More on Masks

It's not just protesters

In a previous post I wrote about the evidence that masks don’t work to reduce the spread of influenza and SARS-CoV-2 during a pandemic. I also pointed out that we are not currently in an epidemic or pandemic.

My subject was the pro-Palestinian protesters at universities across the country. I have since learned from news stories that the protesters were wearing masks to protect their identity. Okay, perhaps that’s true. If so, we have a new breed of anonymous protesters.

I now turn my attention to the thousands of people wearing masks outside, even in 2024. Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, I’ve seen people walking and even running outside with nary another soul within shouting distance.

I freely admit I am not privy to the medical situations of everyone I pass on the street, and yet we can assume that some large percentage of people wearing masks are otherwise healthy people simply trying to avoid catching a respiratory virus.

My previous post pointed out that: 1: Masks don’t work in general during pandemics. 2: We are not in a pandemic. I would like to add a third point. 3: It’s almost impossible to catch SARS-CoV-2 outside.

Early in the COVID-19 pandemic, the Chinese government—as only an authoritarian government can do—engaged in contact tracing on 7,324 cases of SARS-CoV-2 infected individuals. The findings? All the infections except for one were transmitted indoors. The lone outdoor case involved a conversation.

A 27-year-old man had a conversation outdoors with an individual who had returned from Wuhan on 25 January and had the onset of symptoms on 1 February.

We don’t know if these two individuals had a calm conversation three feet apart, were yelling at each other at a distance of inches, or were whispering to avoid being heard. But the mathematics is clear: 99.986% of the cases in this study were from indoor contact and 0.014% of the cases were from outdoor contact.

This makes sense. Respiratory viruses transmitted via aerosols build up in indoor environments while they more readily disperse and blow away outside. I listened to an expert explain the situation and he said that our risk of infection is directly proportional to the level of carbon dioxide in the air. More people breathing for a long time in a small space will cause a build up of CO2 and viral particles. Further, ultraviolet light, such as from sunlight, destroys viruses.

Sunlight or, more specifically, solar UV radiation (UV) acts as the principal natural virucide in the environment. UV radiation kills viruses by chemically modifying their genetic material, DNA and RNA.

Being outside means we are generally farther away from others, the air circulates more freely, and solar radiation is actively destroying viruses.

In conclusion, except for people with uncommon medical conditions, wearing a mask outside—even during a pandemic—confers virtually no benefit.

We who believe in science and logic should cease wearing masks, especially outside.