Please log in.
Before you can vote, you need to register. Please log in or create an account.
Science: Health: Coronavirus
Social Snorkel   (+5)  [vote for, against]
The coronavirus (especially if attached to a water(/sputum) droplet), has a still-air diffusion speed of your average brick, relying on air currents to spread : 5-6 feet up from the spewing orifices and the air is relatively clear, so...

a length-adjustable (think automobile antenna), lightweight, bifurcate-tube/filter/mask combination with robust head-straps.

The snorkel/filter assemblies attach to the mask via a standard NATO connection, enabling optional adaptation to existing NBCW fashionwear ; adapters for older/foreign model gasmasks available on request.

(and thankyou Jutta, for the new category)
-- FlyingToaster, Apr 17 2020

Can there be a rigid carbon-fibre version ?

Er, how low are the overhead power lines in your part of the planet ... ? <Sniggering/>

[+]
-- 8th of 7, Apr 17 2020


I seriously considered picking up a mil. gas-mask, but cartridges are difficult to find and (IIRC) only rated for a few hours (and no clue how to rejuvenate them).

Side-topically, I've considered going clean-shaven to make the piddly masks I do have more effective, but even unseen razor-burn would provide more attachment points.
-- FlyingToaster, Apr 17 2020


// no clue how to rejuvenate them //

Can't be done- single use, and discard. Once unsealed, they degrade anyway irrespective of use, so one that's been opened and put aside is junk after a couple of days.

Consumer-grade non-sealing (medical type) masks are more a gesture of intent than practical protection. They'll reduce droplets and particulates, but not stop them, and besides they leave the conjunctiva completely exposed.

Bizarrely, your aquatic mask-and-snorkel suggestion works (mechanically) quite well. But since the majority of users blithely ignore the necessity for post-exposure decontamination protocols, it's all a complete waste of time.
-- 8th of 7, Apr 17 2020


The snorkel should be a flexible hose held up by a drone. Then with the air intake over 6 feet above the crowds no filter is necessary.
-- Voice, Apr 18 2020


Intake high up; exhaust (unfiltered) at head height ...

Of course, if you're infected, the unfiltered output is going to contaminate all those around you ...
-- 8th of 7, Apr 18 2020


That's their problem.
-- Voice, Apr 19 2020


It would be an interesting study to correlate height demographics with infection rates and immune system loads and conditioning. Is this another evolutionary advantage of being tall?
-- RayfordSteele, Apr 19 2020


That's entirely possible. Droplets will be drawn downwards by gravity... the infective miasma will swirl around somewhere below average mouth height.
-- 8th of 7, Apr 19 2020



random, halfbakery