When this pandemic started, the general consensus was that wearing masks in public was not helpful. As is often the case with an evolving crisis like this, as more data becomes available scientists, medical professionals, public health professionals, statisticians and policy makers looked at the data and decided the initial recommendations were wrong. The more evidence that comes in, the more compelling the case for wearing masks in public is, and the harder it is to understand the resistance. Please folks, if you have been resisting or mocking masks, take a little while and read. Peruse some of the links. This is not a conspiracy. I promise I am not trying to take away your freedom. I am trying to get more people to wear masks so that there is less spread of this virus. If you read the news, things are not looking good right now on the virus front.
Initially, I wanted to make a short explanation of why masks in public are important, but instead I decided to write answers to some of the most common counter-assertions or questions. I am NOT a mask expert. But I have spent the last three months working on mask design, mask testing and mask production. So I have worked with a lot of experts. I also know some other folks who are experts. I am relatively expert in statistics and I actually do have formal experience working with pandemic models, that includes classes and paid work. So I do understand infection models quite well. Most of the actual experts on masks are too busy dealing with the actual crisis, so I am going to try to do my best to fill in for them. I am also going to try to keep updating this, and the links at the end, as more information comes in.
1. "I heard that cloth masks let through 97% of virus sized objects so they are useless." OK, the first part of is sort of true. (The type and thickness of cloth and design of the mask play a big role.) And if we were spewing just viruses the masks would not be that useful. Not useless, but not very useful. But that isn't the case. Most of the viruses we exhale (when we breath, talk, sing, cough and sneeze, in order of ascending velocity) they are almost all in droplets of liquid. From smaller to larger in size. Larger droplets if they stay in the air will become smaller as the liquid evaporates. But even a simple cotton cloth mask can stop 30-70% of droplets, and it will reduce the speed of others. It also changes the geometry of the spread, making more of the virus come to rest on you and less on other people and surfaces. It is that if you are talking as protection for the wearer in any extended exposure setting, their effectiveness rapidly drops below 20%. Not nothing, but not much.
[Hint: Ask yourself why in surgery most of the operating team are typically wearing surgical masks, which are basically more effective cloth masks, and not n95s. Because in surgery the principal danger masks are there to avert is infecting the patient from the medical personnel.
2. Until recently the WHO and CDC and others were telling people they didn't need to wear masks unless they were in a high risk group, so no one really knows what the truth is. For this one, it is true that the guidance has changed. It has changed for simple, straightforward reasons. The first was concern that people would hoard N95 masks needed by medical professionals. The second is that when they thought that you were contagious mostly while symptomatic, they were recommending against wearing masks in order to keep people from engaging in risky behavior like "I am sick, but if I wear a mask I can still go out." Once it became clear that people can be contagious for a week or two before symptoms show, or maybe even longer, wearing masks in public spaces became the prudent thing to do.
3. Masks will harm my immune system or somehow else make us sicker. I really want to just say no. Because the research just isn't there to support this. No any. It was literally invented out of whole cloth. But... ok, there is research that says if you wear the same simple cloth mask all day, every day, then you might be increasing your risk level because it might make you act as though the mask will prevent you from getting infected. Since the recommendations for lay people is to wear a mask only when you are out in public in relatively close quarters where you are likely to infect others if you are infectious, and to take off and hopefully clean the mask at home, this is a non-issue. Again, it does not harm your immune system. But IF a mask makes you engage in risky behavior it could be bad. But if you are saying I am still going out, but I am not wearing a mask, then you are already engaging in the risky behavior but you are penalizing other people.
4. Masks will cause CO2 poisoning. OK, I honestly scratch my head at this one. Doctors and nurses wear cloth surgical masks for hours without CO2 poisoning. But seriously, the same people who argue that it so impermeable that it can't stop any viruses also think that it will keep CO2 from escaping? It is a perfect example of "throw stuff at the wall to see what sticks" mentality for promoting misinformation.
5. What about people with damaged lungs. It is actually true that for people with significant lung damage, for example who have lost a lung, or who have survived something like COVID-19 or lung cancer but with significant damage, that a mask can make it too hard to breath properly. Bringing them up in this context as an argument for everyone not wearing masks is pretty lame, however. Those are exactly the people most in need of the protection provided by you wearing a mask in their presence. (And by the way, they make special masks that actively provide air for such folks, because they need the protection.)
6. Shouldn't this be a personal choice? OK, this one is not as clear cut to refute. But to me, it is like saying shouldn't I be able to drive as fast as I want on the roads? Your freedoms are always bounded when they endanger other people. It is particularly galling to me to have people argue against businesses requiring masks. Because those same people generally are vociferously against anti-discrimination laws being enforced for businesses. They are also the type of people who would call police on neighbors playing loud music. And, statistics show, tend to be very supportive of infringements on the rights of the *right* other people. But before I get myself completely worked up, what the are really saying is that *they personally* should be free to do what they want and other people, even the owners of businesses they wish to patronize, should not be able to tell them what to do. Basically, this comes down to wearing masks protects other people. There are a few people for whom masks are legitimately problematic, but for most people who object it is simply that they prioritize their desire to do what they want over other people's health.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2020/06/13/spate-new-research-supports-wearing-masks-control-coronavirus-spread/
https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2020/04/dont-wear-mask-yourself/610336/
https://rs-delve.github.io/reports/2020/05/04/face-masks-for-the-general-public.html
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2020/05/masks-covid-19-infections-would-plummet-new-study-says/amp?fbclid=IwAR3Er1N8GEUSCPxuD_ET2eF87D-qSuUK7IeMqLpqeJ4HNMfNWweU4Y-OEM0
https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/coronavirus/in-depth/coronavirus-mask/art-20485449
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/prevent-getting-sick/diy-cloth-face-coverings.html
https://health.clevelandclinic.org/heres-how-wearing-a-cloth-mask-helps-fight-the-spread-of-coronavirus/
https://www.yalemedicine.org/stories/wear-covid-mask/
https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/14/health/us-surgeon-general-coronavirus-masks/index.html
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