INSIGHTS | 2. N95 vs Surgical Masks

Over the last two years we have been under tremendous sociopolitical pressure to comply with masking to 'slow the spread.'

Photo by Volodymyr Hryshchenko on Unsplash

Article: https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2749214

Context

Over the last two years we have been under tremendous sociopolitical pressure to comply with masking to 'slow the spread.'

First, we were told masks don’t work. Then, that they work. Then, they only work if all parties involved wear masks. Then, to double-mask. And so on, and so forth.

More recently, even the 'experts' have been coming around to what has been known for decades. Literally, decades. We have known forever that surgical masks (and definitely 'cloth' masks) do not work to stop the spread of respiratory contagion.

Surgical masks are used by surgeons to protect themselves from the bodily fluids of the patients they are operating on. It does not protect the patient to any clinically relevant extent. Furthermore, these masks lose their integrity as we use them and their ability to filter particles falls off of a cliff within 15 minutes. Yes, minutes.