The great mask debate
The mask debate rages on;
We’ve even been known to mask debate around here with some frequency. Man Loses Job After Rant About Mask, Woman Throws Coffee on Man Not Wearing a Mask, Is the face mask the clearest symbol of the divide in America?, and State employees ordered to wear masks during meetings. Online meetings they are attending from home are some recent examples. We’ve been mask debaters for years. Back to before COVID-times when D.C. was trying to outlaw masks. Seven years ago, Jonn wrote this article (which has not aged well in light of COVID), DC residents want to “crack down on ski masks.”
Homemade masks not only might not be effective, they could be making things worse. Duke University researchers a few weeks back reported that face coverings like fleece actually break down spit particles into smaller particles, allowing them to travel further than if you weren’t wearing a mask at all.
CDC guidance on what to wear and how to wear it show that nobody follows the guidelines correctly. In their “Do NOT wear a mask” section, the infographic is like watching Joe Biden and Jerry Nadler’s lectures on the importance of mask wearing. Nobody takes it off correctly. We’re all touching our faces more frequently as we put on and take off masks. Interestingly, the CDC advises people to NOT wear N95 masks. The Duke research linked above says N95 are some of the best at filtering. This would also seem like common sense since they’re designed for clinical use.
All too often comparisons are made to Nazi Germany, so I won’t do that. I will say the mask is very much like the Communist Party pins worn in all of the Marxist countries. North Korean citizens are required to wear their pin of the great leader to show their obedience to the cause.
Like it or not though, the mask is the new way to project to the world that you’re one of the good people that values the lives of others over your own personal comfort. To not wear a mask in mid-2020 is to be ostracized, attacked, and vilified. It can even cost someone their job and their professional reputation to even challenge the blind belief that wearing a sock and rubber band over my face As we’ve documented, there are many felonies that have been committed by people on either side of the mask debate.
Here’s an example of what the tolerant left does when they see someone exercising the slightest bit of independent thought and individual liberty;D.C. Protester Scolds Maskless Cop: ‘He Wants His Kids to Die; He Wants His Wife to Die’
Personally, I wear a mask when I’m required to. I don’t like it. I know the governor’s “order” requiring them is hollow and unconstitutional. However if a private business requires it, I’ll comply even if I think it’s next to worthless. Interestingly the DC mask mandate has a specific exemption for “persons in the judicial or legislative branches of the District government while those persons are on duty; and shall not apply to any employees of the federal government while they are on duty.”
So while the self-righteous ass screams spittle at the officer in the linked video through his questionably effective mask about how “it’s the law”, he is of course speaking from a position of ignorance.
Category: COVID-19
The fact that government workers are exempt from ‘masking’ tells me everything I need to know.
Its a scam. Always has been.
The really bad news is, if in November Biden looses the election, we get a minimum of four more years of ‘Wuhan Flu’ pandemic crap.
I retired from the fed govt back in January and I keep in touch with some of my former coworkers.
What they tell me is one of the biggest scandals of this whole clusterfuck.
One buddy of mine works at an org in the DC area. Get this. He works one week, 40 hours. Then he stays at home for TWO WEEKS doing nothing. And gets paid for all 3 weeks!!!
Now, some people can work from home and no problem with that. But there are plenty who usually work in a SCIF and well, working from home ain’t gonna fly.
Fraus, waste and abuse!
We’ve missed one (1) day due to the virus. I’m in a job that’s impossible to do from home and requires us to spend a lot of time in the Petri dishes more commonly known as AIT barracks. Masks are mandatory when distancing isn’t possible.
My brother-in-law is an air traffic controller. They have them on a like 5 on, 10 off schedule. He took an entire month off and only was charged for 5 days leave.
Have been strongly going against the mask mandate for over a month now. I’m not dead yet. I talked to managers at multiple local stores to confirm their policy. All acknowledge the Texas medical and religious exemptions and said they will not force anyone to wear it, but to please distance.
However, they have an employee at each of these businesses that tell people they “have to.” They have strong signage stating the same.
So I’ve been walking in for weeks not ignoring the signs… and the dirty looks.
I promised myself I would discipline to be kind, smile, NO Karen discussions or back and forth. Just kindness. The couple of times I’ve been asked to wear one I smile and kindly say “I have medical issues with the mask, but I promise to distance.” It works out wonderfully and no problems. Most of the employees have their mask on all fubar anyways.
It’s hard watching hundreds of sheep drone on with these mask, even competing now with logos, fashions, color coordination, etc. Absolute compliance without question.
I wore a mask religiously until “they” said they I have to. That’s when I decided against it. That and a lot of research and reading about the covid numbers, risk groups, and comorbidities. It’s all riidiculous. It has become a power play by the State.
And Lars, save your breath, I know you ♥ masks.
“So I’ve been walking in for weeks not ignoring the signs… and the dirty looks”…
….for weeks ‘now’ ignoring the signs….
And it’s only fair to add…
I follow the mask policy of my employer. I am not willing to pull the challenge levers there as of yet.
Wasn’t till I read the article that I realized that they were talking about the MASK DEBATE and not how to put a cricket on a hook…or a worm, as in masterbait…or the act of self inflicted sex. Damn a worthless mask. Damn a Chinesecommunist Originated Virus Infecting Disease of 2019. Damn a bunch of foreign and domestic enemies that are trying to destroy our Country. And damn a spapos seagull that will be showing up here soon to not read and comprehend this thread either and spew his vile hatred.
