Dr Colin Axon, who is Senior Engineering Lecturer at Brunel University and advises SAGE on ventilation and minimising the risk of cross infection in supermarkets, stadiums etc has stated "Standard
face coverings (those cloth and blue paper masks) are just "comfort blankets" that do little to reduce the spread of Covid particles".
Dr Colin Axon has warned some
cloth masks have gaps which are invisible to the naked eye, but are 5,000 times the size of viral Covid particles.
"The small sizes are not easily understood but an imperfect analogy would be to imagine marbles fired at builders' scaffolding, some might hit a pole and rebound, but obviously most will fly through".
Dr Axon said the public need to be offered a wider view of the science behind face masks, rather than the "partial view" of information being pushed by medics over their effectiveness. He accused medics of presenting a "cartoonish" view of how tiny particles travel through the air.
"Once a particle is not on a biological surface it is no longer a biomedical issue, it is simply about physics. The public has only a partial view of the story if information only comes from one type of source. Medics have some of the answers but not a whole view."
"Masks can catch droplets and sputum from a cough but what is important is that SARS CoV-2 is predominantly distributed by tiny aerosols which escape through gaps in standard masks. A Covid viral particle is around 100 nanometres, material gaps in blue surgical masks are up to 1,000 times that size, cloth mask gaps can be 5,000 times the size."
Added by Site Admin:-
Dr Axon has advised Sage and Nervtag on ventilation, he is not currently a Sage adviser.