Whether masks help

[_Gadianton]

officials are mulling over masks now, but I decided at the outset wearing my N95 was in my future, and I started doing it when going to the store a little over two weeks ago. It seemed obvious, when a CDC official tweets in frustration to "stop buying masks" because doctors need them, that there's a vested interest in masks not helping. And then, the [url=
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-nc ... ntion.html]CDC recommendations[/url] of handwashing and sanitizing things doesn't really line up very well with their own explanation of how the virus is transmitted. A cough or sneeze or just airy speaking and you're within 6 feet, and you breath, or a droplet touches your nose or mouth, and that's the primary transmission method. Secondary is touching shared surfaces. And so sure, let's wash hands (I wear gloves to store now also), but also sanitize surfaces three times a day but we're not sure on wearing a simple mask, that if nothing else will block a medium-sized droplet from landing on your nose or in your mouth? And what about the specious reasoning -- don't wear hospital N95s because even doctors have trouble putting them on. Even if not fitted properly, they will still afford some protection. A perfect fit will matter more for medical personnel who are exposed to sick people for 14 hours a day, and let your guard down for 1 minute and it's all over. Speaking of constant exposure: The CDC does recommend simple masks when caring for a sick person but "Facemasks may be in short supply and they should be saved for caregivers". Now I kid you not, that quote I had saved from yesterday as I was gathering information for this post, and masks were not recommended generally for the public. Between yesterday and today, CDC now recommends a "face cloth" but "Do NOT use a facemask meant for a healthcare worker."

Now I get it: healthcare workers need the masks, and I totally support that. This post isn't about resource allocation, but strictly about whether or not masks work. Going back to the CDC information from last night, I argue it's the opposite: if you had to pick between wearing a simple mask to the store, as a capstone to social distancing guidelines vs. when caring for a sick person, then I'd put my money on wearing it at the store. Constant exposure to the sick person is going to win against a surgical mask. Increasing your odds when that one person within six feet breathes in your direction for the week?

The biggest problem I see with wearing masks is if it gives the person seat-belt syndrome, where they violate rules, thinking they're better protected.

Anyway, last night when I decided I should do a post on this, I had an idea. All the articles I've read lately have the same conflicting logic: laugh at the people and celebrities wearing masks that won't stop a virus riding a 5 micron droplet, because the CDC has recommended hand washing, as the virus is spread by close personal contact through droplets and you breath them.

The final word on mask protection is controversial. Obviously, this crap spread through China where people wear them like crazy. If it were entirely, and obviously settled that they help, I'd think the CDC would have had a tough time not disclosing it. But if it's controversial, and recommending them means depleting resources for doctors, then it's confirmation bias all the way, and the liberal media, being good social stewards, is wired to just go along with it. That doesn't mean conservative media is right, the ball was put on the T for them but anyone who is anyone on the right is still denying that coronavirus is real. I think Rush as of today might think it's real, but entirely overblown because these math models are somehow associated with climate science (basic organic growth and decay) and doesn't sit with his commonsense intuition.

So the idea last night was to do my basic mask googling but adding "2018" or "2016" into the search in order to find articles on "do masks help flu", and see what the liberal media was saying prior to the outbreak. Seems to me it's the mirror image of post-pandemic articles. They probably help but with reservations vs. they probably don't help. I basically just copied and pasted the top articles in the search as long as I could verify they were written before coronavirus. 9 out of 10 said wear them and 1 said it's bunk.

As an example of an extreme "they help":
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5153448/

(2016)
"Data were obtained from 10,524 children and analyzed with multivariate logistic regression analysis. The result showed that vaccination (odds ratio 0.866, 95% confidence interval 0.786–0.954) and wearing masks (0.859, 0.778–0.949) had significant protective association. Hand washing (1.447, 1.274–1.644) and gargling (1.319, 1.183–1.471), however, were not associated with protection."


(pre-2020 articles)
Masks help:

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/23/well ... ntion.html
https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/featu ... masks-flu/
https://nymag.com/strategist/2018/01/ho ... perts.html
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2 ... 134732.htm
https://time.com/5121117/surgical-mask-prevent-flu/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/211 ... t=Abstract
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5906272/ N95 works
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5153448/

Don't help:

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2019-10- ... s-flu.html

My quick takeaway from the articles:

flu shots are number 1. Masks can help but don't put too much faith in them, as basic masks mainly block the wearer from infecting others. Tiny droplets that get through basic masks are the most deadly, but larger droplets which are still potent are blocked fairly well. Masks help with social distancing, people instinctively keep their distance from a mask wearer. One particular study is cited in multiple places that shows hospital staff wearing just surgical masks were as protected from flu as often as staff wearing N95s. Sometimes this study is referenced to show just how effective a simple mask can be. The one hotly dissenting pre-2020 article cites this same study to show that masks in general aren't effective. My gut feeling on that one is again, if you're surrounded by death for 14 hours a day, your mask wearing better be picture perfect.

My gut feeling is that if there were enough N95s for every person, worn improperly or multiple times or not, it would be the no.1 recommendation next to the six-foot rule.

Again, just to be clear, I wasn't hunting for the best pro-mask wearing articles. I did a couple of very basic searches, and picked the top google searches. This isn't offered as "the best" information, but what was conventional wisdom pre-pandemic.

[_Doctor CamNC4Me]

My wife and I ordered n99’s a week ago. We’re still waiting on them. I think you made a really wise move.

[_msnobody]

I think it is very important to know how to properly don and doff (especially doffing) a mask.