In an interview for 60 Minutes, CBS News chief medical correspondent Dr. Jon LaPook posed that question to Linsey Marr, a Virginia Tech University professor specializing in aerosol science.
“They are very helpful in reducing the chances that the person will get COVID because it’s reducing the amount of virus that you would inhale from the air around you,” Marr said about masks.
No mask is 100% effective. An N95, for example, is named as such because it is at least 95 percent efficient at blocking airborne particles when used properly. But even if a mask has an 80% efficiency, Marr said, it still offers meaningful protection.
“That greatly reduces the chance that I’m going to become infected,” Marr said.
Marr said research shows that high-quality masks can block particles that are the same size as those carrying the coronavirus. Masks work, Marr explained, as a filter, not as a sieve. Virus particles must weave around the layers of fibers, and as they do so, they may crash into those fibers and become trapped.
Marr likened it to running through a forest of trees. Walk slowly, and the surrounding is easy to navigate. But being forced through a forest at a high speed increases the likelihood of running into a tree.
“Masks, even cloth masks, do something,” she said.
Not that I expect most people to believe it at this point…
The people that need to know this- won’t listen, and the people that don’t need to know- don’t need to know because they already know it.
Even if the research had come out that masks did absolutely nothing to protect against Covid, I would have absolutely no regrets for masking up. We did what we thought was the right thing based on the evidence available and it harmed no one. The worst that would’ve happened if we were wrong (outside of a false sense of security) is that we looked silly for awhile. The people that were vehemently against wearing masks were tool-sheds who were manipulated into their position by an Administration who assumed it would affect Democratic-leaning cities/states more and who are so blinded by their anti-science views that they didn’t even understand the threat posed by Covid. Mask wearers did the right thing and the evidence backs us up. Anti-mask idiots hopefully learned an evolutionary lesson, but I doubt it has really ever sunk in.
The real problem for the Right Wing is that masks are at their most effective stopping the wearer’s germs from getting OUT, even though they’re also pretty effective at stopping others ’ germs from getting IN. They can’t stand the idea of sacrificing even a tiny bit of comfort for anyone else to benefit. Even if it also helps themselves.
The fact that the idea of an air filter is controversial is frankly amazing.
They apparently only work in every situation except when put over your face.
So fucked up masks became politicized: I had hoped that the pandemic would help normalize them so people would just mask up whenever they feel sick. It could’ve mitigated the spread of all sorts of airborne disease.
Instead, they’ve been demonized by insane fascists. What a stupid world we live in…
Sometimes I just wear a mask to piss them off lol.
God I remember when this happened.
Right at the beginning of the pandemic, masks were being recommended by the CDC and everyone just sort of did it. COVID was novel and we were still trying to wrap our heads around it and being over cautious.
Weeks earlier, Trump was lamenting his polling numbers and complained that he didn’t have a “Katrina” that would rally his favorables.
Trump could have done something simple and just worn the damn mask. He could have told people that until they had better data, let’s be cautious and following the CDC guidelines.
But when he was asked point blank, he said he wouldn’t wear one.
Before that, conservatives and liberals were wearing masks. It wasn’t a “tribal” signal. But the second he said it, it was. You could tell immediately after that who conservatives were.
The funny thing is had Trump handled COVID better, he probably would have won re-election. Or at least it would have been closer.
But nope. That’s not the kind of person he was.
He could have made a MAGA mask and told his cultists that it was more effective and blessed with holy water or something, and then go on to make piles of cash. At the time, that’s what I was expecting to happen, but sadly I was wrong.
There was so much happening around this time. There was a story that didn’t get a lot of runtime about some company that he or someone who was connected to him set up where the federal government purchased masks bought a bunch of boxes from them but never got delivered.
The internal audit found that they basically the funds were misappropriated. The whole management of funds were so…shady to say the least.
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This is not what happened, they recommended people not to wear masks at the start. This might have undermined their later recommendation to wear a mask
This is true. They didn’t want to cause a mad rush for N95s and other medical masks, because they knew medical professionals needed them more. Because then as soon as they recommended the masks, there was a huge shortage.
But some people took the changing recommendation as some kind of conspiracy, that the government is just making it all up.
He would have had more voters at least.
I’m Asian. So I could wear a mask and not get the stink eye even before covid.
Things that should become obviously acceptable often doesn’t seem to do so due to some sort of cultural acceptance.
Like in regions most susceptible to malaria, they hate mosquito nets. Yet if I lived there, I’d mosquito net everything even without malaria!
They’re normalized in some places. I see people wearing them and not just the “Covid isn’t over!” folks.
I mean, COVID isn’t over lol: It didn’t go anywhere, we’re just dying from it a little less often. Must be nice avoiding colds and flu if masks are common in your area though, getting sick sucks.
The problem is the cdc basically lied at the start and killed all their credibility before things even got started. Then you had apologists claiming they didn’t lie, making everything even worse.
That was a problem, but I wouldn’t say it was the problem.
