COVID-19: The Coronavirus and Masks

Honeywell HPA100C True HEPA Allergen Remover with True HEPA Filter ...

JMJ

There's been a lot of talk and confusion about masks and their affect on COVID-19.

My first thought is that it was a stupid mistake to recommend against masks in the early months of the pandemic. They basically undermined their credibility with a populace that already has misgivings about its governments and politicians.

So what's the scoop on wearing masks during a disease outbreak? Well the Asian's do it automatically (read: Taiwan, Japan, etc) and automatically wear masks when there's an outbreak. Compare Japan's cases per million people - less than 500 compared with the USA's 17k+. Is it the magic bullet? Nope, it's a way to reduce both infection and transmission. Here's a link to an interesting article from the BBC.

Heck, there was evidence that masking helped during the Spanish Flu Epidemic.

Fundamentally, having a mask on - even if it isn't an N95 mask reduces the spreading of the droplets containing the virus particles. This goes both ways, an infected person isn't spreading as many droplets and the uninfected aren't breathing as many into their bodies. That's the key, the masks are filtering the droplets that contain the virus, not the virus by itself.

This link from the World Health Organization (WHO) has some good information on use of masks etc.

Do I wear a mask? It depends on whether it is obligatory and the location / situation.

Interior high density of people, yep I'll be more inclined to wear a mask. At the onset of the outbreak I was wearing a respirator which exceeded N95 masks.

Exterior in a rural area with low density of people, I will be usually be maskless.

Now, I have also taken the precaution of purchasing two honeywell hepa filters for my house. They run all the time and serve a secondary purpose - alleviation of allergy symptoms.

Am I paranoid, nope, I am approaching this from a reasoned perspective based on the knowledge of viral transmission.

So, be safe and don't panic.

P^3

Comments

The Catholic Church and the Rule of Law- Part II: Dr. John Lamont

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Open Letter to Cardinal Gantin - July 6, 1988

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+ JMJ Principle 1: Realize that something is amiss in the Catholic Church The world in which I had my Traditional Awakening, is one in which practically anything pre-Conciliar such as liturgy, doctrinc, and even dogmas are either suppressed, ignored or re-framed to be acceptable to the ‘world’. What is more, the people adhering to these pre-conciliar teachings and liturgy are persecuted by other members of the Catholic Church. The things that non-Trads say about Trads can be quite extreme. For example, accusations against Traditionalists include that they are: A revival of the Jansenists (link) , Schismatics, Heretics, Uncharitable, Lefebrists Radicals Integrists When one group of Catholics is persecuted by the others for simply wanting to live as Catholics before them did for generations … well something is wrong. Further, we need to realize that when what was previously condemned is now promoted and what was previously promoted as the trut...

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+ JMJ The Archbishop remained steadfast. In the 1980s, in his correspondence with then-Cardinal Ratzinger, Archbishop Lefebvre stated his position that the criterion for interpreting Vatican II in light of Tradition comprises three elements: 1) He and the SSPX would accept anything in Vatican II that is clearly consistent with Tradition; 2) Any ambiguous texts of Vatican II must be interpreted strictly according to Tradition; according to the consistent teaching of the Church throughout the centuries. 3) Anything in the Council that cannot be interpreted according to Tradition should be revised. The Archbishop laid this out explicitly in his letters to Cardinal Ratzinger in 1982 and 1985. CF News: Rome-SSPX: Background to the Doctrinal Discussions CF News: The April 15 Deadline A few years ago Tony La Rosa (aka ecclesia militans a Toronto based 'resistor') had a difficult time accepting this approach to the council. He held that it must be completely tossed as...

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