One of the hardest things to read every day are the social media assertions by people claiming that there is no scientific consensus on the effects of mask wearing in the fight against the spread of COVID-19.
There are few things that anger me more because they are simply spreading lies with zero scientific basis which result in people dying.
It amazes me how some people like to exhibit indescribable stupidity by citing YouTube videos or extreme right-wing websites designed to make money off of the ignorant instead of spreading knowledge. The closest I’ve seen is one person who cited a CDC video that was over ten months old on a position that has long since been corrected based on real research.
This is a partial listing of real, verifiable scientific research done by real scientists, doctors, and epidemiologists to counter the claims of those who got think their self-conferred Ph.D. degrees from the “University of Social Media” are legitimate.
An evidence review of face masks against COVID-19
COVID-19: How Much Protection Do Face Masks Offer
Masks and Face Coverings for the Lay Public
Face masks to prevent transmission of COVID-19: A systematic review and meta-analysis
Evaluation of Cloth Masks and Modified Procedure Masks as Personal Protective Equipment for the Public During the COVID-19 Pandemic
Face covering adherence is positively associated with better mental health and wellbeing: a longitudinal analysis of the CovidLife surveys
Face coverings and respiratory tract droplet dispersion
HMS Study Finds Mask-Wearing, Social Distancing Reduce Covid-19 Infections by 87% on College Campuses
Can face masks offer protection from airborne sneeze and cough droplets in close-up, face-to-face human interactions?—A quantitative study
Face Masks Against COVID-19: An Evidence Review
Visualizing Speech-Generated Oral Fluid Droplets with Laser Light Scattering
Respiratory virus shedding in exhaled breath and efficacy of face masks
Community Use Of Face Masks And COVID-19: Evidence From A Natural Experiment Of State Mandates In The US
Association of country-wide coronavirus mortality with demographics, testing, lockdowns, and public wearing of masks (Update June 15, 2020)
Universal Masking is Urgent in the COVID-19 Pandemic: SEIR and Agent Based Models, Empirical Validation, Policy Recommendations
How misinformation is distorting COVID policies and behaviors
Philip
I find it difficult to understand that you see a need to inform your “congregation” of these simple instructions. I would have thought that expats, residents, visitors, and anyone spending time here would have had it cross their mind to discard the face mask.
For the avoidance of doubt, I use the mask when out of the house. Everyone around does more or less the same.
Not to wear the mask, mandated by government and supported by the vast majority of citizens, is an offence not just in the eyes of the law but also contrary to the hospitality offered to us of foreign birth.
To push the point, we look different – anyway. To be seen maskless is a kind of insult and reinforces the sentiment that gringoes know best.
To Philip’s congregation: please remember to return any hospitality, and don’t insult the residents, by design or by default. Oh, and it’s never a good idea to make more difficult the job of anyone in authority.
HTH
David (Trujillo)
“would NEVER have had it cross their mind”
apologies.
Many don’t and many seem to feel a need to push anti-mask silliness without a shred of evidence to support their claims.
This was actually written so I can just link to it every time I see a post from someone saying the evidence is unclear.
Philip,
excuse me asking, but am I to understand that expats, visitors, businessmen from abroad are going around without masks?
Yes, some do just as some Peruanos go without masks. What bothers me are the ones who actively promote anti-masks ideas without any supporting evidence. That just causes people to die.
The few Peruvians I’ve seen maskless are:
– out in remote parts of the Sierra (pobladores) when nobody else is around
– workmen at work – builders, welders, mechanics – for whom it would be lethal or at risk of injury to wear a mask.
While it’s true that currently – probably following the end of phase 3 – we’ve had a big increase in hospital attention for this disease – the ultimate issue is not to run out of Intensive Care. Oxygen supplies, treatments, and beds, are available whereas staffing is an issue. All that said, remember that the actual lethality of covid-19 is less that half a percent, so your “just causes people to die” is hyperbole and could be phrased more effectively.
My point above is that people of foreign-looking origin such as you and I need to set an example and WEAR THE BLOODY THINGS, oh and don’t go around all Karen telling off the locals. It’s THEIR land and if they want to collapse that is THEIR decision. Mine – and yours – and other foreigners – is to quietly fit in with whatever.
Thanks for the response.
Dave,
Just to clarify, I responded to Philip’s original posting that was spurred by someone with the audacity to post that s/he was smoking more as an excuse to take off the mask, a profoundly stupid choice on many levels. Philip writes to and for expats. I confront privileged white people, not natives, with my question in simple Spanish that even non-hispanohablantes can understand. Their response lets me know if they’re British, French, Australian, etc. Self-centered stupidity that affects everyone else knows no borders, but I will confront those whose behavior shines an unfavorable light on all white people living here.
Thank you and amen.
I’ve taken to addressing the maskless by asking,”Egoista o estupido?” After a year, there are NO other options.
I agree — it makes no sense to not wear a mask at this point almost anywhere in the world.
Thanks, Karen, I am much obliged. It seems that you and I have very similar viewpoints.
You have a bigger audience in Cusco; very few tourists make it to these northern parts and they tend to fit in better for that.
We did visit some tourist spots around Cusco and it was “amazing” to see how big is the foreign influence there. The numbers carry their own shell as it were and tend to protect visitors from appreciating the andean nuances.
Many thanks for your considerate reply. Best wishes.
To the above comments. There is not point in writing on another language when your gramma does not reflect an understanding of the lingo. Please don’t do it.
“Quite”.
I wear a mask at the behest of others when I leave the house and when I get out of the car.
I wear it because of the perception of other people claim that it works. I wear it for you, not for me. I find it harder to breathe.
I don’t believe the mask stops the virus just as I don’t believe a football net could stop a golf ball.
Read the science and you’ll understand that what you are saying really makes no sense. No scientist — not one — says masks stop COVID-19.
Hi Philip
I thought that Todd’s comment evokes sensitivity and citizenship. He’s wearing a mask, albeit uncomfortable, outside because others fear the alternative, that someone unmasked is capable of spreading contagion.
The articles you listed bear out that masks reduce the opportunity of infection by air droplet -borne covid particles.
The point Todd makes is that, contrary to his PERSONAL belief, he is complying with the consensus that there is a social benefit to mask-wearing.
Your response seems to have picked on his statement of belief whereas, I feel, you could also have congratulated him for his unselfishness.
Unselfishness is a virtue here*. Please consider fixing what’s been overlooked.
Thanks.
*where I live, among serrano families.
Belief has nothing to do with science.
Todd, congratulations on your unselfish adherence to community values.
I hope your friends and acquaintances recognise this!