In recent days, I’ve gotten into discussions with a few people about the current proliferation of facemasks and why I do not wear one. I did some thinking, a bit more reading and feel that I should quantify my position:
First we must ask, why it is that we are being asked to wear masks in many grocery stores?
The obvious idea is to slow the spread of coronavirus (which causes COVID-19). But does that make sense? At the beginning of the outbreak doctors and medical professionals were screaming that the wearing of masks did nothing to stop the virus from entering your system. At the time, mask supplies were low and the concern was that with the rush on the available stocks, hoarding and price hikes would lead to medical professionals running out on what is a regulatory compliance item when performing patient treatment around any open wound or orifice. Further research shows that cloth masks are about as effective at stopping the ingress of coronavirus, as a chain link fence would be at stopping mosquitos. The one glimmer of hope for the mask-wearing argument is that sick people wearing masks would not spread the virus. Is there any validity to this? If masks do nothing to stop breathing in of the virus, it stands to reason that they are equally ineffective at stopping virus particles that may come out with regular breath. Where masks may be effective is when stopping larger water molecules that come out through coughing, sneezing and loud speaking. However, here too one must think about what this means. For a mask to be effective in this manner, the wearer must:
1. Have contracted the virus.
2. Have a high enough viral load within their system for that virus to be spreading out of their bodies. Most people in the sub-50 age group never reach this level and beat the virus before it gets there – hence the asymptomatic nature of it.
3. The sick and high viral load individuals would then need to have a cough that they are not otherwise covering to spread the water droplets or transfer from hand to other objects.
4. The person that might catch the virus would then need to be within a few feet of the infectious cougher in order to inject a significant amount of these droplets, as they all drop to the ground. Or come in contact with a surface that recently received infected water droplets.
So in conclusion, the masks *might* be effective for a tiny subset of the population, nearly all of whom would be in the 50+ age group AND who are already showing outward signs of being infected. I do not fall within that criteria on a number of points. The people with the symptomless silent flavor of the virus, would just breathe it through the cloth masks anyway.
We then have to ask, if there a downside to wearing a mask? And my take on this is such:
Masks when worn for any extended period of time, naturally get moist and due to the warmth of your breath, remain quite warm. Outside of growing bacteria purposely in a petri dish, I cannot think of a better environment for a single random bacterial particle to multiply itself to a level where it becomes a much bigger problem. People are not only wearing masks improperly, but they are wearing them for hours on end! Viruses go though like mosquitos through a chain-link fence. But bacterial consequences are something to consider. And every time your mask touches your lips, you are running that risk. This is stupid!
So then why do doctors wear masks in hospitals? Doctors wear masks to protect the patient (not so much themselves) when they are hanging over their open mouth, or near an open wound. In this scenario (and within a few feet in case of a cough), a face mask is effective at catching droplets. But I am not planning on cutting anyone open, or breathing directly at anyone in close proximity for extended periods of time. Doctors also change their masks and gloves multiple times per hour!
I am also tickled by the fact that it seems largely the same contingent of our society that not so long ago was preaching about consumerism, disposable culture, and the evils of plastic straws, who have now pivoted (lockstep with the ultra left propaganda machine) to contribute to pollution, litter and waste that are being generated by these masks. I wonder if their brains will hard-lock in a loop if a picture of a dead seagull tangled in a mask ever comes about… But in the meantime, and only about a week since the not-mandate mandate about mask-wearing, I am now seeing these things littered everywhere. But that’s really a side-note on the hypocrisy of this situation.
Lastly however, the point had been brought up in other threads that it doesn’t hurt. That it gives people a sense of comfort… Why would one be OK with having to wear a polo shirt at a golf club, or a suit at a nice restaurant, but throw a fit over a mask? I feel that there is some measurable amount of “hurt”, outlined above. But the suit/polo argument is dead for me due to the fact that grocery stores (although private property and all that), operate as a form of public utility. You may choose to go or not-go to a golf club, or some high-end restaurant with a dress code. Those are things well outside the norm and certainly not utilitarian. We don’t really have much choice about whether or not we go to a grocery. Not all stores require this? True. However, those that are testing the waters are serving as an example for others, which might soon make it a mandatory thing everywhere – that is how oppression is done. More on this below.
However, the biggest reason for me to not wear the mask is because it has become such a political issue. The masks clearly have no positive effect on the spread of the virus. Our politicians in this highly contentious election year, over-reacted to the threat of the virus with these shutdowns and are now invested in perpetuating the fearmongering to justify their actions. The mandate to wear masks is nothing more than a continuation of fearmongering by the elderly dimwitted men that we’ve put into positions of power. And the wearing of these masks is nothing short of showing public support (or at least tolerance) of their policies. It is a political statement and has nothing to do with healthcare. Imagine a situation where Donald Trump announces that the wearing of a MAGA hat stops the spread of the virus and that it is now mandatory for people to wear them. It’s f’n nonsense and most of us would find that highly offensive, no? This mask thing is really no different (at least to me). I will not wear a MAGA hat, a facemask or a foil cap in public places, to make the lemmings around me feel better about the current situation. I am a free-thinking human, which these days has become my “medical condition” that prevents me from wearing a mask. Unless someone can explain the error in my logic, I do not mind standing out and I cannot believe my eyes when I see so many people blindly submitting to this nonsense!
What I wonder now, is how far are they going to take this? How long until the sign gains a uniformed armed goon next to it? Am I the only one that sees anything wrong with this?