Regular, everyday facemasks do more harm than good.
Respiratory viruses get into your body by riding on streams of air. The viruses are much smaller than bacteria and can easily slip through the holes in cloth or plastic facemasks.
But most people don’t breath through the facemasks. The air comes in from around the edges of the masks, carrying viruses with it.
Here’s a test: With your facemask on, press two fingers of one hand on the top and bottom of your mouth. With the other hand, press a finger on whichever side of the mouth not covered by the other two fingers. Press all three fingers so that you are unable to obtain air except through the mask. Observe that the mask actually moves in and out as you breathe.
Doesn’t this procedure make it more difficult to breath than normal? I bet it does.
Does your mask normally move in and out as you breathe? I bet it does not.
If the above test doesn’t feel like your regular facemask breathing, this means your breath does not normally come in through the mask. It comes in from around the mask, carrying those pesky viruses.
Many facemasks contain a wire that causes the mask to make a sharp turn around the nose. Good try, but this isn’t nearly sufficient to prevent the air from coming in from above the top of the mask.
No good comes from the facemask.
Also, some viruses that came from the sides of the masks adhere to the inside of it, accumulating there, providing an additional source of virus infection.
Even with no viruses present, the air you’re breathing from inside the mask is as unhealthy as the air in a room that’s poorly ventilated.
Overall, facemasks serve no good, but they do cause harm. Government requirements that you wear them are cockeyed.
