NEJM waxing eloquent on the benefits and perceived benefits of wearing masks, leaving much to be desired
“We know that wearing a mask outside health care facilities offers little, if any, protection from infection. Public health authorities define a significant exposure to Covid-19 as face-to-face contact within 6 feet with a patient with symptomatic Covid-19 that is sustained for at least a few minutes (and some say more than 10 minutes or even 30 minutes). The chance of catching Covid-19 from a passing interaction in a public space is therefore minimal. In many cases, the desire for widespread masking is a reflexive reaction to anxiety over the pandemic.”
I don’t think everyone knows it. At least not at Aldi.
“Focusing on universal masking alone may, paradoxically, lead to more transmission of Covid-19 if it diverts attention from implementing more fundamental infection-control measures.
Such measures include vigorous screening of all patients coming to a facility for symptoms of Covid-19 and immediately getting them masked and into a room…”
Okay I have a big problem here. If this is primarily a respiratory disease, and I’m already having a hard time breathing, do I want to be immediately masked and put into a room to suck on my own CO2? I’m not saying we don’t need to protect healthcare workers and other patients, I just think they ought to address it and consider how long people should be “masked and put into a room.”
“Modelers assessing the spread of infection in Wuhan have noted the importance of undiagnosed infections in fueling the spread of Covid-19 while also acknowledging that the transmission risk from this population is likely to be lower than the risk of spread from symptomatic patients.”
So the scourge of asymptomatic contagion-spreaders is overblown.
“It is also clear that masks serve symbolic roles. Masks are not only tools, they are also talismans that may help increase health care workers’ perceived sense of safety, well-being, and trust in their hospitals. Although such reactions may not be strictly logical, we are all subject to fear and anxiety, especially during times of crisis. One might argue that fear and anxiety are better countered with data and education than with a marginally beneficial mask, particularly in light of the worldwide mask shortage, but it is difficult to get clinicians to hear this message in the heat of the current crisis. Expanded masking protocols’ greatest contribution may be to reduce the transmission of anxiety, over and above whatever role they may play in reducing transmission of Covid-19. The potential value of universal masking in giving health care workers the confidence to absorb and implement the more foundational infection-prevention practices described above may be its greatest contribution.”
ENORMOUS assumption here that masks reduce anxiety rather than exacerbate it. In my experience it is just the opposite — everyone is scared, social/facial cues are obscured, the drastic physical change in human interaction is mentally exhausting, as nothing is “normal” and the virus shades everything. NEJM couldn’t even ponder the psychological effects of universal masking, they just assume it makes everyone feel safe and cozy?
https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp2006372