This whole coronavirus story appears to be continuing on and on. The practical question I concern myself with is how to adapt and cope with this situation. This is proving to be challenging as adapting requires having a good idea of what exactly is really happening so you know what efforts are useful and what are not. The biggest impression I have about this whole situation is that everybody has a ton of opinions and nobody really knows anything. Even basic data like how many people are getting sick and how many are actually dying from the disease has been obscured. Politics and fake news are running the public perception of the story. Behind the scenes, I am hearing so many completely opposite stories about what is really happening. All I really know for certain is that I have almost no clue as to what the truth is.
When this kind of confusing information is presented to me, I have to take a step back and call upon more fundamental sources of information and apply an old school technique missing from modern media presentation – logic and common sense. For instance, let’s think about the logic of wearing a face mask for protection from Covid 19. The size of the covid virus is 0.12 microns. Surgical N95 masks will capture particles down to 0.1 microns, but all the cloth masks everyone is wearing is as effective as trying to stop a fire hose with a chain-link fence. They have zero effectiveness at stopping particles smaller than 0.3 microns. So the holes in your fabric mask are like your open front door compared to a first grader walking through the door. Cloth masks are simply fashion statements to tell everybody that you are a compliant citizen. They serve no preventative purpose – at least that is what a tiny bit of research, logic, and common sense tell me. The phrase I get in response to this reasoning is that “They are better than nothing.” This too is false, because they create a false sense of security that results in greater risk-taking.
Of course, the greater question is, what is the risk anyway? Now that antibody testing is available, testing of large samples of the public is showing that the number of cases of Covid 19 is much higher than they thought. It is just that most people who get this bug don’t really have any symptoms. So how much risk is there? Some population studies are showing as many as 80 times as many people have had the virus as they thought. Clearly there is a virus (I believe anyway), and clearly some people are having deadly reactions to this virus. Most of the people having these reactions (about 80% by some reports) are already severely health compromised and the virus just tips them over the edge. So we appear to have a virus that compromises health to some small degree. For someone who is healthy, they don’t even notice this small compromise. For someone already on death’s door, this compromise is too much for them. Further research will probably find specific types of immune compromise that make certain individuals uniquely susceptible to this particular virus, but this is true of every disease. Seemingly healthy people will succumb to each disease that comes around because of individual factors unique to them. So how much risk is there for me? I don’t know for sure. But life is risky. There is no such thing as a risk-free life.
So back to the focus of this article – face masks versus face shields. We have addressed the illusion of protection from aerosolized viral particles. But recent studies have questioned whether this virus is even transmitted in this form at all. Droplet transmission is the new buzzword. What that means to us is that breathing does not transmit Covid 19, but coughing, sneezing, and natural spit release from talking is the big culprit for spreading this bug. Although in hospitals, when they test everything for the virus, the highest concentration of the virus is on floors being spread by foot traffic. That’s right, spread on the soles of your shoes from place to place! Apparently what we really need is shoe masks.
This newer understanding of droplet transmission has brought up the use of face shields as a viable option. You see these used a lot in dentist offices where they encounter spit a lot. Face masks are tested to be as effective at protecting you from getting the bug as the N95 masks, which is to say about 95% effective. If you cough or sneeze, your droplets end up all over the inside of your face masks, so washing the masks is a must on a regular basis. The virus likes a wet environment, and plastic retains moisture better than paper or cloth. In a hospital ward where you are treating very sick patients, some health care personnel will wear both an N95 mask and a face shield. But outside of those extreme situations, one or the other should be more than enough to prevent you from getting the virus. If you have the virus, you shouldn’t be out and about anyway. For those asymptomatic viral patients, several studies have suggested that they do not transmit the virus anyway. Unfortunately, this info is still in the opinion realm.
So what am I saying here? This is an opinion, as logic can only go so far. If you are not coughing or sneezing or spraying people with your spit, there is no reason to wear a mask. They do nothing to protect you and very little to protect anyone else unless you upgrade to a full N95 mask. I know, they do look so very stylish and make us all feel like we are doing our part, but they aren’t really doing anything at all. I can see the benefit of wearing a face shield if you are concerned about contracting the virus as they offer as much protection as the N95 masks while still being able to smile at people and breathe more easily.
I am choosing this option for going out to Costco, now that they are requiring face coverings to go shopping. Personally I am not concerned about getting the virus, as my immune system is balanced enough to handle it. Plus I have the benefit of several protective items in place, like a blood vitamin D level well over 30, regular intake of vitamin C and zinc, living on a ketogenic diet, intermittent fasting, plus the regular intake of molecular hydrogen to keep my inflammatory pathways balanced. Each of these has been found to be particularly helpful in reducing reactions to Covid 19. Adding everything together, my chances of dying from Covid 19 are about the same as dying in an auto accident. Yes, that is a real possibility, but it does not stop me from driving my car.
While wearing a mask is the politically correct thing to do, it is not really a health issue. Politics does not really belong in the health decision-making arena. The problem is the massive lack of common sense in the general populace and the overabundance of self-importance and general selfishness. Mature common sense says that we each need to keep tabs on our own health, and self isolate if we show any signs that we might be sick at this time. Fevers, chills, loss of smell or taste, unexplained body aches and fatigue, coughs, shortness of breath, unusual headaches, these are all warning signs that you are coming down with something. If you get these symptoms, just forget your personal agendas and stay home. The only real reason the whole country has had to shut down and play the face mask game is because so many people refuse to use simple common sense. If you are sick, keep it to yourself – stay home. This would do more than all the social distancing and mask wearing. Since the virus is primarily spread through droplets formed with coughing, especially stay away from others if you have a cough.
If making a choice between wearing a cloth mask or a face shield, I believe the face shield will prove to be the best choice for your protection. If you are going to be working around covid 19 patients, you need real N95 masks or better to offer any real protection. Serious protection actually requires a respirator, not a mere mask. But for street-level protection, a face shield will do the trick in my opinion.
Take care and be safe,
David