The new "no shirt, no shoes, no service"

As I sat in my car at Wal Mart waiting for my grocery pickup, I look over to the car next to me and see a woman, alone in her giant SUV, with a big toxic-fumes type mask on. Then as I was driving to Ocshner I saw a young girl alone in her car wearing her mask. And with the news of businesses around the country reopening and many people physically returning to their jobs, it seems important to share info about mask wearing. I don’t know if the CDC has ever provided guidelines for it, but through one of my Facebook fights I got hold of a nice research article that helps to understand how mask wearing can most benefit people.

First to address that any mask is better than no mask; however, cloth masks are the least effective and most dangerous for the wearer. During this research study conducted during the SARS outbreak it was found that cloth masks most restricted oxygen flow to the wearer, increased CO2 reuptake, and increased risk of bacterial infection from repeated and long term wear.

Alternatively, surgical type masks can decrease in being an effective barrier against virus transmission over long term wear, as the condensation from our breath moistens the mask making it easier for the virus to penetrate (and potentially aerate, but no word on that re: SARS Cov 2).

So if people really want businesses open and the virus to begin to die off as summer approaches, it is important to use safety measures PROPERLY or they’re almost as good as no measure at all.

Think of it like STDs. You figure you don’t have an STD so you don’t wear a condom. You then either risk transmitting an STD that you don’t know you have or risk GETTING one. Makes total sense, right? That’s the “no mask” DGAF attitude.

OR you decide to be safe and wear a condom! Except you wear it all the time. With contact with innumerable people (y'know, your partner and every person THEY’VE been with). And then, y'know, casually keep it on around the house. You dribble a little pee in it. That’s like a sneeze or cough. You’re restricting the bloodflow to your little dingle. That restricting oxygen. So it would be a terrible thing to do.

So please talk to your friends and family about healthy safety practices so that an economic reopening doesn’t prove fatal to thousands of people.

A 2008 study on surgeons' blood oxygen levels with use of varied masks.

A 2015 study of the effectiveness of cloth masks

Another 2015, with updates, on the effectiveness of cloth masks

A general article about the debate on wearing masks.