The political body responsible for messaging and action during a pandemic immediately ruining it’s credibility is a pretty big problem. It creates the opening for a masks don’t work campaign, when the cdc opens with masks aren’t useful.
I can’t recall their exact messaging anymore, but I know at the time I got the impression that they said to save the limited supply of masks for the people that really need them. I remember constantly arguing on the internet at the time that that was what they said. They didn’t say that they don’t work, they just said not to start buying and hoarding them away from the people that need them.
But I guess one specific sentence caught “the other side’s” attention more than the rest of the message. Probably because they never actually check the source for what was actually said, and only read small clips from it that they have been told to react against.
Now you are lying. Just like CDC blatantly lied saying masks don’t help, against any common sense. What kind of medical group would ever say this in the face of an airborne novel respiratory virus. It’s inexcusable. They lied, you are now lying.
https://twitter.com/CDCgov/status/1233134710638825473?lang=en
It literally says “does not recommend for the general public” implying it is recommended for people that are actually in need if it, yes that is indeed the post everyone cherry picked from and never read the whole thing. Good find and good job reminding me of those idiots from years ago.
The video in that link even says they are recommended for medical professionals and other people in close contact with the infected. Literally saying, yes masks do work, but the general public shouldn’t be hoarding them yet, save them for people that need them.
Opens with “at this time” not recommended for public, yet. Like they will be at some point.
Nowhere at all does it say masks don’t help. In fact it says the opposite several times… but if you cherry pick parts of individual sentences, not even any one full sentence, you can misconstrue the message, I guess.
What is the specifics of the lie that they said?
They initially stated masks weren’t effective for general population use. This was a lie. There were reasons at the time for the lie, but it doesn’t make it not a lie.
I remember that now. Yeah, no idea why they said such at the beginning. It’s not like masks were a new invention with covid. Asian countries regularly use mask with flu.
They did it because the US didn’t have enough masks if they said anything positive about masks. So they lied initially to prevent people trying to buy masks, so they could go to hospitals first.
Also, they never actually lied, you can see the post here in some of the other comments, people were just idiots at the time and didn’t actually read the full post, just saw “not recommended for general public use at this time” and somehow took that to mean masks didn’t help. Instead of that they do help, but save them for the people in need, not general use. The post actually has a video in it that also specifies masks should be worn by medical professionals and other close contacts with the infected. Which is very much specifically saying masks do actually help.
But of course, at the time, the detractors wouldn’t link the actual source, they would just pick one sentence and “…quote…” it, completely removing all the context and making it look like it said the opposite.
Also it’s not like the idea of masks helping was ever in doubt among educated people. It’s literally been a go-to for more than a hundred years already. It was only the uneducated that needed to be told.
They literally didn’t lie, the post is linked in this thread. Of course at the time people weren’t linking the source, they were quoting part of one sentence and getting inflamed that half of a sentence seemed to say the opposite of what the actual post said.
It literally says “not recommended -for the general public- at this time” how is that miscontrued to “they don’t work”? It doesn’t say that at all. In fact the video in that post, I know it’s a full 30 seconds long and slow and boring… but the video specifically says to save them for medical professionals and others in close contact with the infected. Again very much stating specifically that they do help.
There’s something to be said for masks that aren’t 100% effective that isn’t often said: letting in a little virus when out in public, but not enough viral load to cause an infection, very likely has a positive effect on your immunity to the virus.
Most people think it is an all or nothing thing, including some doctors.
My immune system is apparently very good against noroviruses or whatever was giving my family the “all exits no waiting” treatment. A doctor argued that I must not have come in contact with the virus since I had no symptoms aside from feeling icky for a couple of hours. I was bothered that they had such a bad grasp on how viral infections work and I don’t consider myself an expert by any stretch. Even after I told them I had been having to clean up my toddler and infant messes, do diapers, bathe them etc. I had come in contact with saliva vomit poo pee breath etc- of course I came in contact with it.
I had the virus, I just didn’t have the disease/nasty symptoms. Maybe I had built immunity, maybe I had been able to build immunity quickly, maybe insufficient viral critical mass for rapid onset- who knows?
Yeah, I’m the same way, I always get about 10% as sick as the rest of my family when something is going around. I just assume my immune system is well trained. But I am also always cautious when new stuff is around, as an immune system can’t be trained to stuff it hasn’t seen yet. But I don’t go for a zero tolerance approach. I go for a minimize exposure approach. Avoid contact with mucous membranes and other external weak points, and keep distance. But don’t completely avoid everything. Still do stuff, just more carefully.
“all exits no waiting”
I’m stealing this.
Norovirus is fucking EVIL. The worst part is your body doesn’t maintain immunity indefinitely. Which is why people will often complain they get it seasonally.
When I’ve had it I like to say “my organs have been liquified and my skin suit is blasting the soup out of both ends”.
Nothing worse than jetting hot shit out of your ass then puking into the bath at your side - repeatadly.
Then when you’re ‘empty’ you curl into a ball on the bathroom floor.
That’s awful. My weird immune system has its own issues, but not noroviruses thus far.
