I’m interested in those studies. I haven’t seen or heard of them. Did you hear that from a legitimate source that named said studies?

My first couple of times in a mask were unpleasant, I hate the humidity of the air I breathe out, it fogged up my glasses, and I did feel claustrophobic. I still feel all those things these several weeks later, but now, except for the glasses, I can ignore them because I know I can take it off soon. I take off my glasses when I can, but I can't read anything without my glasses.

I couldn't agree more, it used to be called common sense x

@HippieChick58 if the air is hitting your glasses your mask is not stopping an aerosol virus

@LeighShelton

My mask isn’t saving me from you, it’s saving you from me.

They definitely do all those those things.
But you have to wear them anyways.

From someone who has to wear a mask 12 hours a day 7 days a week they suck
I get headaches, sweaty, and gag in them
But that’s life

@altschmerz Yeah we did have some nutters our demonstrating and shouting about their human rights. The main spokesperson contracted the virus. They were largely ridiculed by the larger community. Oh and they were fined for violating the law.

I work in billing for a pediatric hospital. My employer has ruled that ALL staff on hospital property will be masked. The non care provider staff can wear cloth masks, those with patient contact will wear other masks. I still work full time in the office, we can remove our masks at our desks so long as we are 6 feet from the next employee. Our cubes are large enough we can do that. I wear my mask as soon as I get out of my car until I am settled at my desk. I also wear it when/if I go shopping or anyplace else. It isn't herd mentality, it is herd immunity. We are protecting the weaker members of society. It is the same reason we get vaccinations, as much to protect us as to protect those that can't get the vaccination due to weakened immune systems.

@HippieChick58 If you are ok with wearing the mask, that is your prerogative. Only one thing: herd mentality is NOT herd immunity. And wearing a mask does nothing in one way or another to create herd immunity.

The real reason for wearing a mask is to create less of a virus cloud if you are a carrier. In exactly the same way people performing surgery wear masks so as to not push possibly contaminated air into a patients open body. The mask isn’t for you, it’s to protect others FROM you.
Your absolutely right about it being useless as a prophylactic. Anyone that’s ever used one to keep from breathing dust should know this.

a simple explanation....

@JacobMeyers The cloud in front of us is vapor, which does not carry the virus. The virus is only in droplets of saliva, and those droplets do not travel too far. That is why the safe distance accomplishes all we need to prevent from becoming infected. We cannot get the virus from an infected asymptomatic person at safe distance. So, as long as one is not symptomatic (sneezing and coughing) the mask is just a fashion statement (to be afraid is in fashion nowadays). Surgeons cover their faces because we carry many more critters in us, and some are small enough to be in the exhaled vapor.
Have you tried using a face mask while wearing glasses? They get foggy, don’t they? The mask does not stop the cloud from forming around our head.

@Dougl35534 Symptomatic people should self quarantine. The droplets of saliva of asymptomatic people do not travel farther than a meter and a half (5 feet); therefore, with a 6 feet safe distance, no mask needed.

@Rodatheist No the air you expel contains droplets and micro droplets, and they are now proved to be a major and paerhaps the main way that the virus spreads. The knowledge is improving all the time.

@Dougl35534

Pee explains it best.

@Rodatheist except nobody is standing still, so you leave a trail, and so does everyone else, and you walk through clouds of droplets, duuuuhhhhhhh

"Safe distance" would be just peachy if we all stood still, duhhhhh....

To borrow a line from the Martian, "I'm gonna have to science the shit out of this", can you say micro droplets are not a form of transmission? .

You are WRONG. Masks help keep infected people from propagating disease. It's been proven in multiple studies. Wear the mask.

@Rodatheist if the virus isn’t in vapor then you are totally right. If the virus is in vapor the foundation of your argument crumbles. Therefor it’s a very important point. What is making you believe that the virus can’t be present in vapor?

