To Mask or not to two - Mask Megathread cont.

Ok, so say primary school children get issued those air tight masks. I fit them to my kids in the morning and send them on their merry way. What happens when they have to remove them to eat their lunch or drink something? Or when they go to play outside? Will the kids fit them back on correctly afterwards do ya reckon?

Some of the stuff posted on here makes me wonder if wearing masks for prolonged periods have an effect on people's cognitive abilities. Any studies on the effects of huffing your own carbon dioxide I wonder.

Yes, clothes and sports equipment and their purpose is exactly the same thing as masks alright.

And you do know primary school children includes 4 year olds, right?

The most interesting part about that study was the wash/dry study of cotton masks.

Two very important caveats freely admitted by the authors: We only looked at inward filtration efficiency (protecting the receptor, not reducing transmission from the source) and assuming a perfect fit condition.

I guess you may have forgotten that there never was an outside mask mandate, because aerosols disperse quickly outdoors.

I guess you may have forgotten that transmission happens almost exclusively indoors.

I guess you may have forgotten that no virologists or epidemiologists recommend outdoor masking.

Or - you're fully aware of that, and are just trying to build a straw man or something similar idiotic.

Same indoors

What's the "makeyupey scenario" I posted? The part you bolded, that kids need to remove masks to eat, drink or play outside?

You're the one who posted kids masks which create an air tight seal. My very reasonable query was what will happen to that airtight seal when kids need to remove them during the school day and fit them again, especially consider the age range we're talking about for primary school.

Look, we're making progress here I feel. We've gone from suggesting cloth and surgical masks (which best case scenario under lab conditions with a correct fit stop about 10-15% of particles above a certain size, so about as useful as a chocolate fireguard) to accepting that you would need masks that have air tight seals. I'm just pointing out how impractical that would be for young kids.

So reducing particles from 100% to 90% (again based on different studies both you and I have linked to here, which have similar results) by wearing cloth or surgical masks are worth it to reduce risk? 10% reduction, in lab-type conditions for particles over a certain size. We'll agree to disagree that the reduced risk is worth it, given use of masks in the real world.

You and I both know HIQA can't turn around in their recommendation and say "masks are essentially useless". Of course they'll say instead that they won't be worn properly or it will affect learning, both of which are true to a certain extent.

Masks can reduce our "cognitive abilities" and "effect learning" but are "essentially useless" when it comes to COVID-19 🦄

Like I said you lost me at "chocolate fireguard."

Can we stop with this disingenuous argument, please? Wearing something over your face is quite different from wearing a t-shirt. Many people are only slightly bothered by it but others feel uncomfortable or even claustrophobic. Unfortunately I’m in the latter category and masks have lowered my quality of life. They were an emergency measure but the emergency phase is ending and the mandatory nature of this measure should come to an end.

And after a year and a half I haven’t been able to get used to it. Saying “it’s all in your head” is just a rude way or disregarding the concerns of others because you don’t share that concern. I could easily say the same to anyone who wants to continue to enforce mask mandates despite wide-scale vaccine uptake: “If you’re vaccinated then you’re protected. The basis for your concern is all in your head.”

Cool, so you’re saying that since the concern that is leading people to want to continue the mask mandates and the discomfort caused by being forced to wear a mask are both in one’s head there’s no point in even discussing the topic?

Mike Ryan saying what Govt aren't willing to.

The Irish doctor leading the World Health Organisation’s (WHO’s) response to Covid-19 has warned the wearing of face coverings will likely continue for a "very long time" as he warned Europe is still seeing a million cases of Covid-19 a week.

Vaccines have dropped the hospitalisation rate from around 15% (numbers vary but at the start I often read 20% became seriously ill and 10-15% needed hospitalisation) to around 2%. This will lower further as even more of the population is vaccinated and as boosters are rolled out to the most vulnerable. Furthermore, this is by definition not a novel virus anymore. As a result most people are experiencing minor, flu- or cold-like symptoms. At this rate we will soon be able to honestly say that the risk is similar to the flu. At what point do you ever think masks should be optional again if this scenario isn't good enough?

Edited to be more specific with the numbers requiring hospitalisation.

Can you please answer my question? Do you see any scenario in which masks are not mandatory again?