Even If Masks Work In Theory, They Aren’t Working In Practice

Townhall.com ^ | September 21, 2020 | Scott Morefield

[Kaslin]

Our family’s visit to a Virginia restaurant the other day wasn’t particularly unusual in the coronavirus era, although that state’s requirements are more stringent than most. The staff were all wearing masks and, in this case, plastic gloves as well. The iced tea bin was behind the counter where customers couldn’t touch it, and Virginia restaurants are apparently required to give customers a new plastic cup for every refill. (Somehow, the left went from banning plastic straws to probably tripling the amount of plastic waste generated by restaurants but hey, there could be a .000001% less chance of someone possibly catching the WORSTEST VIRUS EVER, so screw the environment, right?)

Anyway, I won't name the restaurant, but it was one of those places where you walk in, place your order, get your drinks, pay, then sit down and wait for your food to come up at the counter, at which point they call your order number. Of course, you had to shout through the giant plexiglass screen, then bend your head just to hear the muffled voice of the cashier, who was asking questions and punching buttons with one ungloved finger on an otherwise gloved hand. From the stains as well as the home-cut finger opening (so he could push the buttons), it was obvious he hadn't changed his gloves in quite some time, and certainly not for the two customers in line before us.

Even more disturbingly, as he spoke to us the cashier adjusted his obviously moist, stained mask with his gloved hand at least five times, at one point putting his thumb and forefinger across his entire mouth and moving the mask farther up the bridge of his nose. Thank God we were ‘spared’ any potential ‘droplets’ from his nose (because we all know how those nose droplets barrel through plexiglass), but it did come at the cost of spreading whatever nastiness was on his mask to pretty much everything else he touched.

We placed our order, paid with a credit card, then then watched the cashier grab our cups from the stack and proceed to put his gloved fingers inside (INSIDE, I kid you not) three of them at once as he made his way to the ice maker and tea bin to get our drinks (COVID restrictions in Virginia apparently do not allow us to get our own tea … you know, for ‘safety’).

Now the last thing I’m trying to do is bash hard-working restaurant employees. I’ve been one myself and I know how hard and thankless the work is. I won’t go into any more detail on the incident above, but suffice it to say I wouldn’t have dreamed of being rude to him. What I am trying to point out, however, is how supposedly well-meaning COVID restrictions - and even restaurants trying to 'help' by going above and beyond, as the gloves seemed to be - have turned our reality into a place where the 'letter of the law' (or mandate) is more important than common sense or actual results.

Indeed, if you had told me in 2019 that there would come a day when virtually the entire world would seriously believe there are absolutely no negatives to wearing a moist, bacteria-laden germ-collector on one’s face and breathing through it all day, I wouldn’t have believed it. Yet, here we are, where even the esteemed head of the Center for Disease Control is telling people with a straight face that masks - yes masks - are MORE protective than a vaccine. At this point, face burqas have become more than simply a talisman to encourage the public to venture out and engage the economy - they have become a religious cult. Dare to question it in any way, and they’ll shut you down - or attempt to - and they typically won’t even bother to try to respond to any of the points you make.

Take last week, for example, when I attempted to post that amazing mask article by Daniel Horowitz I mentioned in last week’s post on my own humble personal Facebook page. (I typically don’t plug this page, but lately I’ve gotten in the habit of posting some great clips and COVID-related news items there, so you’re welcome to visit and follow it if you like.) After a few days, the “fact-checker” bot discovered and flagged the post as “partly false information.” Why, you ask? Because Big Tech has apparently deemed fit to decide that this is “settled science,” or something. “Masks work,” don’t you know, and that’s all there is to it. To ‘refute’ the post, Facebook oddly linked to an article written by healthfeedback.org in May responding to an entirely different anti-mask post. It goes through the usual ridiculous model-based “studies” to ‘prove’ that mask-wearing ‘works,’ but then it also notably says this:

“The post is correct in stating that improper handling of face masks or cloth coverings creates a risk for infection, as infectious droplets may potentially contaminate the external and internal surfaces. However, this is far from an insurmountable obstacle, as this risk can be minimized by exercising caution when removing the mask. The CDC has advised that individuals should wash their hands and avoid touching their eyes, nose and mouth after removing their mask, and that cloth masks should be regularly washed.”

Now let’s put aside the other arguments, many if not most of which I have covered in past posts, and just get real for a second with some gold old-fashioned common sense. Does anyone sincerely think that most of the public, who are non-medical professionals, handle masks correctly? Just take a look at the masks on most restaurant employees or even people you pass in the street. People are constantly touching them and they’re often visibly dirty, which suggests they aren’t being laundered daily or even regularly. Most people I know carry them around in their cars, in and out of their pockets, and leave them lying around wherever with little regard for the biohazards they are. Instead of potentially dangerous droplets falling to the ground where they’ve fallen for the entirety of human history, we’ve chosen to catch them in one ‘convenient’ place so they can then be distributed to surfaces humans touch on a regular basis.

