A recently released study investigating the efficacy of masks at filtering aerosols in the 0.2 - 1 micron range, suggests answers to the disconnect between the results of mechanistic studies and RCTs.
This from Emily is a lot to go through. One of my base attitudes about mask ineffectiveness is, Why is it that in the early 2020s an unusually high number of people globally died from respiratory illnesses, just when wearing a mask became widespread and mandated in most countries?
If masks are effective, wearing them should have decreased virus transmission enough to cause a reduction in covid deaths. Instead, deaths went much higher after wearing them was mandated. When mask wearing became unusual, covid deaths decreased.
I agree with what Jeff and Elsie say. Additionally rebreathing your exhaust gases plus the industrial chemicals used in the production of masks plus the fibers that become dislodged during prolonged use that you inhale plus the stress and isolation induced by masking plus the bacterial breeding ground on the inside surface of your mask add up to a health burden, not a benefit.
Thank you for your efforts — it just felt like so much gaslighting— COVID rates seemed unrelated to mask mandates. And any questioning by sensible, observant people was quickly and condescendingly dismissed with deference to “the experts.”
We can smell cigarette smoke from far away and the odor sits for a while. Very helpful analogy.
Pharma mostly sold the vaccines at cost. If you look at pharma company revenues and profit margins through the pandemic, you see that they didn’t really get any kind of windfall.
Regarding masks redirecting the exhaled particles straight up, my hairdresser said that when masked clients sat in her salon chair, she could feel their hot, moist breath all over her face while she was styling their hair. Ugh!
Notice in the investigational photographs how the masks direct the aerosols upward over the eyes. Compare that to where the absence of masking directs the blast of aerosols downward and away from the eyes.
Why is this important?
RNA virus is very small. The primary route of infiltration is via the mucosa of the eye. It must replicate in the mucosa of the sinus and mouth and their respective biofilm before it reaches a density to effectively drop into the bronchia to antagonize and facilitate the risk of bacterial infection becoming established and then dropping the bacterial growth into the lower lung. The old school physicians used to call this condition "The Grim Reaper."
Depending on the extent of scar tissue created in the lower lung by such cascade of bacterial establishment, the infection can become chronic (essentially permanent) using the scar tissue as protective habitat to successfully colonize the now injured structure.
It's the bacteria that kills you. Someday the antibiotics will teach these bacteria to develop resistance to the antibiotics. The Grim Reaper will then be near.
RNA virus is prelude. Prolonged masking is dangerous and a progenitor of filth and the very bacteria you should most fear.
The only thing you should fear more is the venal stupidity and dishonesty of the modern medical acolytes who parrot hearsay and sleepwalks through an institutionalized state of programmed intellectual suspense. They just killed millions world wide.
Next up: "Why did the same sycophants require medical professionals stop aspirating IM injections of the COVID VAX; a 100 year old aspiration protocol meant to ensure no intravenous infiltration was likely to occur?"
I remember early in the jab campaign when supply was still scarce, they said not to aspirate the needle because aspirating might cause doses to be thrown away. Lives depended on not wasting a single drop of the magical miracle elixir!!
It was a visible symbol that purportedly showed the mask wearer was virtuous and concerned about others. Virtue was never so easily attainable. Remember the "my mask protects you, your mask protects me" nonsense? Now they are just a sign of mental illness worn by mostly young women and low T men.
A long time ago in a gulag enclosing my CO house, I wrote a stack that actually featured your amusing Bill Nye smackdown near the end and also covers an additional thing near and dear to old HVAC designers like me that puts a different slant on things. In simple terms, you are right about aerosols being a critical driver but there is something that compounds this: static air pressure!
The hack to understand static air pressure is to imagine being dumb enough to think that you should use a plastic bag for mask material. If you did such a thing what would you do to stay alive? The answer is obvious: You would find a way to create airflow out the edges of the mask! That's clearly the path of least resistance ... and of course gases like air follow the path of least resistance ... hidden in the literature from normies as "static air pressure" so the Fauci's of the world can ... well ... you know.
Now for the elephant in the room: cloth masks and non-industrial grade masks in general can quickly become similar to plastic bags -- or at least wet swimsuits -- due to respiration moisture! And your pictures of mask airflow studies show this edge flow happening even when it's unclear the extent of respiration moisture obstruction if any!
If the virus vector is really droplets then this may not be the end of the world -- the original surgeon mask droplet justification at least isn't insane. But if they are aerosols? Game over. All you are doing is changing the direction of travel.
