[TheForge] Another stupid mask idea -- no metal content

[Bruce .]

 "So, tell me Bruce what is so special about your beard that makes it worth
taking an unnecessary chance with your life?
"Mine is just hair, it'll go in a heart beat if I have to use a Bic lighter.
A surprisingly painless way to get crazy close hairless skin. I'll probably
just lather up and shave though.
"Frosty"

Nothing, of course.  But socially isolating as I am, I don't feel taking
such a risk.

The subject line was deliberate.  I don't propose "caulk" (or wax,
actually) as a good idea to seal a mask.  But maybe it's a better idea than
petroleum jelly?  It's a great deal firmer than petroleum jelly.  An
excellent, and possibly rather appropriate analogy, is the wax ring that
seals a ceramic toilet to the flange atop the sewer pipe.  Petroleum jelly
wouldn't last a week as a seal in that (static) application and probably
wouldn't last more than a few minutes in the "dynamic" one between mask and
beard and face.  I expect the wax would work, but I have no reasonable
means of testing it.

I have no confidence that any mask I can make or get will filter out the
bare virus, beard or no beard.  OTOH, I figure any mask with enough
tortuosity will cause droplets to impinge upon it and likely stop hang them
up -- and that's the best I can do.  Others are using only two layers of
cotton fabric as masks, even in ancillary functions in hospitals (not for
medical staff).  I'm using two layers of cotton, two layers of paper
toweling, and one or two layers of Kleenex. The lack of a hermetic seal
around my lower face is compensated for (IMO) by the very long path air
would have to take to go under and around the bandana and my other clothing
and up through the snug fit between my chin & beard and the bandana.  I
have no proof, but I'm pretty sure I'm breathing *through  *the mask, not
around it.

Like probably all medical professionals have done by now, I'd shave in a
minute if I were constantly exposed to infected persons.  I'm working on
the assumption that the infection rate in my county is about 100x the known
number of cases, i.e., about 130,000.  That's out of a county population of
about 630,000, or about one person out of five -- most probably
asymptomatic.  (That cuts both ways.  At least asymptomatic people are less
likely to be coughing and sneezing.)  I have literally been in public
spaces only three or four times in the past weeks -- roughly once per
week.  Believe me, I'm taking this seriously.

I've been relying on the fact that the "dose" of virus you receive *matters
*-- your body can resist infection from a few pathogens even if it has no
specific immunity to said pathogen.  This is partially a matter of the
immune system not being overwhelmed (it CAN hunt down ANY foreign
substance), but also a matter of the pathogens not self-activating until
present in sufficient number to overwhelm the immune system , a phenomenon
known as "quorum sensing".  I was certain that this applied to bacterial
infections, but the following article states it also applies to viral
infections:
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/01/opinion/coronavirus-viral-dose.html?action=click&module=Opinion&pgtype=Homepage

Back to beards, I find it odd that the CDC chart
https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/npptl/pdfs/FacialHairWmask11282017-508.pdf
doesn't include the obvious idea that you can have a small mustache (see
chart, 3rd & 4th rows with green check marks), plus side whiskers, *and in
addition *you can leave your lower beard -- that portion that is under the
chin.  It may not be fashionable, but its' no weirder than any other beards
on that chart.

Bruce
NJ