Masks: to wear or not to wear?

Wear a mask! Don’t wear a mask! COVID-19 is a virus; no, it’s a bacteria!

Between the CDC, WHO, OSHA and the word on the street, COVID-19 is the scariest contagion that has come down the pike–ever.  Is it really? Even above SARS, H1N1, and the Spanish flu of 1918?  Enough to stop an economy even? Does an election season in the U.S. have anything to do with the new cultural enemy?

There have been a lot of poignant statements and interesting perspectives recently conveyed about COVID-19, including the  concern regarding the safety and efficacy of masks. Studies on the efficacy vary from clinical trial to outside the laboratory, and much more information is needed to come to any considerable consensus. But one thing has been brought to light.  Now, even mask WEARING has been recognized as having a down side. Breathing in one’s own CO2 is not healthy. While many wish to convince or even convict one to wear a mask, some are unable to; namely, asthmatics, the overweight, and those with breathing issues. The top American organization for occupational safety and hazard (OSHA) cites the following about masks:

• N95 masks: are designed for CONTAMINATED environments. That means when you exhale through N95, the design is that you are exhaling into contamination. The exhale from N95 masks are vented to breathe straight out without filtration. They don’t filter the air on the way out. They don’t need to. Conclusion: if you’re in Target and the guy with Covid has an N95 mask, his Covid breath is unfiltered, being exhaled into Target because it was designed for already contaminated environments, it’s not filtering your air on the way out.

• Surgical Masks: These masks were designed and approved for STERILE environments. The amount of particles and contaminants in the outside and indoor environments are CLOGGING these masks very, VERY quickly. The moisture from your breath combined with the clogged mask will render it useless. IF you come in contact with Covid and your mask traps it, YOU become a walking virus dispenser. Every time you put your mask on, you are breathing the germs from EVERYWHERE you went. They need changing often. The surgical mask is not designed for the outside world and will not filter the virus upon inhaling through it. It’s filtration works on the EXHALE. Like a vacuum bag, it only works one way, but likely stops after 20 minutes, rendering it useless outside of a STERILE ENVIRONMENT.

• CLOTH masks do not filter anything. You mean the American flag one my grandma made? Yes. The one with the flowers that looks so cute? Yes. The old scarf,  cut up t-shirt, the bandana. None offer FILTERING whatsoever. As you exhale, you are ridding your lungs of contaminants and carbon dioxide. Cloth masks trap this carbon dioxide the best. It actually risks your health, rather than protecting it. The moisture caught in these masks can become mildew ridden over night. Dry coughing, enhanced allergies, sore throat are all symptoms of a micro-mold in your mask.Cloth masks are WORSE than none. It’s equivalent to using a chain link fence to stop mosquitoes..

In  researching each mask’s designed use and purpose, there is little if any info on their use in the way of “viral defense.” Some say masks are being used to provide false comfort and push forward a specific agenda. Others believe it’s a measure of social control and is just the beginning test case for a future exercise in tyranny on a bigger scale. Some also say that if masks were important in saving lives, then we should wear them constantly all the time lest someone gets sick by our not doing so.  Where does it end?

Whether you believe masks are for the SICK who have a contagion or not, or you just can’t breathe in one, or if you just don’t buy into the hype or any other reasoning, if so, let each person be subject to one’s own conscience through God’s conviction. For the saved by grace, there should be no fear one way or the other. Are not the number of hairs on our heads known? Likewise, the days of our lives. Will our lives be spared or not spared by the Coronavirus mask or non-mask wearng? Living in fear negates one’s faith. Trusting in the Lord for one’s days is where we should be focused.

There’s a lot of false and inconsistent information circulating, all perpetuated by the media, and to buy into everything is not always prudent, especially if the information changes from day to day.