Mask Madness
Sitting here at my desk a few days after the governor of my state reinstituted mask mandates for all indoor public activities and places and finally decided to research and see if I could prove one of my hypothesis. The hypothesis being that besides a N95 mask all other masks do not have tight enough weave or properties to stop a virus. Following are the results of an hour or so of rooting around the internet and looking at the specification sheets for paper masks and N95 masks currently in my possession. I will add that the only information I could find on cloth are results from Wake Forest Baptist Health from earlier this year.
What I found is the National Institute for Health has published that the size of the COVID-19 virus is about 1 micron. For those of you who do not know what a micron is think of it as 1/1,000th of a millimeter. If the thickness of a dime is 1 millimeter then the size of a coronavirus is 1/1000th of the thickness of a dime. Pretty dang small in other words.
As expected the N95 mask is able to filter particles greater than 0.3 times the size of a coronavirus 98% of the time. This is definitely a suitable mask to wear, however, the cost is nearly ten times that of a typical paper face mask one can purchase and who knows how much more costly than a bandana or other homemade face mask?
Moving onto the” paper face mask its labeling shows nothing concerning the size of particle that it will filter. However, there is a box on the carton that clearly states in all capital letters, “Not for medical use. Intended for single use only – discard after use. This general use mask cannot eliminate the risk of contracting and infectious disease”. I want to point out that this is the mask I see being worn by the far majority of people out in public. I also want to note that I know several who wear their masks more than once to include me.
Lastly, according to the Wake Forrest study, “The best homemade masks achieved 79% filtration as compared to (paper) surgical masks (62% to 65%) and N95 masks (97%). But other homemade masks tested performed significantly worse, sometimes demonstrating as little as 1% filtration…The best-performing design was made of two layers of high-quality, heavyweight quilters cotton with a thread count of 180 or more, and those with an especially tight weave ad thicker thread such as batiks. A double-layer mask with a simple cotton outer layer and an inner layer of flannel also performed well”.
What does my limited research tell me one may ask? It tells me that if I truly want to protect myself I need to spend nearly ten times as much money for a mask that will protect me. It also tells me that the mask mandates are arbitrary and really do not help the public. If it was to help the public the government and quasi government agencies (i.e. CDC and NIH) would make these facts easily accessible to the general public. Based on my previous conclusions it further tells me that politicians and bureaucrats in the health industry and government writ large are essentially intellectually lazy and or really are just trying to appear to do something or have another agenda or who knows what else that I have not thought of.
I say intellectually lazy because if I were to impose an imposition on a state or county I think that I would want to explain the facts to those I purportedly seek to protect. Not providing this information or worse not even thinking to look this information up before making a decision independent of the CDC or NIH or whatever agency shows a lack of discernment, healthy skepticism and or a basic lack of science and math. Of course the more nefarious explanation of this could be that there is a hidden agenda behind the gross overreach of executive power but I will not go into that in this writing. What I will say is that at a minimum we have elected officials who (including their staffs) who appear to have very little if any comprehension of basic math and science. Additionally, we have given career bureaucrats with dubious agendas the power to tell us what to wear and not to wear.
Lastly, this tells me that I really have nothing to gain wearing a mask other than making others feel better for a threat that really is no worse than an influenza. Additionally, I am not going to spend my money on a N95 mask for a virus that is no more virulent than influenza at worst and the common cold at best. Additionally, my next course of action will be to ask anyone who confronts me with not wearing a mask to state the science they are basing their decision to wear a mask on. I will not accept because this is what the CDC or NIH has said as an answer.