The Freeholder said... (in a comment to a post down below)
Actually, masks do work to help reduce infection rates. Why do you think the medical types wear them?
However, there are two prerequisites for this to work. First, everyone has to wear them. Second, they must be worn correctly to be effective. (emphasis mine)
And there's the rub. Not everyone wears them--I don't, because I have a beard and given that, I'm just wasting the mask. Others don't for their own reasons. Of those that do, around 3/4, in my experience, wear them incorrectly. I've seen every violation of mask protocol imaginable during my trips outside the wire.
My opinion is that, unless we all wear them and wear them correctly, we may actually be making things worse via a false sense of security. For now, I'm just going with avoiding people where possible and washing my hands. It's worked so far.
Yes, masks work to prevent the wearer from passing his or her spittle on to the rest of the herd. If THEY are wearing a mask, and they cough, it prevents their virus laden droplets from spewing into the air from me ingest when I breathe. As far as a single layer mask preventing them from ingesting any virus particles? Pretty much useless. and about half of the masks are just that: a single layer of cloth that won't even filter fine dust very well.... As for spittle droplets, the masks are somewhat effective PROVIDING THEY ARE WORN CORRECTLY.... Less than 30% of the people I encounter are eve coming close to wearing their (somewhat effective) masks correctly.
Paper masks:
Worn under the nose. Useless.
improperly fitted at the nose. Pretty much useless. IF there is a gap that one can stick one's finger into at any point around the periphery of the mask, then one might as well not wear the mask.
2 strap masks, but only one strap, the other hanging loosely....see above.
Paper surgical masks....don't do much to help the wearer. Especially those where any observer can see the side of the wearer's mouth...useless for protecting the wearer.
Cloth masks:
Single layer cloth masks...again, help keep some droplets from entering the user's mouth or nose. If worn correctly. Most have the same fitment issues as the above referenced paper masks.
Same-same for wearing them when they are not covering one's nose. Or tight enough not to leak.
In addition to the above: Let's face it, if I (or you) haven't gotten exposed to Covid-19 yet, then I (or you) will be exposed at some point when we open up the country. We have all been to the store, or other places, in the past 6 weeks, most of us not wearing a mask. And the virus has been here since at least early December. Currently, there is no vaccine, so the only way to get immunity is to roll the dice and get the damned disease, and either get over it (43%), be asymptomatic (probably about 50%) , or get sick enough to require hospitalization (6%). It could be that you are part of the < 1% that die from it.
But exposed to it you will be in the next few months. For sure by the end of the year. All the "Social Distancing" or "Lockdown" does is to spread the infection times over a few moths rather than a few weeks...the whole idea was to prevent a sudden influx of cases (because the virulence was MASSIVELY overstated) to prevent the overwhelming of the health care system (which, never happened, even in such places like the greater New York area, which accounted for 40% of ALL the cases in the US.
So yes, wearing a mask can help. If worn correctly. Few do..... by my small number of observations, less that 1/3 wear them correctly. Most ineffectively enough as to be useless. It has become a fashion, nothing more. And even wearing a mask does not keep one from being exposed. In the end, you WILL be exposed. Most of us will not even know it, some will be mildly sick and a few will get VERY sick.
The whole mask wearing/social distancing/hide-in-our-homes will not prevent us from the effects of the disease if we re going to resume our normal lives at any point.
Besides, the TOP. MEN. at the CDC told us masks don't work. Either they don't know what they are talking about or they were lying. Which is it? Either way, why should we trust anything they say? They said we would need tens of thousands of hospital beds and ventilators. That turned out not to even be close, either. Such "experts".
This whole thing is bullshit. You know it, I know it and it is only the Media that is telling you (and that you believe) otherwise that is making you hide in your home and behind a mask.
Actually, masks do work to help reduce infection rates. Why do you think the medical types wear them?
However, there are two prerequisites for this to work. First, everyone has to wear them. Second, they must be worn correctly to be effective. (emphasis mine)
And there's the rub. Not everyone wears them--I don't, because I have a beard and given that, I'm just wasting the mask. Others don't for their own reasons. Of those that do, around 3/4, in my experience, wear them incorrectly. I've seen every violation of mask protocol imaginable during my trips outside the wire.