And I cover many more aspects of the mask fiasco in this stack including a vid that helps visualize the aerosol and droplet sizes involved re cloth masks even for those rare few truly desiccated humans: https://baizuobu.substack.com/p/why-masking-pigpen-fails
Great article. I particularly liked the use of examples like urine and cigarette smoke to illustrate the point. One element not described was the way people wore masks during Covid mandates. Just simple observations of the people around us showed how careless people were. Also there was a wide variety of "masks" or more properly face coverings -- neck gaiters and knitted scarves among them -- that didn't filter anything.
A comparison of face mask and respirator filtration test methods
Samy Rengasamy,a Ronald Shaffer,a Brandon Williams,b and Sarah Smitb
"filtration efficiencies of “N95 FFRs” including six N95 FFR models and three surgical N95 FFR models, and three SM models were measured using the NIOSH NaCl aerosol test method, and FDA required particulate filtration efficiency (PFE) and bacterial filtration efficiency (BFE) methods, and viral filtration efficiency (VFE) method"
"Results showed that the efficiencies measured by the NIOSH NaCl method for “N95 FFRs” were from 98.15–99.68% compared to 99.74–99.99% for PFE, 99.62–99.9% for BFE, and 99.8–99.9% for VFE methods."
2) the real time N95 mask testing on a real person N95 truth. he puts the mask on ,simply adjusts and tests
"Aaron Collins real time mask testing videos on you tube allow those who chose to see the Truth to see Aaron Collins put on a N95 "real category" mask and watch the reduction of total infiltration, through and around the mask,in the range above 99.5% of the inhalation of single sars-cov2 virus size salt test particles a average of ~64 nanometers in diameter and in the mix of particles those 10 times smaller the and twice larger. from wickedpedia "Each SARS-CoV-2 virion is 60–140 nanometres (2.4×10−6–5.5×10−6 in) in diameter;"
3) the real world British hospital system truth showing the effectiveness of real FFP3 /(N95) masks, worn by real people, in an environment with real cov2 virus.
"Study author Chris Illingworth from the MRC Biostatistics Unit at the University of Cambridge, said, “Before the face masks were upgraded, the majority of infections among healthcare workers on the covid-19 wards were likely because of direct exposure to patients with covid-19. Once FFP3 respirators were introduced, the number of cases attributed to exposure on covid-19 wards dropped dramatically—in fact, our model suggests that FFP3 respirators may have cut ward based infection to zero.”
Please note; " FFP3 respirators may have cut ward based infection to zero.”
"Taken together, these results suggest that the majority of cases among HCWs on green wards were caused by community-acquired infection, whereas cases among HCWs on red wards were caused by both community-acquired infection and direct, ward-based infection from patients with COVID-19, effectively mitigated by the use of FFP3 respirators."
Please note; " effectively mitigated by the use of FFP3 respirators."
also note; these FFP3 are "REAL" respirator grade masks and NOT low grade "bogus" masks. FFP3 is a european standard, it is in the N95 and better category of "real" respirator grade masks.
imo BASIC PREVENTION with early treatment backup can stop pandemics within a willing, informed population - boiled water, salt, baking soda, povidone-iodine solution 10%, Johnson's regular baby shampoo, xylitol, etc. nasal spray bottles and a NeilMed 8 oz nasal flush bottle,a nebuizer, eyeglasses best with some side shielding, 3M N95's.
Before entry into infectious "shared air" - home mixed antiviral sprays First 12% xylitol in plain filtered boiled water sprayed into nose and mouth to saturation and need to blow your nose, them 0.5% povidone-iodine in normal alkalized saline - a few sprays into nose and mouth, inhaling deeply, and a few sprays on to open eyes, then eyeglasses and N95. When back home - depending on perceived level of exposure - 1% regular Johnson's baby shampoo in normal alkalized saline for eye wash, mouth wash and nasal flush with 8 ounce size NeilMed nasal flush bottle or "as you will", then nebulize a few mL of regular vodka and a few more home mixed antiviral sprays - depending on perceived level of exposure.
normal alkalized saline - as is NeilMed saline mix packets, these are approximately 75% salt and 25% baking soda. I well boil filtered water for 3 minutes at elevations below 1,000 feet adding 1 minute for additional for each 1,000 feet rise in elevation. From measuring NeilMed saline mix packs - for 2 cups / 16 fluid ounces or one 500mL bottle of water boiled down a bit I add 1/4 tsp Arm and Hammer baking soda and 3 each 1/4 tsp of Morton canning salt.
