 microns, whereas most aerosol from i.e. your mouth would be on the scale of 1 micron. I think the counterintuitive effectiveness of the filter design has to do with aerosol physics (diffusion? impaction?) but I couldn’t offer any further insight on that.   I choose to believe what I can see with my own eyes, over the word of any _“experts”_ that presume to tell me that what I see is not true.   To be fair, most people don’t have microscopes nor know how to use them, and of those that do, most probably don’t have theirs calibrated as I have mine, to be able to not only see small objects, but to know the size of what they are seeing.  I can forgive most people for believing an _“expert”_ who tells them that a rag across their face will protect them from a virus.   Most people simply have no grasp, no concept, no sense of scale, of how tiny a virus actually is, and what it takes to block one.  Most people, on this subject, are very easily deceived by the _“appeal to authority”_ fallacy.  Not having the ability, in this case, to see for themselves, they’ll simply believe any lie on the subject from anyone that they think they can trust. --- _[View the full topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-individual-or-country-are-still-masking-why-will-you-ever-stop/979554)._