In other words, even IF correctly used masking worked to stop the spread of coronavirus in theory - a goal I’m not even sure we should have in the first place (as long as hospitals aren’t overwhelmed) - the practice and subsequent real-world results are an entirely different thing. This could be why in place after place that has instituted mandatory masking, from California to Israel to Peru to Columbia to India to countless others, the virus continues to spread unabated and seemingly even faster than in non-masked places, only finishing when it runs its course at 15 to 25 percent seroprevalence.

Please consider staying informed with the latest and BEST COVID-19-related information by joining the over 2,100 people already following my brand-new COVID ‘Team Reality’ list. It’s a great first step in the long-haul fight against corona fascism!

[SoCal Pubbie]

How about my common sense post?

[A Formerly Proud Canadian]

Here in Alberta, there are 16K reported cases, 14.7K recovered and 255 deaths. Their ages ranged from 27-105.

Of those deaths, only 8 had no comorbidities. 2/3 (170) were over the age of 80. Factoring in those aged 70-79, 57 died. 89% of all CCP-Coronavirus deaths were over the age of 70. While I do not know the ages of the 8 people with no comorbidities, I would suspect that they were all quite elderly when they passed away.

The average life expectancy in Alberta is 82 and the average age of CCP-Coronavirus deaths is 83. While I believe that the passing of anyone is sad, statistics would suggest that the CCP-Coronavirus is ‘thinning the herd’. (My stats come from the Alberta government website concerning the CCP-Coronavirus. https://www.alberta.ca/covid-19-alberta-data.aspx)

[IrishBrigade]

‘Masks probably cut transmission risk by 90% for a 15-minute grocery store foray.’

you are aware, I’m sure, that unless someone within a few feet of you has a coughing or sneezing jag, or starts belting out a Broadway tune, (and then only if the ejector is himself infected to begin with), you are not going to become infected by walking amongst unmasked shoppers......

do people typically go on sneezing or coughing fits on your supermarket visits...?

[Tareli]

My 83-year-old mother-in-law with Alzheimer’s, hypertension and cardiac issues resides in a nursing home in Florida. The facility has been stringent in infection control, PPE, etc. and all the residents get tested for COVID regularly. My mother-in-law tested positive for COVID last month. They moved her to another facility for COVID-positive people and immediately started her on vitamins C, D and zinc. She never became ill, never had any symptoms and was transferred back to her nursing home as soon as her follow-up COVID test returned negative none the worse for wear.

[SoCal Pubbie]

Is this common sense?

Fauci: We’ll likely be wearing masks for most of 2021, even after a vaccine rolls out

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3886223/posts

[ConservativeInPA]

It’s my understanding that trying to stop it with a common mask is like shooting a BB through a chain link fence.

That's a good analogy.

[depressed in 06]

They got the masks backward, masks are worn to not get the virus. Nobody gives a sh!t whether you give the virus to someone else. You don’t want to get the virus.

[Outlaw76]

This graphic is complete BS.
In image 2, It completely ignores the actual direction of droplets. They go UP. Right past your eyes and over your head. The droplets will linger longer and at a higher level, than they would would without a mask. They don’t travel as far forward, but they last longer.

I have a theory that breathing out of your nose is better than through a mask. I plan to test it out later this week and release a video of the experiment.

Here’s my first test, several months ago: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4zNYfMYg-c

[2aProtectsTheRest]

Couple things:

1) I’m against mandates from the government to wear masks. I’m generally against government using force or taxation to control peoples’ behavior, unless it truly is an imminent matter of life and death (e.g. police keeping people out of an active crime scene).

2) There were mask mandates in most major cities and plenty of photographic evidence of people wearing masks during Spanish Flu. And this is probably nearly as bad as Spanish Flu, pound for pound. We just have better tools now for treatment and prevention. When President Trump announces approval of a safe and effective vaccine, that will spell the end of all this COVID stuff, including the masks, shutdowns, social distancing, etc. That’s why he’s put so much effort into the vaccines.

[2aProtectsTheRest]

Respiratory droplets (pictured in the graphic) only stay in the air for a few seconds. Yes, some droplets will be forced more upwards, but they’ll still land quickly. You’re talking an extra couple of seconds in the air.

But that’s not the point. Wearing a properly made, properly worn mask reduces both the volume and the range of the droplets that enable SARS-CoV-2 transmission. Volume is a huge component of this. Reducing it is extremely helpful.

[2aProtectsTheRest]

Conspiracy nonsense.

