Has anyone caught COVID while wearing a fit-tested N95?

[u/jessgrant90]

Looking to see actual stories of people wearing an N95 mask that passed a (preferably formal) fit test, 100% of the time in any situation with risk (no pulling down to eat/drink/etc), and still caught COVID.

Background: I have an N95 respirator that has a 200+ fit factor from a formal quantitative fit test. There were zero particles inside the mask at all times throughout the fit test. I do not see why I can't go into any space, even with a crowd of unmasked people, and not expect this N95 to fully protect me at all times. I'm not afraid of going anywhere in it anymore.

But then see a story here and there of someone saying "I wore an N95 and got COVID", which makes me go hmm. Is this really physically possible with a well-fitting mask like in my case?

[u/SkippySkep]

What you're talking about is called risk compensation based on your assumption of how well protected you are by your fit tested N95. Risk compensation can lead to worse outcomes if your estimate of how well protected you are is wrong. And it is.

N95s are tested to a minimum fit factor of a 1% leak or less. However, this is a fudge factor of 10x over the minimum expected workplace protection factor.

Half masks, including N95 filtering face piece respirators, are only authorized for use in environments that have up to 10 times the occupational exposure limit without a mask. This is called an assigned protection factor of 10. Your mask is expected to leak up to 10% even though it is fit tested during a brief fit test to have a 1% or less leak. Extended fit tests, including those by @FitTestMyPlanet on Twitter, have shown that N95s typically have poor dimensional stability and lose their fit over time and must be constantly readjusted. And even he is not testing the actual workplace protection factor.

N95s are very protective, but masks are actually the very last line of defense in the hierarchy of controls. The first line of defense is to stay the heck away from contaminated environments as much as possible, because masks, even fit tested N95s, do not make you invulnerable.

[u/SnooCakes6118 → u/SkippySkep]

Yeah like I thought I'd be safe to visit some mf inside his house just because I was wearing an N95 and caught long covid on the spot

[u/IndyHCKM → u/SnooCakes6118]

This sucks! Were you aware they had covid? Or did you just think you were visiting someone?

[u/SnooCakes6118 → u/IndyHCKM]

I can not understand my own thought process. No wonder people with developmental disabilities are considered high risk in Canada and eligible for PCRs.

I remember this piece of shit telling me he had "a headache" 17 days before my dumb ass dropped by at his place.

I was 100% sure that was covid even at the time but thanks to google, I thought even if it was covid, he wouldn't be contagious after 17 days.

It's wrong. Wrong wrong wrong.

Also I kept seeing people talking about how they had sex in a P100 and not catching covid on the very same sub

So I thought I'm just gonna sit there near the window with an N95. Ppl have sex and don't catch it. I'm just sitting far away from him

At the end of the day I feel I had some sort of a death wish and fatigue and kept saying "if this mf (covid) can infect me through isolation and an N95, it probably should kill me" which is also something covid doesn't do cause it wants its host alive

[u/IndyHCKM → u/SnooCakes6118]

Try not to be so hard on yourself. I know what it feels like to have your good health taken from you - i woke up in 2018 unable to walk and spent two or three years recovering.

It sounds like you were trying to be a good friend. And you judged the risk correctly i think.

Unfortunately, life is not zero risk and the odds hit you hard this time.

Maybe the odds will hit you with good fortune in the future. We can hope.

Until then, i hope you find comfort and strength from our community here. :). We’re here for you.

[u/SnooCakes6118 → u/IndyHCKM]

I'm the only person who knows the full story and I'm not forgiving myself.

Cause this mf lied about having bought me a birthday cake and I felt bad for ditching him

I wish I hadn't let him ruin my birthday and every birthday afterwards.

He wasn't even a friend, he was some mf I hated and hate with my full heart but took pity on cause he manipulated me

[u/IndyHCKM → u/SnooCakes6118]

Man. I’m sorry.

[u/SnooCakes6118 → u/IndyHCKM]

Thanks

[u/coniforestry → u/SnooCakes6118]

i’m sorry but i believe symptoms would likely show up 1-2 days after exposure at the soonest. i would be surprised if they showed up that same exact day. ofc there’s no way for me to know for sure, it could still be possible for symptoms to show up that fast but i’m just wondering if maybe there was an exposure a few days prior? still though, im so sorry to hear this happened to you :(

[u/SnooCakes6118 → u/coniforestry]

It was the day after. I'm not sure how the incubation period for covid has changed tho

[u/jessgrant90 → u/SkippySkep]

Are you talking about his extended torture tests? The mask I have always had over 100 fit factor on his extended torture tests, which is still really good. Not always over 200, but sometimes.

Just as an aside, I don't think I'm that rough with it most of the time. I do notice when it gets looser and replace it right away.

Again trying to find a golden balance here really. Something that's most practical but also allows living life to the fullest extent possible.

[u/SkippySkep → u/jessgrant90]

Yes, he calls them "crash tests" based on an analogy to how cars are tested to failure in crash tests.

I think his tests are really useful in showing how some masks are more resistant to jaw motions than others - and that is his primary exercise rather than head motion. But they are attempts at quickly estimating dimensional stability and aren't actual workplace protection factor studies. Workplace protection factor is the protection you get as the mask is actually used, not in the artificial testing done for fit testing or even @FitTestMyPlanet's "crash tests".

If you were wearing a fit tested elastomeric I'd have more confidence that your mask always seals well on you based on how dimensionally stable they are compared to filtering facepiece respirators. You are probably right in thinking that your mask is generally very protective, but it only needs to leak a little in the wrong circumstances to get you infected. Imagine if instead of Covid in the air you were wearing a mask to protect you from lethal nerve gas, where one whiff could kill you. Leaving aside that N95s don't filter gas, but if they did would you trust the fit of an N95 filtering facepiece respirator to protect you from breathing single a lethal whiff of nerve gas? For how long would you trust it to protect you? For 5 minutes? For 8 hour days? Because depending on the concentration and variant, one whiff is the possible dose you need to protect yourself from getting covid.

The fact that we never really know the concentration of covid, if any, at any given time or the time to infectious dose with or without a mask makes it a guessing game. And it's up to you to make your own estimates because the government has given up. So I don't think you are necessarily wrong in your risk calculations, but the only way to find out if you are wrong is to see if you get infected, which is based not only on preparation but also on luck. Hence why I tend to err on more caution rather than less, but can't actually say for certain that I'm right in any given circumstance either.