sauce: https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2013/06/face-veils-and-the-saudi-arabian-plague/277112/

"Face Veils and the Saudi Arabian Plague

A scary new Middle Eastern virus is affecting far more men than women.

OLGA KHAZAN

JUNE 21, 2013"

The author of a recent New England Journal of Medicine study on the virus, Alimuddin I. Zumla, said he didn't know the reason behind the gender difference, but then he offered the New York Times a guess:

"I don't think the virus prefers any gender," Dr. Zumla said, adding that he suspected that Saudi women might be protected by their veils, which cover their mouths and noses and might help keep the virus out.

Over at Discover, infectious disease specialist Rebecca Kreston pokes holes in that theory. The niqab, or face veil, doesn't reduce the likelihood of catching respiratory infections, it seems:

In a 2001 study on the effect of the niqab veil on incidence of respiratory disease in Saudi women, researchers unexpectedly found that bronchial asthma and the common cold "were significantly more common in veils users;" wearing the veil may have contributed to dense, wet spots close to the mouth and nose which could faciliate the growth of organisms that lead to infection.

that whole article waffles back and forth in no direction except for that 2001 study showing respiratory illness was higher in veil or niqab wearers. face mask produces the same FUCKING ENVIRONMENT.