I still see people driving in cars, alone, wearing masks. Where has all the common sense gone? Do we need to do scientific studies to prove to people all the crazy things we saw during Covid were wrong? People getting arrested for swimming, outside, alone. Not being allowed to walk your dog at certain times. Even wearing the same dirty mask, day after day. Or wearing a scarf or cute piece of fabric everyday. I would love there to be a day of reckoning for all the ill conceived notions we were subjected to but I won’t hold my breath.
Of course masks work if people aren’t idiots. A mask is basically a filter that decreases the flow. So if you have an n95 on that’s not fit tested, you’ll likely get 4x to 8x longer than just going without in an identical situation of infection risk. With fit testing, you can go a whole lot longer. Surgicals, n94s??, cloth - they are all mostly useless unless everyone is wearing one and only interacting for short periods.
Most mask studies are stupidly flawed - people only wear masks for 8hrs while at work without any adherence to fit (they pull it down to talk).
A mask restricts air flow. This means that someone wearing a mask has to breath deeper. So inhaling, & exhaling is from deeper in your lungs with more force, especially if physically active.
Does this deeper breathing result in more particles being imbedded in the lungs & more infection?
This from Emily is a lot to go through. One of my base attitudes about mask ineffectiveness is, Why is it that in the early 2020s an unusually high number of people globally died from respiratory illnesses, just when wearing a mask became widespread and mandated in most countries?
If masks are effective, wearing them should have decreased virus transmission enough to cause a reduction in covid deaths. Instead, deaths went much higher after wearing them was mandated. When mask wearing became unusual, covid deaths decreased.
because they were vaccinated, and hospital protocols. that's why the yuge death spike.
I agree with what Jeff and Elsie say. Additionally rebreathing your exhaust gases plus the industrial chemicals used in the production of masks plus the fibers that become dislodged during prolonged use that you inhale plus the stress and isolation induced by masking plus the bacterial breeding ground on the inside surface of your mask add up to a health burden, not a benefit.
Thank you for your efforts — it just felt like so much gaslighting— COVID rates seemed unrelated to mask mandates. And any questioning by sensible, observant people was quickly and condescendingly dismissed with deference to “the experts.”
We can smell cigarette smoke from far away and the odor sits for a while. Very helpful analogy.
Because it is the INJECTION is what they wanted to get done
Who is "they" and what did they gain by getting people injected?
Big Harma
Pharma mostly sold the vaccines at cost. If you look at pharma company revenues and profit margins through the pandemic, you see that they didn’t really get any kind of windfall.
This is an absolute tour de force, thanks :)
Thank you!
Regarding masks redirecting the exhaled particles straight up, my hairdresser said that when masked clients sat in her salon chair, she could feel their hot, moist breath all over her face while she was styling their hair. Ugh!
Ugh indeed! So much for source control. More like source enhancement.
Always thought masks were worthless, now I know why....thanks, long but comprehensive
Dick Minnis removingthecataract.substack.com
They are worse than useless, basically.
Masking became a dogma and I've always believed it was because people are must vulnerable when ignorance is combined with fear.
Notice in the investigational photographs how the masks direct the aerosols upward over the eyes. Compare that to where the absence of masking directs the blast of aerosols downward and away from the eyes.
Why is this important?
RNA virus is very small. The primary route of infiltration is via the mucosa of the eye. It must replicate in the mucosa of the sinus and mouth and their respective biofilm before it reaches a density to effectively drop into the bronchia to antagonize and facilitate the risk of bacterial infection becoming established and then dropping the bacterial growth into the lower lung. The old school physicians used to call this condition "The Grim Reaper."
Depending on the extent of scar tissue created in the lower lung by such cascade of bacterial establishment, the infection can become chronic (essentially permanent) using the scar tissue as protective habitat to successfully colonize the now injured structure.
It's the bacteria that kills you. Someday the antibiotics will teach these bacteria to develop resistance to the antibiotics. The Grim Reaper will then be near.
RNA virus is prelude. Prolonged masking is dangerous and a progenitor of filth and the very bacteria you should most fear.
The only thing you should fear more is the venal stupidity and dishonesty of the modern medical acolytes who parrot hearsay and sleepwalks through an institutionalized state of programmed intellectual suspense. They just killed millions world wide.
Next up: "Why did the same sycophants require medical professionals stop aspirating IM injections of the COVID VAX; a 100 year old aspiration protocol meant to ensure no intravenous infiltration was likely to occur?"
I remember early in the jab campaign when supply was still scarce, they said not to aspirate the needle because aspirating might cause doses to be thrown away. Lives depended on not wasting a single drop of the magical miracle elixir!!
