This is something I’ve heard a lot, and assuming it’s true, what’s the science behind it? Surely holes in masks are the same size no matter whether the germs are heading in or out, but I’m guessing it’s not about the holes and I’m missing something.
Obligatory disclaimer: I’m not an anti-masker, I’m still wearing it in shops for example. This is just me wanting to understand.
In: Biology
They absolutely do help with preventing you from catching it. ~~I don’t know where you’re hearing that it doesn’t help with that.~~ [Edit: Okay, I do recall that was said at some point, but we’ve learned masks do help the wearer.]
It reduces the chances. It’s not a 100% thing. Fun fact: If two people have masks, that’s even more protection. It’s filtered when you breathe out, it’s filtered when you breathe in. So two people wearing masks have two layers of protection between them, if only one of them wears a mask it’s only one layer of protection. It adds up.
Not putting it into the air helps a great many people. Wearing the mask if you’re infected (and/or staying home!) helps tremendously. Wearing it if you’re not infected is really only protecting you for that moment, if you were somehow 100% certain you weren’t infected. But if you catch it, you will almost certainly spread it to at least one other person. So protecting yourself _is_ protecting others. And here’s the huge catch: Most people with active CoViD-19 are not aware they have it. They are asymptomatic. It’s extremely helpful when most people wear them, whether they think they have it or not, because that blanket level of protection makes the virus have a hard time spreading.
It’s just not true. It’s something people started parroting 1 year ago. Every study done on this has shown a protective effect by wearing simple surgical masks, in and out of hospital settings.
It works by helping keep other people’s droplets off of your mucous membranes. It also helps keep your droplets off of other people’s mucous membranes.
Covid is a fluid-borne disease. It leaves a person’s body in water droplets they breath out. The water droplets are what masks actually block, making mask effective at stopping you from spreading covid to other people. However, there are lots of places in your body that covid could enter through: mouth, nose, eyes, ears, genitalia, anus, open cuts, etc. Not all of these places are covered by masks, making them less effective at protecting you once you have been exposed.
Imagine you and another kid in your preschool are facing each other. He needs a pee. If he pees and neither of you are wearing trousers, you get his pee on you. If you are wearing trousers but he isn’t, you get his pee on your trousers. If he’s wearing trousers it really doesn’t matter whether you are or not. He gets wet trousers. You walk away dry.
Pee is a cough. Trousers are the mask.
“Pants help stop you from peeing on others, but don’t help stop others from peeing on you.”
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