Common sense implies that they must be at least partially effective at reducing transmission of various diseases, in the same way that wearing gloves does (i.e. a barrier is created which partially blocks movement of potentially harmful particles).
Common sense also implies that masks will inevitably get dirty and will harbor pathogenic bacteria in a warm moist place contaminated with food and in close proximity to child’s face. Covid aside, this seems like a net negative from common sense perspective.
Presumably this is why surgeons wear them and why even before COVID it was common for sick people in Asia to wear them. Also premature births went down during lockdown perhaps because of a reduce spread of whatever pathogens contribute to premature births
“Sick kids should not be in school, masks or not. ” People should not be committing crime therefore we should not take costly preventive measures against crime.
We suffer from a lot of diseases that seemed not to effect hunter-gatherers living in their traditional environment, and we are exposed to lots more pathogens, and it’s possible indeed even likely that these pathogens are inflicting significant damage on us. What if, and this is just a wild guess, 20% of cancers, heart diseases, obesity and mental illnesses were caused by pathogens and the average adult living in a rich country has lost 5 IQ points because of pathogens? Common physical illnesses and mental illnesses not caused by pathogens or physical injury and striking people before old age are weird from an evolutionary viewpoint.
Living in cities is weird from evolutionary viewpoint.
What pathogens will be slowed by masks? How do we balance that with the inevitable reality that masks will get moist and dirty and harbor pathogenic microorganisms in close proximity with children’s faces? Do you have any studies that masks help more than hurt with any pathogen besides covid.
I don’t have any studies, but given that masks were in widespread usage by medical personal and in Asia before COVID my strong prior is that they significantly reduce the spread of some pathogens. I’m not claiming that kids should wear masks, I’m claiming that there is a lot we don’t know about masks and the harm pathogens inflict on kids and it is possible that if we knew more many reasonable people would want kids to wear masks while in school.
Medical personnel work in close proximity to obviously sick patients and particularly surgeons work close to open wounds. None of the medical professionals are children, they are trained to use their PPE and take care of it. Mask use in Asia may have more to do with protection from particular air pollution. There is no evidence that people in Asia are less susceptible to pathogens.
Pre-COVID, Asian students in my classes sometimes wore masks, presumably when they were sick and didn’t want to spread infection. We could train kids to use masks, it’s not that complicated. “No evidence” means we should generate evidence because of the massive amount of harm that pathogens cause, probably more than its generally realized because of their possible role in causing some cancers and lower some IQ scores.
During the pandemic, RSV and influenza (but little else) have been driven nearly to zero. They must be transmitted in the same ways as covid. It’s not clear how much of this is masks and how much is other interventions, but it’s not clear for covid, either.
We used to believe that for influenza handwashing and avoiding hand contact with mucous membranes is much more important than for covid. Are we updating on this?
I think that “we” believing is a category error. I think that even authorities “believing” is a category error. People did experiments to prove that hand sanitizer helped against the flu. They didn’t update on these experiments because they weren’t experiments to learn, but to prove what they wanted.
Do you have evidence that masks are effective against any other common diseases?
Common sense implies that they must be at least partially effective at reducing transmission of various diseases, in the same way that wearing gloves does (i.e. a barrier is created which partially blocks movement of potentially harmful particles).
Common sense also implies that masks will inevitably get dirty and will harbor pathogenic bacteria in a warm moist place contaminated with food and in close proximity to child’s face. Covid aside, this seems like a net negative from common sense perspective.
Presumably this is why surgeons wear them and why even before COVID it was common for sick people in Asia to wear them. Also premature births went down during lockdown perhaps because of a reduce spread of whatever pathogens contribute to premature births
Surgeons are breathing in close proximity to open wounds
Sick kids should not be in school, masks or not.
Do you have any evidence that healthy kids who show no symptoms are a significant risk of spreading common diseases other than covid asymptomatically.
“Sick kids should not be in school, masks or not. ” People should not be committing crime therefore we should not take costly preventive measures against crime.
We suffer from a lot of diseases that seemed not to effect hunter-gatherers living in their traditional environment, and we are exposed to lots more pathogens, and it’s possible indeed even likely that these pathogens are inflicting significant damage on us. What if, and this is just a wild guess, 20% of cancers, heart diseases, obesity and mental illnesses were caused by pathogens and the average adult living in a rich country has lost 5 IQ points because of pathogens? Common physical illnesses and mental illnesses not caused by pathogens or physical injury and striking people before old age are weird from an evolutionary viewpoint.
Living in cities is weird from evolutionary viewpoint.
What pathogens will be slowed by masks? How do we balance that with the inevitable reality that masks will get moist and dirty and harbor pathogenic microorganisms in close proximity with children’s faces? Do you have any studies that masks help more than hurt with any pathogen besides covid.
I don’t have any studies, but given that masks were in widespread usage by medical personal and in Asia before COVID my strong prior is that they significantly reduce the spread of some pathogens. I’m not claiming that kids should wear masks, I’m claiming that there is a lot we don’t know about masks and the harm pathogens inflict on kids and it is possible that if we knew more many reasonable people would want kids to wear masks while in school.
Medical personnel work in close proximity to obviously sick patients and particularly surgeons work close to open wounds. None of the medical professionals are children, they are trained to use their PPE and take care of it. Mask use in Asia may have more to do with protection from particular air pollution. There is no evidence that people in Asia are less susceptible to pathogens.
Pre-COVID, Asian students in my classes sometimes wore masks, presumably when they were sick and didn’t want to spread infection. We could train kids to use masks, it’s not that complicated. “No evidence” means we should generate evidence because of the massive amount of harm that pathogens cause, probably more than its generally realized because of their possible role in causing some cancers and lower some IQ scores.
During the pandemic, RSV and influenza (but little else) have been driven nearly to zero. They must be transmitted in the same ways as covid. It’s not clear how much of this is masks and how much is other interventions, but it’s not clear for covid, either.
We used to believe that for influenza handwashing and avoiding hand contact with mucous membranes is much more important than for covid. Are we updating on this?
I think that “we” believing is a category error. I think that even authorities “believing” is a category error. People did experiments to prove that hand sanitizer helped against the flu. They didn’t update on these experiments because they weren’t experiments to learn, but to prove what they wanted.