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Linda's avatar

In the first month of the pandemic, I did my research to find out what kind of mask or respirator would provide the best protection (I’m just that kind of person). I already knew intuitively from my eighth grade science class that trying to keep a virus out with a cloth mask was like expecting to keep mosquitoes out of your house using chicken wire. While my friend was busy sewing cloth masks, I already had the information to send her to not waste her time and just purchase the K/N 95 masks. Of course, then came the pleadings from the government not to use the K/N 95 masks and save them for the health workers! No mention that cloth masks would be no use at all.

I went to the CDC and NIH websites and read everything that I could find. I read the specifications to find out the difference between the K versus N masks. I remember reading that the K/N 95 masks did not filter out viruses or small particles by blocking them with the mask fibers. These types of masks actually work on trapping these very small particles via static electricity. I imagine if you could even possibly weave a mask with such tight fibers to keep out 0.3 µm particles or viruses, it would be nearly impossible to pass air in and out of the mask (especially without puffing out the seal around the face on exhale); so static entrapment is how it works. I had purchased some N 95 masks with an exhale valve for gardening the previous year. This allowed a good seal to be kept because the mask sides wouldn’t poof out with the pressure on exhale. Of course, this is the first mask they disallowed in grocery stores etc.

I also read that health professionals were trained to do fit checks using a small booth where a sweetener like Splenda or NutraSweet was puffed into their face after they had fit ithe mask. If they were able to taste the sweetener, they needed to refit the mask. It was obvious that this was serious business and that the average family with children was likely not going to fit a mask or handle it properly to avoid contamination or infection. We were really gaslit over this whole mask thing and they continue to gaslight us to this day. These cloth masks that trap moisture and grow fungus, mold, and bacteria are far worse than nothing at all!

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Jeremy's avatar

Over the course of the pandemic, my job never stopped. I sat in in-person meetings constantly, meeting after meeting after meeting, many with PhDs in some science degree.

Many of them wear glasses.

ALL OF THEM complained that their glasses would fog up.

NONE OF THEM would question the efficacy of the mask based on the fact that most of the exhaled air was going out the sides and fogging up their glasses.

I even took time out to point out this fact to a few of them, they still wear masks in meetings to this day, regardless of the rules.

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