Socializing is extremely high friction in a mask. Pre-mask, I'd make small talk with store clerks or waiters all the time. After masking, I can count on one hand the number of times that happened.
You struggle to understand people's muffled words, they struggle to understand yours. Facial expressions, the most important component of non-verbal communication, are half-hidden. Conveying a smile, the universal way to express warmth, is completely not possible.
Happiness psychology research has confirmed again and again that pleasant interactions with other humans is one of the primary sources of joy in our lives. Seeing each other faces is a critical component of that. People who lose their legs or arms will recover to baseline happiness in a year or so. People who's faces are disfigured never recover. The face is the core of human interaction.
If masking persists and it becomes a long-term norm, communication will evolve around the constraints. I'm reminded of a story of a Somali prisoner who was nearly suicidal in solitary confinement until a prisoner in another cell taught him something like morse code, eventually even reading him Anna Karenina, tap by tap.[0] Humans will overcome any constraints to communicate.
Inspiring but must be considered alongside all the people who struggle in prison with isolation to the deterioration of their mental and physical health, plus those who are not imprisoned who nevertheless struggle due to speech impediments, deformities and other issues that impede face-to-face interaction. We greatly benefit from normalizing a certain ease of socialization.
I wear glasses and masks are basically untenable. I have yet to wear a mask and not fog up my glasses. Maybe I'm just an idiot, I don't know, but being able to see properly is far more valuable to me than not getting COVID (in it's current state and threat level to me).
With some work it's possible to find and fit masks that don't fog glasses. Fwiw in order to work effectively as an "outbound" filter , the mask must not duct exhaled air around it's seal with the face. So fogging means it isn't working.
Then most masks, by your logic (and not necessarily arguing your logic) aren’t working.
The only way to completely seal off your mouth and nose is to wear a more fitted mask. The masks most (probably 99%+) people are wearing are ducting air on either side of the nose.
And yes, most masks have the metal piece to help with this, but it doesn’t work. No matter how I adjust the metal piece, air makes its way out.
So if what you’re saying is true, these cloth/disposable masks are not working, and the CDC should be telling everyone to stop wearing them, and switch to ones that properly seal your nose/mouth.
> With some work it's possible to find and fit masks that don't fog glasses.
I’m not convinced this is true, or maybe my face just won’t work with the typical mask. But most (all?) people I know that have glasses fog them up, with any amount of adjustment of the metal piece/mask.
EDIT: I see a downvote already, so curious how this is a flawed extrapolation. My logic is simply assuming the parent’s logic is true, and extrapolating from that. I’m not explicitly agreeing or disagreeing with it. A downvote means you either feel my extrapolation is flawed (please explain), or you think the parent’s logic is flawed (in which case you shouldn’t be downvoting my extrapolation).
I think cloth masks are at the crossroads of wishful thinking and public health theater.
They absolutely have legitimate medical uses, and can prevent droplet borne disease transmission and thus there is a plausible mechanism by which they reduce spread. But I don’t think there’s any serious evidence that they are anything more than marginal with respect to the spread of COVID.
That's not true. There have been plenty of studies showing cloth masks help significantly over nothing, and especially if it's a double layer mask. The cotton ones that are breathable are worse.
I am in the same boat with glasses. In the winter, I use some decent quality medical tape across the top of the mask to prevent fogging. The 3M medical paper tape works really well and is not too sticky and doesnt irritate my skin.
30 years ago I switched to daily contact lenses to be able to play rugby. This was one of the best switches of my life and of course today I have no problem with masks. If you can, I really advise this.
Another option would be to wear a more efficient mask, a less leaking one. I find FFP2 to be quite convenient past the first few seconds when you're surprised by the difference of air flow. Those masks have the advantage of not moving, you don't typically have to adjust them and there's no fog on glasses.
The only masks I have found that dont fog glasses are ones that have a metal wire bridge. It can be pinched to form fit the profile of your face. Now if I could just get my beard to stop pulling the mask down when I talk I would be happy.
Eating, drinking, smiling, frowning, grimacing, talking, kissing, recognizing our friends are all social activities that are impeded by masks. Humans are social animals.
People tend to take their masks off while eating, drinking and kissing. It's easy to tell when someone is smiling or frowning even if they're wearing a mask (unless their expressions are extremely subtle), and recognizing people when they're wearing a mask is no more difficult than with a mask off.
I suppose everyone's situation is different but I haven't noticed any change in the way people interact around me socially with or without a mask.
You may find this sentiment to sour in our near future in which it will be mandatory to show your face in public for facial recognition tech to keep track of you...
I agree with that. I've never felt better about walking around in public. If I trip over myself and look like a fool and someone posts it to Instagram, nobody will know it's me! It's great!
(No I've never tripped over myself and had it posted to Instagram. But I do worry about it!)
Your video claims that masks don’t work because they’ll leak vape smoke. However, masks aren’t meant to be airtight, but rather a barrier against droplets (like the kind expelled when you cough or sneeze). Droplets are what primarily carry the virus across long distances.
This says that the virus can be an aerosol and that this is what causes infection after long time periods after a spreader was in the area.
Can someone confirm if vape is an appropriate analog to aerosol virus in our breath? If so, the video is very convincing that masks are ineffective at preventing infection.
Aerosol covid viral particles are much, much smaller than the spaces between the fibers of a cloth mask, or an N95 mask, and anyways, you can see the vape going out the sides.
Right. After having Covid in April 2020 I developed what appears to be a hypersensitivity to Covid, where I get an allergic reaction when exposed within about 20-30 minutes. It's not pleasant, but I guess you could say I'm a human detector similar to what dogs have been trained for. I can assert that surgical, N-95, and KN95 are not completely effective in my experiences. P-100 masks however have been basically full proof so far. They have been a goto despite being expensive. They can be covered with cloth If you think they look dorky. Another antictode is that there are a lot of weak viral shedders with little or no symptoms out there. During some of the bad months I've inferred it must be around 1/5 to 1/10 people.