My opinion is that, unless we all wear them and wear them correctly, we may actually be making things worse via a false sense of security. For now, I'm just going with avoiding people where possible and washing my hands. It's worked so far.
Yes, masks work to prevent the wearer from passing his or her spittle on to the rest of the herd. If THEY are wearing a mask, and they cough, it prevents their virus laden droplets from spewing into the air from me ingest when I breathe. As far as a single layer mask preventing them from ingesting any virus particles? Pretty much useless. and about half of the masks are just that: a single layer of cloth that won't even filter fine dust very well.... As for spittle droplets, the masks are somewhat effective PROVIDING THEY ARE WORN CORRECTLY.... Less than 30% of the people I encounter are eve coming close to wearing their (somewhat effective) masks correctly.
Paper masks:
Worn under the nose. Useless.
improperly fitted at the nose. Pretty much useless. IF there is a gap that one can stick one's finger into at any point around the periphery of the mask, then one might as well not wear the mask.
2 strap masks, but only one strap, the other hanging loosely....see above.
Paper surgical masks....don't do much to help the wearer. Especially those where any observer can see the side of the wearer's mouth...useless for protecting the wearer.
Cloth masks:
Single layer cloth masks...again, help keep some droplets from entering the user's mouth or nose. If worn correctly. Most have the same fitment issues as the above referenced paper masks.
Same-same for wearing them when they are not covering one's nose. Or tight enough not to leak.
In addition to the above: Let's face it, if I (or you) haven't gotten exposed to Covid-19 yet, then I (or you) will be exposed at some point when we open up the country. We have all been to the store, or other places, in the past 6 weeks, most of us not wearing a mask. And the virus has been here since at least early December. Currently, there is no vaccine, so the only way to get immunity is to roll the dice and get the damned disease, and either get over it (43%), be asymptomatic (probably about 50%) , or get sick enough to require hospitalization (6%). It could be that you are part of the < 1% that die from it.
But exposed to it you will be in the next few months. For sure by the end of the year. All the "Social Distancing" or "Lockdown" does is to spread the infection times over a few moths rather than a few weeks...the whole idea was to prevent a sudden influx of cases (because the virulence was MASSIVELY overstated) to prevent the overwhelming of the health care system (which, never happened, even in such places like the greater New York area, which accounted for 40% of ALL the cases in the US.
So yes, wearing a mask can help. If worn correctly. Few do..... by my small number of observations, less that 1/3 wear them correctly. Most ineffectively enough as to be useless. It has become a fashion, nothing more. And even wearing a mask does not keep one from being exposed. In the end, you WILL be exposed. Most of us will not even know it, some will be mildly sick and a few will get VERY sick.
The whole mask wearing/social distancing/hide-in-our-homes will not prevent us from the effects of the disease if we re going to resume our normal lives at any point.
Besides, the TOP. MEN. at the CDC told us masks don't work. Either they don't know what they are talking about or they were lying. Which is it? Either way, why should we trust anything they say? They said we would need tens of thousands of hospital beds and ventilators. That turned out not to even be close, either. Such "experts".
This whole thing is bullshit. You know it, I know it and it is only the Media that is telling you (and that you believe) otherwise that is making you hide in your home and behind a mask.
Pretty much correct. Sigh...
ReplyDeleteThey were lying. They knew that our over-reliance on the unreliable Chinese was about to bite us squarely where we sit and they panicked. They told everyone that masks didn't work in order to save them for those deemed more important. It worked, sort of.
ReplyDelete"Experts" of today are showing their politically correct education and experience. I have more admiration for the Chinese doctors who tried to get the truth out, even when they knew the price might well be their lives. Our experts prevaricate, play politics and manipulate data in ways that ought to ban them from society forever. They come up with questionable models for those supposed running things to base their decisions on, then pay no price when they are found to be wearing the emperor's new clothes. In the meantime we've nuked our economies based on their poor advice. People are losing everything they've ever worked for. Others are dying as the medical establishment stays on a Wuflu footing and ignores cancer patients (among a lot of others).
No wonder people don't trust science any more. I hope they are all subject to a very special plague.
Since it can be transmitted through any mucous membrane, including the eyes, you need goggles as well as a properly fitting mask.
ReplyDelete