N95’s

The other day I heard an anecdotal story about masks. The person who told me this story is trustworthy and I have no reason to doubt the veracity of what he told me. 

The setting is Minneapolis in 2009. As you may recall, from April 12, 2009 to April 10, 2010, CDC estimated there were 60.8 million cases (range: 43.3-89.3 million), 274,304 hospitalizations (range: 195,086-402,719), and 12,469 deaths (range: 8868-18,306) in the United States due to the (H1N1)pdm09 virus.

At that time his wife wanted a mask, so he called a friend at 3M, which at that time the biggest mask producer in the world. His friend told him that they were backlogged for six months on medical face masks because of the large volume of orders from Asia. He could attempt to get one for my friend, but the probability of getting a regular medical $6 face mask within six months was close to zero. However, the friend who worked in the medical division of 3M told him that he could easily get him an N-95 mask for $3. At that time the N-95 mask was so-named because that was the name of the material from which it was made. N-95 apparently refers to that the material will filter 95% of the contaminants in the air, whether it is inhaled or exhaled.

These N-95s were cheaper because there wasn’t much of a market for them. They were mainly used by people with a grass allergy, so that these allergic individuals could mow their lawns … now here is the key . . . at that time the N-95s were meant to protect the individual from the grass spores. I repeat,- to protect the individual, as opposed to the medical face masks, as were then and today still are used in operating rooms to protect the patient from the surgeon.

Without a doubt both types of masks have improved, but I suspect that the basic difference remains … the medical mask is supposed to help the other guy, and the N-95 is supposed to help the wearer of the mask. In hospitals where there are Covid patients, the staff are individually measured for tightly fitted N-95s – so tight that at the end of the day, those that wear them have red indentations on their cheeks, and the more sensitive individuals will have headaches because they are so tight.

Wear an ordinary medical mask for a day, and  . . . what? Nothing, but on and off foggy glasses, which in and off itself tells you how tight the seal is from these medical masks. 

Now in this pandemic, we have all been told multiple times to wash our hands, spatial distance, and to always wear our masks, as if the constant wearing of these medical masks is a panacea. To me washing one’s hands, and social distancing make sense, but masks, not so much for a number of reasons.

First, medical masks do not provide a tight seal. They are nothing like N-95s, and similar to 2009, I suspect that those who have a grass allergy would not be safe when mowing lawns while wearing a medical mask.

Second, a lot of things that are supposed to be the same as medical masks, aren’t masks at all, but rather some poorly contrived stylish look-alikes that in fact could provide basically zero protection to either the wearer or to those near him. The CDC is supposed to come out with a grading for masks as far as efficiency is concerned, but so far . . .  close, but no cigar. The mere fact that the CDC thought it necessary to establish a grading system for masks and “pseudo-masks” only means that not all face coverings are functioning very well as protectors.

Thirdly, for a mask to have any pretense of being protective, it must cover both the nose and the mouth without gaps through which air (and viral particles) can sneak either through or around the mask’s perimeter, to gain entrance to the nose or mouth. If you pay attention, often the mask is not being worn properly, is not close to forming an airtight seal, or is constantly being fidgeted with, thus destroying any hope of benefit. The other problem here is that the medical masks are not fitted to the person, but rather are mass produced.

Lately, I have been paying attention as to whether or not there is an open space between the top of one’s mask and the space below the eyes. If masks were individually fitted, like the N-95s are in those who work in hospitals, there should be no such space.

These days the wearing of medical masks is ubiquitous, and just about every place of business requires them in order to enter. In Costco, the wearing of masks in adults is 100%, as one cannot enter the store without wearing one. If mask wearing was so highly protective, then one would expect that no Covid cases could possibly have arisen there. But that is not the case. To me, in Costco, or in Walmart for that matter, the wearing of masks is like a “Get out of jail free card” as far as social distancing is concerned. If you truly want social spacing, do not go near where the cooked whole chickens are kept in Costco.

With the increasing number of cases, “those who know best” basically repeatedly tell us that it is our fault that cases are rising, because we are not diligent about mask wearing. To that I say, “poppycock.” As far as I am aware, mask wearing has never been proven to prevent viral spread. Yes, I have seen the slow motion videos of sneeze particles whose trajectory is lessened by a face mask. If I have to sneeze, I turn my head and sneeze into my elbow. To me that is more effective than depending on poorly fitted, poorly designed, or just plainly ineffective face mask. President-elect Biden jumped further onto the mask bandwagon by blaming maskless Republicans for covid infections in Democratic lawmakers while they were sequestered during last week’s Capitol riot, without any ostensible proof that that is what actually occurred. “Joe, does that mean that irrespective of who was the source of these infections, that the masks did not work?”

To go out on a limb, I am suspicious that nearly ubiquitous mask wearing could in fact be making the Covid situation worse by providing a false sense of security not only for the wearers, but also for those around them