Masks

[CaroleW]

If your glasses steam up whilst wearing a mask then you're not wearing it properly, according to my wife.

If it covers my nose & it covers my mouth/chin - how else can it be worn?  There are many others with the same problem so I'm sure we would all like to know

[Top-of-the-hill]

   I drove the car for the first time today with a mask on. Got out to supervise my passenger getting in, got back in, started the car and found I couldn't see - glasses steamed up! Luckily they cleared quickly in the car, but I had a moment's panic. I must try the soap.
   I have yet to find a mask that fits comfortably; If I have to wear one for any length of time, I use one of the blue disposable ones, as they seem to work best, though it goes against my principles.

[Erato]

Spread of Covid-19 in Kansas counties with a mask mandate as compared to counties which refused to implement such a mandate.  Spread of the virus sky-rocketed in the unmasked counties but was stabilized where masks were required.


https://ipsr.ku.edu/covid19/images/Mask_Mandate_forJoCo.pdf

The Democratic governor of the state ordered masks to be worn statewide but the Republican legislature quickly passed a law that said the counties didn't have to obey the governor.  Thank you, Republicans - you have provided the evidence of your own stupidity.

[Guy Etchells]

You couldn't be more wrong Erato. It is somebody who has spent a lot of time and put much effort into researching this issue. There are serious issues associated with wearing of masks and no obvious protective element in respect of viral protection. We are all awaiting publication of this year's randomised Danish study, the only such study, but initial indications suggest that it is unlikely to support the wearing of masks as a protective measure by the general public.

There is a lot of misinformation circulating about wearing masks some masks are designed to protect the wearer and some to protect other people from the wearer.

A surgical mask mask that protects the wearer's nose and mouth from contact with droplets, splashes and sprays that may contain germs. Surgical masks may protect others by reducing exposure to the saliva and respiratory secretions of the mask wearer. 

For example the N95 masks have valves that make them easier to breathe through. With this type of mask, unfiltered air is released when the wearer exhales. This type of mask protects the wearer from 95% of very small particles and does not protect others because of the valve.

It is thought that N95 masks without the valve protect both the wearer and others to the same degree, but because N95 masks are in short supply most/many countries ask that these are reserved for hospital staff in covid wards.

A cloth mask is intended to trap droplets that are released when the wearer talks, coughs or sneezes.
These masks do not protect the wearer but go a long way to protect others if worn properly covering the nose and mouth from droplets the wearer exhales.

There is on more important point and that is handling the mask before and after wearing. Always wash hands before and after touching the mask. If the mask has protected the wearer then its outside facing surface will be contaminated with the virus, mishandling the mask could transfer the virus to the inside surface of the mask to be sucked in to the wearer if they wear it again.
Treat all masks even re-usable masks as single use masks and if worn and removed wash before reusing.
Cheers
Guy

[BushInn1746]

The main reason for wearing a face-covering when in an enclosed public space is to protect other people, not to protect oneself.

When people:- speak, sing, shout, exhale, cough, sneeze, we project tiny droplets of moisture which can be breathed in by others in the vicinity. If infected the person nearby breathing them in can be infected, so masks primarily protect others.

If we hadn't got Covid-19 floating about, mask wearing would have been an interesting experiment to see if it reduced the spread of Winter influenza.

Even general Surgical Type IIR pleated filter masks are not sealed enough to the face to give the wearer full protection.

Dentist
I asked (pre-Covid) my Dentist of many years about his surgical mask and he said he wore a Surgical Mask primarily to protect the patient (me).

Doctors Surgery
Here we are still not allowed (since March 2020) to even go to the Doctors Surgery until we have:-
1. a timed appointment to actually visit and
2. answered questions and
3. Been met outside in the open air and asked to proceed inside by a member of Surgery Staff.

So the lady in the Doctors coughing with her mask on her chin is showing a total lack of care to others and wouldn't get anywhere near our Doctors Reception or even through the Front Door!
 ----------
MRI Scanning
You must not go in a Magnetic Resonance Imaging scanner wearing any magnetic metals, the metal pinch band in my Surgical masks looked to be a copper coated steel wire.

So I went with a homemade mask, but was asked three times by Hospital and MRI Brain scan staff, if my mask contained any metal.

Fortunately, no Covid Brain Fog  was found (I've already survived an illness / damage    found 20 years ago by MRI).

Mark

[arthurk]

Spread of Covid-19 in Kansas counties with a mask mandate as compared to counties which refused to implement such a mandate.  Spread of the virus sky-rocketed in the unmasked counties but was stabilized where masks were required.


https://ipsr.ku.edu/covid19/images/Mask_Mandate_forJoCo.pdf

The Democratic governor of the state ordered masks to be worn statewide but the Republican legislature quickly passed a law that said the counties didn't have to obey the governor.  Thank you, Republicans - you have provided the evidence of your own stupidity.

That's an interesting document, but I'm not sure that it tells the whole story since it seems to look at the wearing of masks in isolation from other factors.

It can be seen from the graphs on pages 4-6 that the non-mask counties had a large spike of cases in May, whereas the mask counties had relatively stable numbers then and started to increase more sharply some two months later. It may well be that the enforcement of masks from July onwards helped to stabilise numbers in the mask counties, but how and why, without such a requirement, did they manage to avoid a spike in May? Is there a fundamental difference in the behaviour of the populations of mask and non-mask counties, that was having an effect in the pre-mask months? (You might also ask why the May spike declined so rapidly without masks being required.)

However, the issue might not be simply about whether or not masks are worn: a few weeks ago I came across a study which suggested that when some people wore masks they neglected social distancing - see my post about this at

https://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=837425.msg7030215#msg7030215

So maybe it's not exactly about masks vs non-masks, but that some people are careful and considerate and will practise social distancing and wear masks because they know it's sensible, whereas others will do the bare minimum (or less). How this relates to Kansas I'm not really qualified to say.

[Llwyd]

If your glasses steam up whilst wearing a mask then you're not wearing it properly, according to my wife.

If it covers my nose & it covers my mouth/chin - how else can it be worn?  There are many others with the same problem so I'm sure we would all like to know

I'm sure you and others would but I can tell you no more than I have, that my wife doesn't have a problem with mask and glasses. Not helpful I know but that's how it is.
 

[BushInn1746]

However, the issue might not be simply about whether or not masks are worn: a few weeks ago I came across a study which suggested that when some people wore masks they neglected social distancing - see my post about this at

https://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=837425.msg7030215#msg7030215

So maybe it's not exactly about masks vs non-masks, but that some people are careful and considerate and will practise social distancing and wear masks because they know it's sensible, whereas others will do the bare minimum (or less). How this relates to Kansas I'm not really qualified to say.

From what I can gather standard Masks only have a very limited effect for short duration.

My GP has said to me you must Socially Distance to reduce further risk to health and was also fairly confident back in March 2020 Covid-19 can be caught twice or more times, (reinfection is possible and now proven in published Lancet Reports earlier this month).

Also my GP said don't shake hands (impossible due to Social Distancing since the UK March Lockdown onward), also touching anything that has recently been touched by others must be followed by thorough handwashing to prevent cross transfer risk, etc.

Now I know and fully understand why 2 boxes of Steroid Cream were prescribed back in March, which must only be used very sparingly!!

Mark

[Erato]

Tennessee:
Areas without mask policies seeing higher COVID-19 hospitalizations

https://www.wbir.com/article/news/health/coronavirus/vanderbilt-study-areas-without-mask-policies-seeing-higher-covid-19-hospitalizations/51-0378dfc4-8224-41de-8797-848e350f53e8