Quote
MamaRAMa
Quote
zn
And people do not wear masks to protect themselves. Ordinary cloth masks do not protect you from the virus. What the masks most people actually wear do is protect others in case you are infected and don't realize it.
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That may be true, but I THINK (what follows is all my opinion) psychologically for some people, that's exactly why they didn't want to wear a mask. "Protecting YOU is not my priority and frankly I don't give a rat's patootie about you" That's the way far too many folks think. However, if they know they are wearing a mask to protecting themselves might they be more inclined to wear one? I think they would. From the beginning of the pandemic, it was explained that wearing a mask helped protect others. There wasn't a whole lot of talk about it also protecting yourself. That was always confounding to me. I did hear some experts say that about a year into the pandemic, but it was never a strong message and it sure wasn't stressed from the beginning.
When I wear a mask, I like to think protection is a two-way street. I'm protecting YOU from ME and ME from YOU. If I have the virus, the mask is helping me not to spread it to you. Whether it's true or not, I like to think that wearing a mask helps protect ME from from breathing it in if YOU have it, too. There wasn't enough emphasis in that message I don't feel. Would it have made much of a difference if the message had emphasized that in the beginning? I don't know. Maybe. Maybe not. I just think if the message had been "listen wearing masks will provide yourself some protection from catching the virus AND keep you from spreading it to others" perhaps the response from the public might have been better.
My understanding of this is a bit different from yours.
First, they couldn't say that wearing a mask protects US because the regular cloth masks most people wear DON'T protect us. We know that, that's not theory, it has been studied. Some speciality masks can protect the wearer (like an N95) but the regular cloth masks the public wears don't. What studies show is those masks prevent us from spreading it.
BUT if we all wear masks, then no one is spreading it, so then yes we are protected. That is protection comes from the numbers who are wearing it. But as it stands right now, under the right conditions, someone who does not wear a mask but is infected without knowing it can infect people who are wearing masks.
I never saw that the anti-maskers understood any of this. What I hear from them is that masks means living in fear, which indicates they seem to think that wearing a mask protects the one wearing it. They did not seem to get that the point of wearing masks was to protect others. I don't know how many times I've had to explain this to anti-maskers --wearing the kind of cloth mask the public is wearing prevents you from spreading the virus, it doesn't protect you from getting the virus. You are only protected from getting the virus if virtually
everyone wears a mask. The self-appointed exceptions to mask wearing, for all they know, are wandering around infecting people, including people in masks.
As it happens btw my wife is an RN so I have access to N95s. I wear the N95 under a neck gaiter so it's kind of a double thing. It would be nice if I had a Rams neck gaiter, but I didn't see where there was any such thing.
Just a pic from off the net:
Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 05/11/2021 02:33PM by zn.