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The Ongoing Disinformation Campaign by the Medical Establishment: Context-Dropping and Lying by Omission about Masks
Related: ethics in medicine, exercise, gears of the machine, health, particulate respirators and masks, SARS-CoV-2 aka COVID-19 aka Coronavirus
See my Jan 20 post: P100 / N100 Particulate Respirator the Smart Move for Coronavirus — not the Useless Leaky Masks That People are Seen Wearing in the News.
The Simulation is having fun with me today. Look what Dr. Chambers* has to say.
From WSJ: Should You Wear a Mask When Exercising Outdoors?.
What kind of face covering is best for outdoor exercise? Surgical or medical-grade masks, such as the N95 device, prevent more of a barrier to the outflow or influx of germs compared with DIY versions.
“Attempting to run in an N95 mask would feel like you’re running at 10,000 feet of elevation,” says Dr. Chambers, who emphasizes that these masks are needed by health-care workers, not exercisers.
DIGLLOYD: someone should have told me before I went to the trouble all these years! I mean, I just love silicosis and pollen and smoke and stuff like that, not to mention SARS CoV2.
It’s not just masks, medical disinformation based on anti-science and bordering on fraud is at work too.
An N100 particulate respirator is MUCH harder to breathe through than an N95. So I guess that must be, like, riding at 20000' elevation or so, Dr Chambers?
I have exceptional lung volume and VO2 Max, which puts even more demand on airflow, and I’d ridden in the top tier of riders up to 50 miles at a time on steep grades at high elevations with a 3M N100 particulate respirator. The pine pollen at Alta Alpina in late June can be terrible and for me a mask can be mandatory to avoid distressing bronchospasms. Ditto for the dust near Owens Lake during the former route of the Southern Inyo Double Century or the traffic dust on the I10 section of Joshua Tree Double Century. Or just the horrible smoke back in 2018—see the image below—or summer air pollution.
Has Dr. Chambers* actually ever ridden or run at 10000' or maybe up to 14252'? Have any expertise of any kind out in the real world? Has he ever heard of this thing called “asthma”? Has he ever heard of a mask with an exhalation valve**? The intellectual deceit of context-dropping and lying by omission speaks volumes.
* Dr. Chambers is quoted as a “professor in the Division of Infectious Diseases at the University of California, San Francisco”.
** For exercise, you’ll want a mask with an exhalation valve, as shown. If you try to exercise in an N100 mask lacking an exhalation valve, that will just force the air out the sides. So either way, unfiltered air will escape, but you won’t like the N100 without the valve while exercising.
When you understand how the medical establishment works (please note the word “establishment” as I am not impugning the many excellent doctors out there!), you look behind the curtain behind the curtain. It’s not pretty and it makes trusting any official statement a fool’s game.
iPhone 7 Plus + iPhone 7 Plus 4.0 mm f/1.8 @ 4mm
ENV: Cañada Rd near Hwy 92, altitude 356 ft / 109 m, 50°F / 10°C
selfie, heavy smoke from 'Camp' fire
[low-res image for bot]
A note on exhalation valves and masks
Recall that we have gone from “public should NOT wear masks” to facial coverings required. In the context of this idiotic “expert” advice we had to live with for months, which surely infected and killed thousands, we now have new “expert” advice based on zero science telling us that handkerchiefs and homemade masks without any sealing are acceptable, but that masks with exhalation valves are not.
The most “wearable” masks (easiest to breathe through) are those with an exhalation valve, as shown. I have been recommending these for years. They protect the wearer from contamination when sealed properly, but exhalation is emitted primarily through the one-way valve (though not entirely). Thus while exhalation confines the outflow close to your body and the mask is highly effective at blocking coughs, at least part of that outflow is unfiltered. Thus it is not a mask to fully protect others should you yourself be infected.
In no way am I suggesting or recommending that sick or suspected sick people rely on a mask with an exhalation valve. But by the same token, nothing short of a full N95 or N100 mask without exhalation valve would suffice for full protection either and is probably far less good than a N95, exhalation valve or not. And all effective masks are precisely what the authorities are discouraging for the public. The whole thing is a steaming pile of inconsistencies.
And it’s a moot point now, since N95 and N100 masks of any type cannot be obtained easily.
If you suspect you might be infected, one way to deal with this is to tape over the valve. This might force the mask away from your face and let air escape under forceful exhalation, but that's true of any mask under similar pressure unless it is bound uncomfortably tight to the face. A better way is to cut an appropriate sized piece of material with filtration properties and then fit a layer or two of it inside of the rectangular mask exhalation valve area. Materials such as a coffee filter or fine-weave cotton would do it—same types of materials being suggested for homemade masks—web search for suggestions. I have some cotton pads that my daughters use for makeup and such, and those are quite substantial in thickness, so they should work well and fit easily.
