Fact: A virus is so small that it cannot be seen through an optical microscope. The existence of virus’s was only speculated about(due to otherwise unexplained illnesses) until the invention of the electron microscope. Until then no one had ever actually visualized a virus.
Keeping that in mind then one should realize that not many masks could even filter a virus out. A virus can even get through an N99 mask. Now imagine that the mask becomes contaminated and actually becomes a transmission source.
But individual floating virus fomites are not normally found outside of a medical lab. The virus you need to be concerned about is the virus in relatively large droplets spewed out during sneezing and coughing.
One of the doctors I pay attention to tried to show how wearing a mask (unless it’s an N95 which, I believe, only blocks 95%, thus the name) isn’t doing much good - it’s mostly a ‘mental’ thing, makes people feel better wearing them.
The example he gave ... if you scaled a corona virus up to 1inch x 1 inch and scaled the holes in a bandana, T-shirt, some of the other non-N95 masks to an equivalent scale to the virus, the hole would be 83 feet x 83 feet. How many 1” x 1” ‘viruses’ could fit through that hole? More than a few ....
Thank you for mentioning this. Basically if light shines through your mask, the virus can easily get through as well.
The mask is not supposed to catch a single virus. It’s supposed to catch droplets that include the virus.