smoke and masks

Even in Berkeley, where many people still wear masks vs. covid, and even on a day when you can literally see and smell the smoke... outdoor masking is still week. At first very weak, I passed nearly a dozen people, before seeing one bicyclist in some cloth mask. It got better later, though some were in surgical masks. Peak was a couple in 3M 8511s, valved cup respirators. And pushing a stroller; I deeply regret that I did not think to look at what protection they have might have provided a child.

Odor molecules are often very small, and not filtered by a particulate respirator; "rotten egg" smell is H2S, hardly bigger than a water molecules. But I guess a lot of smoke smell is carried by big particles, because there was a huge odor difference between having my mask sealed or not.

(3M 8210 today, classic white cup. KF94 inside my home, where the purifiers seem to be struggling against leakage.)