Do masks work? No. So why are we wearing them?
Now, before I ever publish anything, I always let someone who disagrees with my viewpoint read it. This gives me insight as to why they disagree with me, and allows me to debate with them so that I know how to counter the arguments the commenters may or may not make. I did that. And the main arguments this “Mask-Lover” gave me was 1. Grandma will die, 2. You have to be courteous to other people, because they are scared.
First argument: Grandma will die. I understand that. You don’t want to kill Grandma or Grandpa, so you should wear a mask around them. Well, I have news for you! Masks don’t stop viruses! Let’s look at what the CDC said:
https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/26/5/19-0994_article
Disposable medical masks (also known as surgical masks) are loose-fitting devices that were designed to be worn by medical personnel to protect accidental contamination of patient wounds, and to protect the wearer against splashes or sprays of bodily fluids (36). There is limited evidence for their effectiveness in preventing influenza virus transmission either when worn by the infected person for source control or when worn by uninfected persons to reduce exposure. Our systematic review found no significant effect of face masks on transmission of laboratory-confirmed influenza. (Emphasis added.)
Yep. That was the CDC. If you don’t believe the CDC, why not Dr. Fauci?
Yep. That’s Dr. Fauci. Saying people SHOULD NOT WEAR MASKS! Maybe I’m confused, but isn’t he saying now that people should wear masks? He sure changed his tune — it sounds like masks aren’t to protect you, but to experiment on you. Why do you think he did that? Maybe a political reason not backed by science? Hmm.
If you don’t trust the past CDC and past Dr. Fauci, but insist that they must be right now, that’s fine. But facts don’t change. Here’s what a friend of mine told me:
Look at the size of a particle of wood smoke. Let’s look here: See page 3. (0.3 to 0.7 microns) Source is EPA.
https://www3.epa.gov/ttnamti1/files/ambient/smoke/wildgd.pdf
Now let’s look into the size of the COVID-19 virus: 0.12 microns
An N95 mask if fitted precisely will prevent 95% of particles in the 0.1 micron size. So if you have a properly fitted N95 mask you do have some protection. However, outside of a hospital I have never seen a properly fitted mask. If you can smell wood smoke while wearing your face covering of choice, you’re not protected from COVID. However if you sneeze and you indeed have COVID, you project less of the virus into the area immediately around you. Same could be said if you sneezed into your elbow or a handkerchief…
Do you have a N95 mask that you can fit properly? Probably not — you have a cloth mask. Will the cloth mask protect you? Can we look at how big the weave of a mask is compared to the size of the virus? Well, the size of the virus particle itself is not extremely relevant to any discussion of mask filtration, because virus particles rarely float freely in the air. They are usually suspended in a droplet nuclei much larger than the virus itself. A droplet containing a single particle will on average start out 270 times larger than the virion, and will evaporate to nuclei of 50 times larger than the virion. With that, you say, masks have 3-dimentional properties, and viruses follow the Brownian motion, and some fabrics have an electrostatic effect! So viruses can’t possibly get through. Right. So because of these things, masks are effective. Even though I doubt that, I won’t argue against it. However, almost every mask you wear has been put on wrong. Have you ever touched your mask? Have you breathed into it? Then it works even worse than normal. Why, look at this, from the Mayo Clinic:
Once a mask gets wet, maybe from our exhalation, it really begins to decrement in effectiveness in filtering any sort of respiratory particulate matter. So that’s one thing, it would need to be changed. The second thing is you do yourself no favor if you wear a mask and then touch the mask, either to adjust it or take it off in the wrong way. As medical professionals, we’re taught how to put a mask on and how to take a mask off, but this would be unfamiliar to the public. You take it off through however you’re holding it on your head. You do not touch the front of the mask. And then that mask needs to be washed before it would be used again. Just washing with soap and water in your laundry machine is quite satisfactory. You don’t need to go to any extreme lengths. (Emphasis added.)
Second point: You need to wear a mask to comfort people, because said people are afraid. There is truth that if you wear a mask, it can have a positive psychological effect on people who believe masks work. Okay, I understand that. People feel afraid, so I should do what I can to stop them being afraid. However…
What if you have a friend who is afraid of peanuts because he might be allergic to them? Would you not eat peanuts and wash your hands after touching peanuts? That depends how allergic he might be. If past evidence shows that he could die if they came into contact with a peanut, sure you would wash your hands and not eat nuts around him. But if there is no past evidence that he is allergic, you wouldn’t. Why? Because the risk is low. What if this friend was very rude to you when you ate peanuts? What if he called you a “Grandma killer” because your Grandma is probably allergic too? You wouldn’t be friends with him very long. He feels better because he’s worried he might be allergic, and doesn’t want you to perhaps increase the chance of him coming into contact with peanuts.
I have a friend who has a very, very high risk of dying with any illness. She only has one lung, has smoked her whole life, has virtually no immune system, and is in terrible health. I haven’t seen her in months, because I don’t want her to die just yet. Every winter, she holes up in her home and doesn’t go anywhere because of the flu. She’s done the same thing for COVID-19— and that makes sense. I respect that she wants to stay alive. However, a normal, healthy person doing the same thing is silly. They will survive a bout with COVID-19. Why is everyone so terrified of a virus with a survival rate 95.5% or under?
Back to masks, though. Does anyone remember back in 2018 when tuberculosis swept through world? None of us wore masks then. What are the numbers from tuberculosis that year?
A total of 1.5 million people died from TB in 2018 (including 251,000 people with HIV). In 2018, an estimated 10 million people fell ill with tuberculosis(TB) worldwide. 5.7 million men, 3.2 million women and 1.1 million children. In 2018, 1.1 million children fell ill with TB globally, and there were 205, 000 child deaths due to TB (including among children with HIV).
https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/tuberculosis?
And no one wore a mask…call me evil, but if I am, so are you. You didn’t wear a mask in 2018, and neither did I.
If I’m sick with COVID, or with anything — cold, flu, whatever — I won’t leave the house. I don’t want to get people sick. However, when I am NOT sick, I WILL leave the house, and I will leave it with no mask. I can practically hear you screaming “Asymptomatic transmission!!!”, though, so here are a few links:
If you want to wear a mask, fine…I won’t stop you. I don’t respect that you think a grubby, germy piece of cloth can protect you, but I for one will not wear a mask. You really wanna save Grandma? Then don’t see her. Don’t be fooled into thinking a mask will protect her. It won’t.
There is a lot more info out there that you can look into, but I think I made my point. Those studies always look at how a mask blocks sneezes or coughs. They show that droplets will be knocked down by a mask and not travel 15 feet, but what they don’t tell you is the virus still goes through the mask, it just won’t go as far. They are lying to you if they say it blocks viruses. Have you ever seen a magic trick where the magician tricks you verbally into looking at his eyes while he stacks the deck right in front of you? The “Backyard COVID scientists” do the same thing. They say it blocks droplets and bacteria from spreading far, but, hey, who cares if the virus still goes through? A sick person still contaminated the store you are in, and your mask will not stop it from getting to you.
By the way, even if I was wrong about masks, (I’m not) your eyes are still exposed and you can catch probably catch the virus through your eyes regardless.
Still don’t believe me? I’ll leave you with one last link:
Thank you for reading.
