Posted on by Californiacontrarian

Mask-o-chistic?

The wearing of masks is back in vogue in many places, whereas not so much in other places. The major question continues to be, do they work? The best I can tell, there has not been a definitive study that documents that wearing a mask prevents Covid. On the other hand, the argument for wearing a mask is something akin to, “why not, as they do no harm.” Likewise, the best I can tell, there is no definitive study on this position either. During the lockdowns a similar argument was made … “lockdowns are good – what possible harm can come from staying inside all the time?” Actually plenty of harm was done to certain individuals … increased drug overdoses, increased suicides, increased spousal abuse, etc.

One of my major disagreements with our present state of mask wearing is that all masks are not the same. Even though it should be common sense that all masks are not equal, again the best I can tell, there is no standard by which face masks are rated and/or compared. Europe does have a system of sorts for grading masks, but the U.S. does not. Hmmm!

A cloth mask blocks only 3% of viral particles from reaching the wearer, according to a study in the British Medical Journal(BMJ).

For comparison N95 or KN95 masks block 95% of incoming viral particles.

Flat surgical masks made from nonwoven polypropylene would be an improvement as they block out 56% of virus particles, according to the same British study.

Is there a downside to mask wearing? Again according to another article from the BMJ (BMJ 2020;369:m2003):

-Wearing a mask may give a false sense of security and make people adopt a reduction in compliance with other important infection control measures1

-People must avoid touching their masks and adopt other management measures, otherwise masks are counterproductive.

From that same BMJ article:

Other potential side effects that we must consider, however, are:

-The quality and volume of speech between people wearing masks is considerably compromised and they may unconsciously come closer

-Wearing a mask makes the exhaled air go into the eyes. This generates an impulse to touch the eyes. If your hands are contaminated, you are potentially infecting yourself.

-Face masks make breathing more difficult. Moreover, a fraction of carbon dioxide previously exhaled is inhaled at each respiratory cycle. Those phenomena increase breathing frequency and deepness, and they may worsen the burden of covid-19 if infected people wearing masks spread more contaminated air. This may also worsen the clinical condition of infected people if the enhanced breathing pushes the viral load down into their lungs.

What about masks and school children?

As David Zweig noted in New York Magazine, “many of America’s peer nations around the world — including the U.K., Ireland, all of Scandinavia, France, the Netherlands, Switzerland, and Italy — have exempted kids, with varying age cutoffs, from wearing masks in classrooms” without experiencing more school-related COVID-19 outbreaks than the U.S. has seen. 

8/28/21

46 Replies to “Mask-o-chistic?”

  1. Good article. Jonelle wanted to experiment on her morning walk. She usually walks about 5 miles without a mask. Experimenting with a mask and wearing the oxygen device her oxygen level went down to somewhere in the low 80’s. What health effect does that have?

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