Baronvonrort wrote on Sep 21
st, 2022 at 11:43pm:
Oh dear... you obviously failed to notice that this report was referring
specifically to the influenza virus. You also didn't note that the research
period cited was January 2013 to August 2018, well before COVID was
identified in December 2019. Did you even read the report?
Some of the cited data was drawn from 1946 research!
Firstly of course COVID and the flu are caused by two
totally different viruses; SARS-CoV-2, while influenza is caused by influenza A and B viruses.
COVID can cause different complications from the flu, such as blood clots
and multisystem inflammatory syndrome, (MIS-C) which is a condition
where different body parts can become inflamed, including the heart, lungs,
kidneys, brain, skin, eyes, or gastrointestinal organs. And the virulence of
COVID is far higher than that of the flu in adults.
So it was
not made "pretty clear" that masks don't stop the COVID virus.
Further, the masks the report referred to were the disposable medical masks
(also known as surgical masks) which are loose-fitting and designed to be
worn by medical personnel to protect accidental contamination of patient
wounds, and to protect the wearer against splashes or sprays of bodily fluids.
Surgical masks
do not protect the wearer from infectious agents transmitted
via the airborne route.
The current recommendations and some mandates require the use of N95 masks,
in preference to disposable surgical masks. The report's conclusion stated that
"We did not find evidence that surgical-type face masks are effective in reducing
laboratory-confirmed
influenza transmission, either when worn by infected
persons... or by persons in the general community to reduce their susceptibility".
According to research by the American Conference of Governmental Industrial
Hygienists (ACGIH) surgical masks have a 50% inward and outward leakage rate,
while N95 or P2 have a 5% inward and outward leakage.