Lets cover some facts here about masks that should cause most of you to reconsider wearing masks, it is likely helping to spread this disease more than its helping.

First lets look at the WHO which does not recommend people wear masks except under certain situations, but not all the time by the general public. Here is a PDF that outlines that recommendation and a quote:

"At the present time, the widespread use of masks by healthy people in the community setting is not yet supported by high quality or direct scientific evidence"

https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/advice-on-the-use-of-masks-in-the-community-during-home-care-and-in-healthcare-settings-in-the-context-of-the-novel-coronavirus-(2019-ncov)-outbreak

Next lets take a moment to look states hit hardest by the recent resurgence of new cases. You will find in virtually all states that mask ordinances were put into place **before** the resurgance and people didnt start seriously pushing mask wearing until right before the resurgence kicked off.

Take florida as an example, one of the earliest and worst hit by the resurgence. 19 counties and 64 cities in florida all had mask laws in place and were enforced, the vast majority of which was prior to relapse.

https://floridapolitics.com/archives/342364-beyond-the-veil-what-face-mask-requirements-are-in-place-in-florida

Then there is the comparison to Europe I already mentioned. As someone who lives half the time in Europe and half here in South Philly I can tell you almost everyone here has been pretty strict with mask wearing where in Europe you almost never see a single person wearing a mask through the entire epidemic. Because of this you will see most of Europe beat COVID rather quickly and with really positive results while the USA is still struggling.

Finally it is really just common sense when you think about it. If you use a tissue to cover your mouth when you sneeze or cough you throw it away after. But wearing a mask all day is much worse. Not only does the mask become infected and you wind up carrying it everywhere with you, sometimes for multiple days at a time, but not a single person uses it like a surgeon is required to.

For example consider the ubiquitous example of people wearing masks all day and occasionally taking a sip of water. Almost everyone is going to take their mask, pull it down below their chin, take a sip of water, and then pull it back up. Your chin is exposed all day long, when you do this the inside of your mask becomes infected and then it is placed directly over your mouth for hours. So anyone using a mask for any extended period of time is almost garunteed to get infected through misuse, or even just touching or adjusting your mask. Combine this with the fact that it adds a false sense of safety so the actually effective tactics like washing your hands, not touching your face, keeping 6 feet distance, are less likely to be observed with someone wearing a mask and well, the end result is this virus is going to spread like wildfire, much worse than without masks at all.

#Coronavirus #Masks #COVID #COVID19