What kind of paper masks are you talking about? An N95 is a good "paper" mask. Additionally, there is something a lot of people aren't thinking through about masks. In conjunction with not touching your face, washing hands thoroughly and often, and social distancing, individuals will reduce their risk of becoming infected. An all or nothing approach only increases the risk of becoming infected. How you may ask? If you think it's inevitable that you will be infected, your behavior will ensure that you do. You won't do the things that reduce your risk. There are no guarantees of avoiding covid unless you completely avoid contact with other human beings, but who among us wants to do that?
I think thats a very valid point!
Specifically, I'm talking about the blue and/or yellow pleated paper masks, and I'm also talking about the cloth masks. These do extremely little to capture a virus. So little in fact, that you may as well have nothing at all.
My son-in-law is a MD and works in an ER. He has told me that its common medical knowledge that paper type masks are for catching sputum and filtering the majority of bacteria in a surgical setting where you dont want to be compromising the sterile field. These paper masks are useful for a single use and for a very limited amount of time. They are in no way rated to stop or mitigate the spread of a virus. After their initial use, they are compromised and must be discarded. In the ER, he uses a full face respirator that seals to his face and he shaves daily to ensure a good seal. The replaceable filters get changed every shift.
My ex was a cardiac nurse at St Johns in Spfld, IL and the nurses knew there were some cardiac surgeons who had a high rate of MRSA infection AFTER surgery in the patients they treated. It was speculated that these doctors were carriers and possibly didnt practice proper proceedures to mitigate infection. It also could be that the paper surgical masks didnt work good enough at capturing bacteria. This was in the 90's
I also talked to my son-in-law about N-95 masks. He said these are many magnitudes better than the other masks but they still have a life that is measured in hours of use. Virus' still penetrate N95's although the vast majority get captured for the first several hours of use. After a certain amount of time, a virus will penetrate. The N-95's with the valves in them do NOTHING to stop or slow the spead of anything, they only protect the wearer! It is not possible to properly supply the public with proper N-95 masks due to both cost and ability to produce.
Looking at all of this in practice, the vast majority, 80% or more I would say, of people wearing masks wear paper or cloth which do nothing. Further, the vast majority re-use these for days, weeks, or more. I see maybe 15% wear the non valved N-95 type. I'm willing to bet that with the added cost, they get reused more than the paper ones. The valved N-95's seemed to be more prevalent months ago but not so much anymore. I'd say 5% or less of the people I see have those now.