Even if that were true, the virus doesn’t survive long without a liquid medium. By the time the masks were packed in boxes, those boxes packed onto a pallet, that pallet loaded onto a truck, then transferred to a container, then loaded on a ship, every SARS-CoV-2 virus would be long since destroyed. Viruses do not live in open air. Proteins denature in open air.

[Mom MD]

really. and where is the data to back up your 90% reduction? Masks do nothing if the sort

[Mom MD]

Your picture fails to show the particles leaking around the sides top and bottom of the mask. And this is an airborne virus as well. masks do redirect the particles down where everyone can put their paws on them and spread the freely. They do not reduce disease transmission

In addition no study has shown sufficient viral particles in respiratory exhalation in asymptomatic individuals to be infectious anyways. The magic talismen do not work. the states with the strictest masking guidelines have some if the highest rates of disease. Kind of like gun laws stopping gang shootings.....

[Jane Long]

The whole ‘servers...or ANYONE wearing masks, in a restaurant’ idea is the most absurd.

Just as the mask requirements are, too.

[who knows what evil?]

Corona fascism...I LIKE it!

[2aProtectsTheRest]

The study I linked to goes into detail about all of that. That's why I linked the study instead of only providing the graphic: because they give a lot more information than what's in that singular graphic. Here's another graphic from the same study at the same link:

Fomite transmission is still purely theoretical. No documented cases of fomite transmission that I'm aware of and the CDC doesn't list fomites as a primary transmission vector for SARS-CoV-2. Yes, people improperly touch their masks to put them on and remove them, but that's an education issue; not a problem with the masks themselves.

"the states with the strictest masking guidelines have some if the highest rates of disease."

That's a comment on the effectiveness of government mandates; not masks. A state can mandate whatever they'd like. If people ignore the mandate or practice malicious compliance (advocated here all the time with talk of mesh masks, cutting holes in masks, etc.) Again, not a problem with the masks. A properly made, properly worn mask reduces the volume and the range of the droplets that are the primary source of SARS-CoV-2 transmission.

[Mom MD]

But does not stop transmission. In addition there is no proof evidence asymptomatic people have enough virus in respiratory secretion to spread it at all. combine that with the way the public wears masks and all you are doing is annoying people for no good reason

[GOPJ]

Most food servers don’t understand the concept... as this piece pointed out.

The easy path - - IF you want restaurant food - and you’re older or at high risk - get it ‘to go’, take it home, dump the food out of the container directly onto a plate and microwave your dinner while you’re washing your hands. Viruses hate microwaves.

[Outlaw76]

Okay, I hate typing this part because it doesn't come off as nice...
Please show me the data that shows that masks work. -— I mean that whole heartedly. I'm tired of hearing people say they work only to have everything I know and everything I see contradict that statement.

I live in Arkansas.
On July 20, the first day of mask mandate, we had 699 cases.
Two weeks later (when the cases should have started dropping) we had 787 cases
On September 19th, 2 months later, we have 803 cases.

IF masks worked 50% of the time and only 50% of the people wore masks, the number of cases would have dropped by somewhere between 10% and 25% right?

The reality is more like 90-99% wore masks during that time and the numbers didn't drop by 10 to 25% -— and they really should have dropped by more.

Masks don't work.

I've heard ‘It's common sense’ - but it isn't. The data disproves the efficacy of wearing masks to combat Covid 19.

On the other side of ‘common sense’ - if you aren't changing your mask routinely (at least every 90 minutes), you are creating a breeding ground for all kinds of nasty right next to your mouth.

BTW - did you even watch the video?

[2aProtectsTheRest]

"But does not stop transmission."

By that reasoning, we shouldn't have bothered vaccinating against Smallpox because the vaccine isn't 100% effective in every individual. Ergo, if it isn't perfect, don't bother.

From an epidemiological standpoint, a reduction in the risk of transmission has value. When you're talking about a disease that causes deaths, a reduction in transmission risk equates to a reduction in the death rate. Study after study provides ample evidence that there is a tangible benefit to mask wearing and that benefit is a reduction in the risk of SARS-CoV-2 transmission. Your statements fly in the face of the evidence before us. It flies in the face of what President Trump is telling us and what his CDC is saying.

All this does is slow transmission rates so we buy more time for a safe and effective vaccine to boost inoculation rates beyond the herd immunity threshold without a load of preventable deaths. CDC has us ~250,000 excess deaths this year and we're likely only about 15-16% of the way to the HIT (~10% infected, R0 of 2.5, HIT of 60%). Reducing the rate of transmission with simple measures that don't kill the economy save lives and make sense. I disagree on principle with mandates, but we shouldn't need a mandate to put on a mask in the limited circumstances where it makes sense to do so. Namely, while in an indoor public place.

I certainly agree there are far too many people wearing poorly made masks and/or wearing masks incorrectly, but that's a separate issue. If everyone wore a properly made, properly worn mask in indoor public places, transmission rates would be reduced.