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
Disclaimer: not a doctor.
As far as I can tell, SARS COV2 is not airborne: it is instead transmitted through contact (either direct or via surfaces) or airborne droplets carrying the virus. Masks are designed to prevent the spread through that second vector.
Some people think that masks need to be fine enough to stop viruses from traveling through them, but they don’t: all they need is to stop (as many as possible) droplets carrying the virus that get ejected through breathing/talking/sneezing. These are relatively massive, and even a cloth mask will be *relatively* good at it.
CO2, O2 and the virus itself are actually much smaller than the holes in the mask and can pass through relatively unimpeded (again, the virus needs a droplet to spread, so not an issue), and that’s ignoring that the mask isn’t airtight. CO2 buildup under the mask is simply not a real problem (a few experiments were carried out where blood O2 saturation was measured with masks on while performing strenuous activity => there was no significant effect), and anyone claiming serious respiratory discomfort as a result of mask use (outside of a few diagnosed conditions) is likely experiencing psychosomatic symptoms, assuming they’re not talking out of their ass as a way to avoid acting as responsible citizens (a common trend among anti-maskers unfortunately).
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