All this said, the entire idea of wearing a mask exercising engaged in forceful breathing along with outdoor close contact close seems foolish—a violation of social distancing anyway. Moreover, the idea that you should give up on protecting yourself by using a handkerchief or homemade mask versus an N95/N100... well I reserve the right of anyone to protect themselves versus some unknowable undefinable possibly non-benefit (recall again that for months masks were “not needed”). I would much rather see N95 mask with exhalation valve used instead of a freaking bandana. But since I have reasonable suspicion of some infection, I’ll either tape over the valve or insert some cotton inside the valve before entering a public place, which is every 7 to 10 days for me lately.
Contradictions and anti-science for masks
Since I called for facial coverings, and that is now in place, I am happy to see the change, and hopefully lives will be spared. So on the whole, the requirements below are an improvement.
Were I to walk into a public facility, I would be happier seeing an N95 mask with exhalation valve than a bandana over the face or a surgical mask (no sealing whatsoever). Both are deemed acceptable, but an N95/N100/P100 with exhalation valve is deemed unaccceptable, even though it completely protects the wearer when worn properly. In other words, you have no right to protect yourself, but every right to not protect yourself and not protect others by wearing an ineffective mask (e.g., a surgical mask).
For months, we were told that the public should not wear masks. Now, we must do so, and the good ones should not be used to protect yourself. The lack of any defensible science (efficiency) along with outright contradictions and the violation of the most fundamental of all human rights (protecting your own life using a mask with exhalation valve) should be obvious.
In my home county of San Mateo, a public emergency health order is as follows (excerpt). Note the total lack of any functional definition such as sealing or filtration efficacy. Thus a surgical mask (no sealing at all) is deemed acceptable, but an an N95/N100/P100 with exhalation valve is deemed unaccceptable.
As used in this Order, a “Face Covering” means a covering made of cloth, fabric, or other soft or permeable material, without holes, that covers only the nose and mouth and surrounding areas of the lower face. A covering that hides or obscures the wearer’s eyes or forehead is not a Face Covering. Examples of Face Coverings include a scarf or bandana; a neck gaiter; a homemade covering made from a t-shirt, sweatshirt, or towel, held on with rubber bands or otherwise; or a mask, which need not be medical-grade. A Face Covering may be factory-made or may be handmade and improvised from ordinary household materials. The Face Covering should be comfortable, so that the wearer can breathe comfortably through the nose and does not have to adjust it frequently, so as to avoid touching the face.
For as long as medical grade masks such as N95 masks and surgical masks are in short supply, members of the public should not purchase those masks as Face Coverings under this Order; those medical grade masks should be reserved for health care providers and first responders. In general, even when not required by this Order, people are strongly encouraged to wear Face Coverings when in public. Also, for Face Coverings that are not disposed of after each use, people should clean them frequently and have extra ones available so that they have a clean one available for use.
Note that any mask that incorporates a one-way valve (typically a raised plastic cylinder about the size of a quarter on the front or side of the mask) that is designed to facilitate easy exhaling is not a Face Covering under this Order and is not to be used to comply with this Order’s requirements. Valves of that type permit droplet release from the mask, putting others nearby at risk.
So a bandana without any sealing at all or any oddball homemade mask is deemed acceptable, but an N95 or N100 with exhalation valve is not. There is absolutely no basis for these assumptions on efficacy—no science, not even bad logic. That is, unless the mask has sealing, air escapes directly in any case. That a surgical mask (no sealing) is deemed superior to an N95/N100 with exhalation valve is WTF^2.
If everyone had an N95 with exhalation valve, airborne transmission could be stopped in its tracks overnight (assuming shaved faces and proper usage, and that can be addressed by having instructional videos). Why the FUCK do we still not have N95 mask supply for the public, let alone health care workers?
“Ordinary household materials” that are highly unlikely to seal around the nose and mouth are deemed superior to N95/N100 masks with exhalation valves... based on what? The order takes pains to discourage and prohibit people from using an effective mask to protect themselves and does so without any scientific basis whatsoever. One’s fundamental human right for self protection comes before all this nonsense in my book—the meta message here is that your life is deemed subordinate to some vague greater good for which no science can prove anything. The ordinance fails to speak to functional aspects (efficacy of both the material and the sealing), which makes it inherently arbitrary in nature.