@Fernapple I believe that. But then, because using a face mask does not stop the vapor from going out and in through the sides of the mask, the mask does not protect from infection through breathing the air exhales by someone else. The mask helps when a symptomatic person sneezes and coughs and ir “reduces” but does not eliminate the exhalation of viruses.

@AnneWimsey And do you think a mask is protecting you when you walk through a cloud exhaled by an infected person? Do you think that an infected person cannot leave a cloud when wearing a mask? If you do then your mask is giving you a false sense of security.

@Dougl35534 They may be a form of transmission. In fact, let’s say they are a form of transmission. A mask won’t protect you from breathing them in, and of course, it does not protect your eyes. And a mask does not stop those micro droplets from forming a cloud coming out from the sides of the mask. So, a mask just provides a false sense of security.

@Happycanuck the masks that surgeons use protect only from large droplets from the patient or to the patient, but they do not stop smaller viruses. When treating an infectious patient, N95 masks are more appropriate because they fit tightly and provide filtration of the air coming in or out. The face masks of common use in the population, and now the clothe washable ones, are far from protecting at an N95 level. I don’t see how from the fact that regular consumer masks do not protect us from breathing in a cloud from someone else you derive that surgeons should not wear one of surgical quality.

@AtheistInNC Studies have not “proven” that. At most, they have shown to reduce exposure. Perhaps you could remember that very few things in life are WRONG or RIGHT. But of course if you think that your face masks protects you, go head. What kills you is not what you don’t know, what kills you is what you thing you know to be true but it isn’t.

@Rodatheist I didn't say a mask would protect you breathing them in. Maybe look at the pee graphic again and then watch the video again. The only place where the mask has value is it provides "speed bumps" for the infected you from spreading your crap. It is the same reasons doctors wear mask, they don't wear them to protect them from the patients, it's attempting to minimize what the doctor and others in surgery have from infecting the patient. A mask helps....we don't have to deal with you spraying it instead of just saying it.

@JacobMeyers Viruses may be in the vapor; the jury is out but it points that way. And if they are, no mask, other that perhaps an N95 is going to protect from it. And by the way, an N95 does not protect your eyes. So, again, governments ordering the use of a face mask is just an imposition that responds to the fear of their constituents, and not a real means of protection. That is where my initial herd mentality comment rests on.

@Rodatheist I get that. I have education on and have worked in sterile areas. There’s pretty much no way individuals in public can keep up sterile technique for extended periods of time. It’s just too cumbersome and requires too much thought for the average. And as you mentioned if you’re wearing a mask but no goggles you are fooling yourself. I still think there could be merit to a mask though. IF the virus can be spread by micro droplets that have been shown to hang in the air for extended periods of time, then it’s possible a mask may absorb a portion of the virus carrying vapor.
I’ve not done a deep dive on it but as far as I know it’s not been conclusively proven that THIS coronavirus can live on surfaces for hours or days yet surfaces everywhere are being meticulously scrubbed with bleach or Lysol. Why? Because it might be able to live on surfaces for day’s. I feel it should be the same with masks until the science says it doesn’t help. We aren’t there yet though.
FWIW, I’m not wearing a mask except when it’sv required. I suspect you are right in that the main reason for forcing masks is that the govt is appealing to the heightened fear response exhibited by a lot of us. It’s something they can point to and say “see, we are doing something”. That doesn’t mean it can’t have unintended good consequences though.

@Athena I went into Walmart and saw my friend Pat wearing a mask. I knew her instantly and then asked her how that was possible. A mask hides identity for Batman, The Lone Ranger, and others.

@DenoPenno

Superman will tell you it only requires a pair of glasses.

@Athena well, to be fair, he also used a shirt and pants and a necktie and a hat, and I never saw him taking his shoes and socks off, but those were definitely needed to conceal the pant of the costume that covered his feen in blue!

@Rodatheist

True.

Or maybe it's how he turns into an entirely different person every few years.

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