It was a visible symbol that purportedly showed the mask wearer was virtuous and concerned about others. Virtue was never so easily attainable. Remember the "my mask protects you, your mask protects me" nonsense? Now they are just a sign of mental illness worn by mostly young women and low T men.
So true. They are basically an IQ test, but not in a way that is flattering to the maskers.
A long time ago in a gulag enclosing my CO house, I wrote a stack that actually featured your amusing Bill Nye smackdown near the end and also covers an additional thing near and dear to old HVAC designers like me that puts a different slant on things. In simple terms, you are right about aerosols being a critical driver but there is something that compounds this: static air pressure!
The hack to understand static air pressure is to imagine being dumb enough to think that you should use a plastic bag for mask material. If you did such a thing what would you do to stay alive? The answer is obvious: You would find a way to create airflow out the edges of the mask! That's clearly the path of least resistance ... and of course gases like air follow the path of least resistance ... hidden in the literature from normies as "static air pressure" so the Fauci's of the world can ... well ... you know.
Now for the elephant in the room: cloth masks and non-industrial grade masks in general can quickly become similar to plastic bags -- or at least wet swimsuits -- due to respiration moisture! And your pictures of mask airflow studies show this edge flow happening even when it's unclear the extent of respiration moisture obstruction if any!
If the virus vector is really droplets then this may not be the end of the world -- the original surgeon mask droplet justification at least isn't insane. But if they are aerosols? Game over. All you are doing is changing the direction of travel.
And I cover many more aspects of the mask fiasco in this stack including a vid that helps visualize the aerosol and droplet sizes involved re cloth masks even for those rare few truly desiccated humans: https://baizuobu.substack.com/p/why-masking-pigpen-fails
Have they modeled drying snot?
As a suitable production matrix for binding powdered insect protein in our new improved sustainable diet!
Great article. I particularly liked the use of examples like urine and cigarette smoke to illustrate the point. One element not described was the way people wore masks during Covid mandates. Just simple observations of the people around us showed how careless people were. Also there was a wide variety of "masks" or more properly face coverings -- neck gaiters and knitted scarves among them -- that didn't filter anything.
1) "scientific" N95 Truth 2) the real time mask testing on a real person N95 truth. 3) the real world British hospital system FFP3/N95 truth
1) "scientific" N95 Truth
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7157953/
A comparison of face mask and respirator filtration test methods
Samy Rengasamy,a Ronald Shaffer,a Brandon Williams,b and Sarah Smitb
"filtration efficiencies of “N95 FFRs” including six N95 FFR models and three surgical N95 FFR models, and three SM models were measured using the NIOSH NaCl aerosol test method, and FDA required particulate filtration efficiency (PFE) and bacterial filtration efficiency (BFE) methods, and viral filtration efficiency (VFE) method"
"Results showed that the efficiencies measured by the NIOSH NaCl method for “N95 FFRs” were from 98.15–99.68% compared to 99.74–99.99% for PFE, 99.62–99.9% for BFE, and 99.8–99.9% for VFE methods."
Please note; "99.8–99.9% for VFE" " viral filtration efficiency (VFE) method"
2) the real time N95 mask testing on a real person N95 truth. he puts the mask on ,simply adjusts and tests
"Aaron Collins real time mask testing videos on you tube allow those who chose to see the Truth to see Aaron Collins put on a N95 "real category" mask and watch the reduction of total infiltration, through and around the mask,in the range above 99.5% of the inhalation of single sars-cov2 virus size salt test particles a average of ~64 nanometers in diameter and in the mix of particles those 10 times smaller the and twice larger. from wickedpedia "Each SARS-CoV-2 virion is 60–140 nanometres (2.4×10−6–5.5×10−6 in) in diameter;"
for instance - on a mask I bought at home depot. test # 644 8/8/22 3M 9205+ Aura[Lot A220769] N95, Boat, As Worn, White, Headband, 21,820 particles per cc outside the mask at the start of the test 21,720 particles per cc outside the mask at the end of the test, 70 particles per cc inside the mask for a 99.68% reduction. Or the 3M 8210+ with a 99.80% total infiltration reduction. Aaron Collins youtube channel https://www.youtube.com/@coll0412 Data can be found here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1M0mdNLpTWEGcluK6hh5LjjcFixwmOG853Ff45d3O-L0/edit?gid=1976839763#gid=1976839763
3) the real world British hospital system truth showing the effectiveness of real FFP3 /(N95) masks, worn by real people, in an environment with real cov2 virus.
https://www.bmj.com/content/373/bmj.n1663
Covid-19: Upgrading to FFP3 respirators cuts infection risk, research finds
BMJ 2021; 373 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.n1663 (Published 29 June 2021) Cite this as: BMJ 2021;373:n1663
"Study author Chris Illingworth from the MRC Biostatistics Unit at the University of Cambridge, said, “Before the face masks were upgraded, the majority of infections among healthcare workers on the covid-19 wards were likely because of direct exposure to patients with covid-19. Once FFP3 respirators were introduced, the number of cases attributed to exposure on covid-19 wards dropped dramatically—in fact, our model suggests that FFP3 respirators may have cut ward based infection to zero.”
