Eclectic Light: Face masks, face screens, and breathing

Face masks, face screens, and breathing
By hoakley. July 11, 2020

There’s no more controversial issue in the prevention of Covid-19 than face masks. Unfortunately, as is so often the case now, a great deal of nonsense and non-science has been spread, and has been passed around as dogma. This article looks at one often-neglected area: face masks, screens, and the mechanics of breathing. Can a face mask cause difficulty breathing? Do masks result in the build-up of carbon dioxide? And why isn’t there good research into face masks?
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It’s incredibly frustrating that the type of face mask most commonly worn by the public has been the subject of such little research. There are good and careful studies of the potential benefits of clinical masks, including ‘regular’ and N95 types, but next to nothing on cloth masks.
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Until people understand face masks, screens, breathing and protection this will just remain a mess of disinformation and misunderstanding. It’s also an invaluable surrogate for politicians: maintaining isolation and distancing has high economic costs; shifting responsibility onto people to choose and use protective masks instead costs the state almost nothing, and puts the blame onto the wearer if they still get or spread Covid-19. The moral is surely that, outside of care settings, you should maintain full distancing and hygiene regardless, and that a mask can then only augment your protection. The moment that you rely on your mask as sole protection you have lost control of the risk.

You should definitely read the complete article. There's a lot of very good information about the nature of breathing, and what clinical masks can and can not do.

It also shows that recent laws and executive orders mandating masks in public (and in stores, and restaurants, and everywhere else) are simply "security theater". They look good on camera for the press, but don't actually accomplish anything.

The fact that all of these state orders demand that clinical masks be reserved for health-care professionals and first responders, and that everybody else is required to use cloth masks, including home-made masks and bandannas, means that large percentages of the population, while complying with orders, are not accomplishing anything and are at just as much risk as they would be by not wearing a mask at all.

But it is a really good excuse to punish people who choose to refuse to obey these (frequently illegal and unconstitutional) orders. The mask may not do a thing to protect your health, but if you can be arrested and subject to a $500 fine for non-compliance, then you're probably going to wear them anyway.