๐ณ๐ฑ
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"
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.
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.
@freemo I agree that masks do not provide value and may even harm yourself when used incorrectly. Using masks correctly and only indoors however is still a very good idea - you also see that in Europe. Even though nobody wears a mask all day people still use them in supermarkets and so on.
@baschi29 Depends where you are. I didnt see a single person in Europe using a mask indoors, not even in supermarkets for the most part. Though they probably do it in some areas I havent been to.
The Dutch certainly dont use them in super markets and they beat COVID.
With that said, if you put on a mask before entering a store, are very careful not to touch it under any circumstances (dont adjust it, dont take a sip of water, nothing), then it is probably just as good, but no better, than using a tissue when you cough or sneeze, especially if you throw it away after a few minutes when you leave and dont reuse it.
With that said even in the best case scenario where it does no harm it is unlikely to be any better than using a tissue.
@freemo @baschi29 Europe is big. Here it is compulsory outdoors and in public indoors.
The risk if the mask is not covid. In fact they do not protect you from it, but others. The risk is to have a disease caused by bacteria or similar, but the lifetime if the disposable masks is expected to be no longer than 4 hours.
@freemo I prefer to listen to virologists, epidemiologists, and licensed clinicians for my information about the pandemic.
Never random posts on social media...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_Vy6fgaBPE&feature=emb_title
@zulban Smart move. Good thing my advice was a direct recommendation from WHO then huh?
@freemo No it wasn't. Nice quote mining though.
You obviously didn't even consider clicking my link, which is a shame.
@zulban I clicked it. Didnt watch it though yet open in a different tab. Going to be hard for one rogue doctors opinion to contradict the WHO though Like i said, im going to stick to following the advice from the WHO thanks.
Government should tell people how to use mask properly rather than telling to wear mask.