Please note; " FFP3 respirators may have cut ward based infection to zero.”
https://www.authorea.com/users/421653/articles/527590-ffp3-respirators-protect-healthcare-workers-against-infection-with-sars-cov-2
"Taken together, these results suggest that the majority of cases among HCWs on green wards were caused by community-acquired infection, whereas cases among HCWs on red wards were caused by both community-acquired infection and direct, ward-based infection from patients with COVID-19, effectively mitigated by the use of FFP3 respirators."
Please note; " effectively mitigated by the use of FFP3 respirators."
also note; these FFP3 are "REAL" respirator grade masks and NOT low grade "bogus" masks. FFP3 is a european standard, it is in the N95 and better category of "real" respirator grade masks.
also note: for more REAL TRUTH see here " COMMENTARY: Wear a respirator, not a cloth or surgical mask, to protect against respiratory viruses " at the u of m cidrap page https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/covid-19/commentary-wear-respirator-not-cloth-or-surgical-mask-protect-against-respiratory-viruses
imo BASIC PREVENTION with early treatment backup can stop pandemics within a willing, informed population - boiled water, salt, baking soda, povidone-iodine solution 10%, Johnson's regular baby shampoo, xylitol, etc. nasal spray bottles and a NeilMed 8 oz nasal flush bottle,a nebuizer, eyeglasses best with some side shielding, 3M N95's.
Before entry into infectious "shared air" - home mixed antiviral sprays First 12% xylitol in plain filtered boiled water sprayed into nose and mouth to saturation and need to blow your nose, them 0.5% povidone-iodine in normal alkalized saline - a few sprays into nose and mouth, inhaling deeply, and a few sprays on to open eyes, then eyeglasses and N95. When back home - depending on perceived level of exposure - 1% regular Johnson's baby shampoo in normal alkalized saline for eye wash, mouth wash and nasal flush with 8 ounce size NeilMed nasal flush bottle or "as you will", then nebulize a few mL of regular vodka and a few more home mixed antiviral sprays - depending on perceived level of exposure.
normal alkalized saline - as is NeilMed saline mix packets, these are approximately 75% salt and 25% baking soda. I well boil filtered water for 3 minutes at elevations below 1,000 feet adding 1 minute for additional for each 1,000 feet rise in elevation. From measuring NeilMed saline mix packs - for 2 cups / 16 fluid ounces or one 500mL bottle of water boiled down a bit I add 1/4 tsp Arm and Hammer baking soda and 3 each 1/4 tsp of Morton canning salt.
More Basic Prevention details upon request.
Masking was useful early in the Pandemic for giving people the illusion of control in an ultimately uncontrollable situation.
The problem came in when it became dogma and wasn't abandoned once vaccines were available.
What did she say ?
I still see people driving in cars, alone, wearing masks. Where has all the common sense gone? Do we need to do scientific studies to prove to people all the crazy things we saw during Covid were wrong? People getting arrested for swimming, outside, alone. Not being allowed to walk your dog at certain times. Even wearing the same dirty mask, day after day. Or wearing a scarf or cute piece of fabric everyday. I would love there to be a day of reckoning for all the ill conceived notions we were subjected to but I won’t hold my breath.
wow, sad i wasted my time reading this whole article only to find out at the end that the writer is a transphobic anti-masker …
Thanks for the easy block decision.
Of course masks work if people aren’t idiots. A mask is basically a filter that decreases the flow. So if you have an n95 on that’s not fit tested, you’ll likely get 4x to 8x longer than just going without in an identical situation of infection risk. With fit testing, you can go a whole lot longer. Surgicals, n94s??, cloth - they are all mostly useless unless everyone is wearing one and only interacting for short periods.
Most mask studies are stupidly flawed - people only wear masks for 8hrs while at work without any adherence to fit (they pull it down to talk).
Science can’t fix stupid.
What a great article! Thank you for writing it.
Question.
A mask restricts air flow. This means that someone wearing a mask has to breath deeper. So inhaling, & exhaling is from deeper in your lungs with more force, especially if physically active.
Does this deeper breathing result in more particles being imbedded in the lungs & more infection?