What sort of microscope is needed to see a virus

The claim: Masks can't stop viruses.

On an ornamented photograph, an arrow points to a brown circle, labeled "virus," which is apparently about to enter a huge pigsty in what appears to be a woven textile. This meme claims that is a mask, which looks more like a chain link fence, nether 25 times magnification.

"Hey dumb dumbs," says the photo, "Mask nether microscope and virus equally well at 25x. Enjoy your muzzle muppets."

The widely shared meme went viral from the folio of The California Patriot, where it has been shared nearly 250 times since it was posted on Aug. 1. "Mark wearing in public us (sic) cipher more than than virtue signaling....and the holes in textile masks are worse," a caption states.

When contacted past Us TODAY, The California Patriot said information technology was uncertain from where it shared the meme and had this to say about masks: "In that location is conflicting information on both sides as to the effectiveness of mask wearing in public. The facts testify that people are not communicable Covid from random strangers in public."

Simply unless you consider a mask a "cage" – or you're a beast fabricated of felt with a fondness for soft rock – nothing asserted in the meme is true.

More:Fact check: What'southward true and what'southward false about face up masks?

How small is a virus?

Outset with the chocolate-brown globule labeled a "virus." Viruses cannot be seen with optical magnifying microscopes, which go up to i,000 times magnification, and can be imaged simply by electron microscopes. At 25 times magnification, one wouldn't be able to see cells, which are considerably bigger than viruses.

Dr. Molly Fleece, an assistant professor in the Academy of Alabama Birmingham's Division of Infectious Diseases, wrote in an electronic mail Tuesday that "the object labeled 'virus' in this image does not resemble that of a coronavirus."

"Each SARS-CoV-2 viron is between 70 and 120 nanometers in diameter," she wrote. "A nanometer is one-billionth of a meter in length. Considering these particles are so small, it would require a much college magnification or resolution than 25x, as implied by this graphic."

How face coverings piece of work

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention began recommending the use of masks in April.

"Wear cloth face coverings in public settings where other social distancing measures are difficult to maintain, such equally grocery stores, pharmacies, and gas stations. Fabric face coverings may wearisome the spread of the virus and help people who may have the virus and do non know it from transmitting it to others," guidance from the CDC states.

Effective masks stop the droplets and aerosols that can carry viruses to other people and potentially spread infections.

More than:Cotton mask or cervix gaiter? Check out how effective unlike kinds of masks are

"The purpose of these face up coverings isn't to filter out these virus particles," said Dr. Dean Winslow, an infectious disease physician with Stanford Health Intendance in Menlo Park, California, in a phone interview Mon. "The virus particles are not transmitted as naked particles. They're part of small droplets or aerosols."

Studies take shown widespread mask use can stop the manual of those virus-carrying particles.

A Duke University study released on Aug. seven found that N95 masks, surgical masks and cotton fiber masks performed well in stopping droplet transmission during regular voice communication. (Neck fleeces and folded bandannas offered "very piddling protection.")

A report published in Wellness Affairs in June that looked at the result of mask mandates from March 31 to May 22 plant that the face up mask requirements cut transmission rates past 2% after 21 days of use. In Springfield, Missouri, officials credit regular mask-wearing for preventing ii hairstylists who later tested positive for COVID-19 from transmitting the virus to 140 of their clients.

A July 15 mask order appears to have reduced Alabama's COVID-19 caseload. The state'south 7-day average of new cases reached 1,849 on July twenty. On Aug. 17, the average stood at 744.

More than:Foggy glasses? Mask acne? How to solve 5 pandemic annoyances – without taking off the mask

Our ruling: False

Nosotros rate this merits FALSE based on our enquiry. A viron that causes COVID-nineteen is too pocket-size to run across with a 25x microscope. Further, viruses are transmitted attached to droplets molecules that are stopped past masks. Studies of masks have shown them to be effective deterrents against the virus that causes COVID-19.

Our fact-check sources

• Interview with Dr. Dean Winslow, infectious illness physician with Stanford Wellness Care in Menlo Park, CA.
• E-mail from Dr. Molly Fleece, assistant professor in the Academy of Alabama Birmingham'southward division of infectious diseases.
• Data on the COVID-nineteen outbreak in Alabama can exist plant at bamatracker.com.
• Frankel, Todd C., "The outbreak that didn't happen: Masks credited with preventing coronavirus spread inside Missouri hair salon," Washington Postal service, June 17, 2020.
• Wei Lyu and George L. Wehby, "Community Apply Of Face Masks And COVID-nineteen: Evidence From A Natural Experiment Of Country Mandates In The US," Health Diplomacy, June 16, 2020.
• Emma P. Fischer, Martin C. Fischer, et. al., "Depression-price measurement of facemask efficacy for filtering expelled aerosol during speech," Science Advances, Aug. vii, 2020.

Contact Montgomery Advertiser reporter Brian Lyman at 334-240-0185 or blyman@gannett.com.

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Source: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/factcheck/2020/08/21/fact-check-covid-19-virus-cant-seen-under-25-x-optical-microscope/5605720002/