Yeah I tote the damn thing with me. Only place I’ve been to that “requires” it is the K Roger. Then it’s kinda just loosely hanging there, I stay the hell back from other people, don’t touch nothing but to put it in the buggy and don’t “shop.” Got my list of what Imma gonna buy, get it and go. It’s costing them business for that. And the other places that are “mandating per state/city laws?” Not going in there. It’s amazing at how little I have bought over the last few months.
Oh, the mask again!
Well, it’s hay fever season in my kingdom, so I do find that it somewhat cuts the pollen load I have to put up with.
And while I’ll wear it grocery shopping, I don’t do that when I stop to get gas at the pump of pull up to a McD’s window, or any other ordinary things.
Frankly, with most of the materials used in making those masks for commercial resale, the virus particles are small enough to slip through the pores
or weave of whatever a mask is made of, which means that it’s all a moot point. Won’t keep the spread stopped at all.
And in regard to the CV19 bug, it’s not just the first go-round you have to worry about: there’s a second one already starting.
New Zealand reported a -0- infection rate a few weeks ago. Now, they’ve had to put everyone on lockdown again, because the bug returned. Well, hello, Spanish Flu, how the hell are you? It’s been – what? – about a century, right?
I think it’s better to take precautions than get snarky about it.
Now, they’ve DECIDED to put everyone on lockdown again, because the bug returned.
FIFY you Ex
Petty liberal tyrants are getting off on all this newfound “ power”. My governor is a leftist moron but he’s nowhere near as boisterous and insufferable as Governor Resting Bitchface of Michigan. Where masks are required, I don’t go – I treat those places like I do the ones with “no guns allowed” signs – it’s exactly the same to me.
Well said. I won’t be told what to wear on my body. Or what NOT to wear, in the case of my CCW.
Having spent much of the 90’s in Northeast Asia, I have seen that masks work if worn properly. A significant number of people young and old wear a mask as a part of their normal day and don’t whine about it. TB used to run rampant in several countries there. It still exists, but in fewer numbers partly because of mask wear. However, I am against government mask mandates, but I wear one myself because I am a card carrying member of the group that will most likely croak if I get the virus. I don’t care if someone thinks I’m bending to the government’s will or not, I am going to take precautions for my own safety and I don’t care what anyone thinks. I have hundreds of disposable masks and swap them out for a new one when I feel I’ve used the old one long enough.
” I am going to take precautions for my own safety and I don’t care what anyone thinks. ”
And that is called FREEDOM, and is exactly how things should work in America!
I think they are useless but, since I’m a geezer with asthma, I’m not willing to play bet-my-life on it so I wear it in stores and/or when I can’t distance myself. Also, stores have enough struggles staying open that I don’t want to cause them aggravation from the govt or Karens.
Still wondering why folks from hot spots going to NYC have to quarantine but not MTV “celebrities”?
Don’t give a crap whether any of you wear or don’t wear masks. Your decision to make.
I DO care about whether any of you (or them) get in my face about it. I am more than happy to tell anyone to back off without regard for if they or I am wearing a mask. Stay out of my personal space (which used to be 3-4 feet but is closer to 12 feet these days) and we will get along just fine.
And stay off my lawn.
Here in The Great State of Texas I’ve been going into the stores without a mask, and no one has said much more than “Do you have a mask?” – I answer “No” (politely) and no more has been said.
Around the medical nursing-home community (where there may be folks with elevated risk) I will wear a mask.
I’ve worn them into (but not during) church, just to help some folks feel better. FWIW, the oldest man in our church (96? 98?) seldom wears a mask. He is also as healthy as a horse – healthier than some horses!
A lot of folks are wearing them here. But I have yet to have someone get all in-your-face about it (other than a niece who unfriended me on The Book of Faces).
If I go into a business that requires a mask I wear a plastic face shield purchased on Fleabay. You can clean it thoroughly and you aren’t harboring eleventy frillion types of microbes on your face.
FWIW.
There is no debate.
Just people being intransigently stupid.
Wear a mask when in public. Social distance. Wash your hands.
What the fuck is there to debate?
If research shows fleece masks don’t work. Then don’t wear fleece masks.
You all are under thinking this.
You are not an expert. On anything. You’re not an authority. You’re nothing but a liberal/progressive Chatty Cathy doll spewing the latest party talking points whenever you see certain trigger words. You do not discuss, debate, or argue with any merit. You berate, bully, and belittle. You are a fraud.
OSHA regulations state that surgical masks are for surgery and N95 masks are insufficient for significant viral threats. I have to wear an N95 around COVID patients and the box even states it is to block dust and large particles such as pollen….no recommendation for protection from viruses.
Workers cannot even wear them voluntarily to remove the responsibility from the employer that makes them available.
Respirators involve the requirement of an established and monitored respiratory program with baseline Pulmonary Function Tests (PFTs)and mask fittings. Basically viral protection mandates the use of powered self contained systems to be most effective.
One problem with these inferior substitutions is that the holes in the masks increase the velocity of the exhaled air as the respiratory moisture is aerosolized (basic respiratory physics)resulting in dispersion of especially small particles and whatever is riding in them to be suspended in the air for longer periods of time than would occur during normal unimpeded respiration. Think of it like putting your thumb over a running garden hose.
ill-fitting and gapped masks redirect aerosols in whatever direction provides the path of least resistance again with smaller gaps resulting in corresponding increases in velocity and aerosolization.
Occupational health studies have tackled the questions regarding what PPE is appropriate in what circumstance long before this pandemic.