I have had your experience caused by food poisoning and it ended putting me in the ER so you have my sincere sympathy.
That’s the same as what we knew about masks a century ago?
Assuming a mask blocks 50% of particles or droplets in either direction (preventing yours from escaping if you’re sick, preventing outside particles from getting to you), when 2 people wear masks that reduces the chances of transmission in a given retail encounter by 75%.
Reducing those odds by that much, when (from an epidemiological POV) the biggest math factor is to drive the r number down below 1, it’s a huge deal. If you do that consistently, the virus becomes rarer and rarer and has fewer opportunities to mutate and more importantly, you’re feeding fewer and fewer human beings to it.
The problem isn’t that “most people” won’t believe it. The problem is that there is very little conversion of people who didn’t already believe it. The ones who most need to understand this will flat out refuse to believe any kind of science on the matter, because being right is what is most important to them. Admitting they were wrong just isn’t going to happen.
That is part on Survival of the Fitist. Masks were a key component of that, as more intelligent humans wore masks during the peak of the infection. Within the human population with COVID-19, then, the “fittest” are individuals who mount a normal phase 1 and phase 2 immune response. This means a strong immune response in phase 1 to clear the primary coronavirus infection and inhibit its spread in the lungs. Those who have never had COVID-19 scientificly are the superior humans on a immunity scale. More likely to reproduce and pass those genes onto future generations. The less intelligent humans who refused to wear masks and didn’t have strong immune responses died off, allowing more fit humans to reproduce thus saving humanity.
This argument (if it is not sarcastic, it’s hard to tell on the Internet) shows a fundamental misunderstanding of evolution and instead uses the language of social darwinism like “superior human”.
Evolution occurs in populations, not individuals. Furthermore, it doesn’t have a “goal,” it is just a natural process. Also, there are numerous ways different immune responses could be either advantageous or detrimental when combined with other variables.
I’m also not convinced that intelligence correlates to refusal to mask; as a counterpoint, smart people are also very good at justifying whatever position they already hold.
You won’t find most modern biologist using the phrase “survival of the fittest,” because it’s more confusing than illuminating. The preferred expression is “natural selection.”
It’s always about who is able to reproduce. Intelligence (not smart or dumb, just basic Intelligence) would lead you to take precautions during a pandemic. Washing hands, masks, vaccines. That is a level, fact is that those who didn’t take precautions were far more likely to become sick. Then you had to hope your immune system was up to the task.
It actually broke the idiotcracy delimma with a chunk of the human population with poorer genes and lower intelligence were removed from selection.
It’s always about who is able to reproduce. Intelligence (not smart or dumb, just basic Intelligence) would lead you to take precautions during a pandemic.
I mean, I just gave a counterpoint to this. Smart people are good at justifying and sustaining their current beliefs. Surely you don’t think intelligence is a measure of how correct one’s beliefs are?
It actually broke the idiotcracy delimma with a chunk of the human population with poorer genes and lower intelligence were removed from selection.
This is just more social darwinist eugenicist pseudoscience.
You’re talking smart and dumb. I’m talking basic Intelligence or ability to stay alive on a daily basis.
By using debunked eugenicist arguments and supporting my point that smart people are good at justifying their false positions to themselves.
Yeah but a guy on YouTube said they don’t work and he said “trust me” so what now?
“you can still smell farts”
sigh
At the same time, you have the people claiming they immediately turn blue and pass out within seconds of putting a mask on.
Millions of people in this country apparently have problems keeping two thoughts in their head at the same time.
To these people, COVID is simultaneously not as bad as the flu, a Chinese hoax, something to be fought with ivermectin, a liberal hoax, something so infectious it can get through even the best fitted filtration mask, fought by going to the gym, fought by getting more sunlight, overblown in death count, etc etc.
Masks are the same. They’re simultaneously stifling and damaging to your health because they disallow O2 ingress or whatever and you can’t use them because you have some private health condition, and they’re completely ineffective at keeping out COVID somehow.
My diagnosis is that they’re brain wormed from the maga mind virus, and probably got some damage from COVID too.
Who probably also think that they are physically superior to others, while in reality have admitted to being pretty fucking pathetic if they can’t handle a mask for a few minutes let alone hours.
I’m not even worried about covid anymore but continue to mask in busy places in the fall/winter because it’s nice not being congested half the season, and it’s easy. And the fact that my mask doesn’t perfectly filter out virus particles is even better because my immune system still gets some exposure to do some local updates with.
This means nothing. I’d be willing to bet that anyone unwilling to wear a mask is also unwilling to listen to science/medical experts.
Yeah… you’ve either got people who absolutely refuse to believe masks are effective, or you’ve got people that are so done with the whole thing that they just don’t care anymore. Hearing an expert say they work isn’t going to convince either of these groups to wear them.
“Science knows now that they were right for the past 3 years”
maybe the video is more informative than the article, but the article has no new science information in it.
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It’s obvious masks did something. I didn’t catch anything, not even a cold, until I took it off, but now having a weak as hell immune system
No, you don’t.
