I’ve heard a lot of anti-maskers use the argument that since we breathe out CO2, it will become trapped in the mask and is dangerous to breathe back in.
Obviously, this isn’t the case, because doctors wear their masks for hours and hours on end while doing surgeries. However, I am wondering, how does it work?
In: Biology
Two reasons:
1) The mask isn’t a perfect airtight seal. Gas particles can still get through. Virus particles are much bigger (and float on even bigger water droplets) so get stuck.
2) You don’t breathe out that much CO2. Sure, exhaled air has more CO2 and less O2 than fresh air, but the difference isn’t so big that it makes a huge difference that quickly. If you were in a sealed box, you’d eventually use up all the oxygen. But you can breathe the same air a few times without issue. This is how CPR works. If we *only* exhaled CO2, then you’d be poisoning someone when you tried to revive them!
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