I don’t know how many times this needs to be said, but here we go again...
Masks do not prevent YOU from getting covid. They are a measure, only a measure, that you don’t give OTHERS your spit and breath in an attempt to protect THEM.
If you can breathe without an air supply, you’re gonna get covid. If people can hear you speak through the mask then that mask isn’t going to filter out covid.
Idiots wear mask when they are walking down the street. When they jog, when they ride bikes and even when they are behind the wheel alone (Or with someone else).
The most significant thing a mask does is send a message to those around you that you are considerate. Or, if misused (used in the above examples by mask-fanatics or kept below the nose and chin by mask-rejectors) you send the message that you’re an idiot.
People are being idiots on both sides of the argument but when you keep the whole thing in perspective it couldn’t be easier.
It works both ways. A 25% reduction (or whatever positive number you agree with) is better than 0%. Very simple math.
No, 2015 tests in Southeast Asia sponsored by WHO showed decisively that surgical masks stop <50% of ordinary expelled breath (containing virions) and cloth masks <5%.
Masks are absolutely worthless in stopping transmission in or out of the mask surface. Yes, they stop droplets expelled during a cough. But, most expelled particles are too small.
Mask enforcement is a purely psychological and political ploy.
I agree with your sentiment but reality and physics prove your supposition -- as attractive and as reasonable as it sounds and as it has been "sold" over the past ten months -- completely false. So "here we go again":
1. You protect no one -- not even yourself -- when you improperly (as 99.99 percent of untrained people do) select, apply/seal, wear and maintain a mask. That is, setting aside physical reality for the moment, a mask that isn't properly fitted and worn with an intact seal maintained at all times around its perimeter is worthless. If the seal is broken by lifting or adjusting the mask at any time the seal must be re-established. Furthermore, a person wearing a mask cannot have any facial hair lest a seal not be established, much less maintained.
2. Although it is true that a mask will capture spittle or droplets expelled during a cough (most of which escape around the perimeter which is not sealed and at a higher velocity than if you weren't wearing a mask), like any non-HEPA dry filter when the droplets dry out on the mask surface just what do you think happens to the dry particles? They unload, either deep into your lungs when you inhale or through the mask itself which cannot contain a virus particle every time you exhale.
The "experts" -- much less the breathtakingly ignorant politicians and unelected bureaucrats -- who preach that masks work to stop transmission of a virus truly know that this is not true; therefore, what they are recommending or, in far too many instances, commanding you to do is a lie ... they are lying to you ... lying right to your masked face!
Still don't believe what I'm presenting from the perspective of 54 years (and counting) direct experience with personal protective equipment as an environmental health and safety professional? Then believe reality, my friend. Still think people like me are "idiots" because we don't do what we're told to do? Then take a look at what ten l-o-n-g months of commanded masking has accomplished ... zero; nada; nothing! -- although it has taken a year out of our childrens' lives).
As one doctor noted during a panel discussion last week: Although you may feel really good about yourself dutifully wearing your mask to "protect others", masking is not medicine, it's socialism.
Finally, to those who think mandated masking is not a big deal I submit it's a monstrous "deal". Trying to rebuild a society and attempting an economic recovery when 90 percent of the population looks like they belong in a sick ward, walking around depressed, angry and fearful of one another is as insane as are repeated and expanded masking, "distancing" and lockdowns have without doubt proven to be.
You have been lied to -- consistently, persistently and deliberately -- for almost a year. That's what should make you angry ... not rational people who refuse to play this game any longer.
To be crystal clear, my friend: I am not attempting to downplay the seriousness of this very contagious -- though far less deadly than originally predicted by the "experts" -- virus unleashed on the world by the Communist Chinese. I am not! What I am doing is attempting to shift the focus from the failed "protective measures" imposed by the governors and bureaucrats back to how we have normally dealt with a respiratory virus which didn't require destroying our society and our economy with lies.
Screw your “I protect you, you protect me” collectivist BS..... How’s this for rugged individualism..... I don’t give a crap if you get sick or your grandma gets sick and dies..... I look out for my health by dressing properly, eating properly, getting enough sleep, washing my hands, exercising, etc..... Eventually I’ll get sick from something, I don’t know when, and I don’t know why... But it’s my body, my problem, MY BUSINESS!
No wait, don’t tell me....COVID is different, It’s a virus like we’ve never seen before in the history of humanity, That’s why we have to do things and take away freedoms like we’ve never done before.....go ahead and swallow the CCP propaganda......I’m giving you the same middle finger that I
give to anyone who dares to scold me for not wearing a mask on a New York City Subway.....call me a selfish asshole....I’m a free man