Why are people still wearing masks?

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Flatiowa said:
I’m from the generation that when I learned about germs in elementary school and told my dad he shouldn’t take a swig out of the milk jug in the fridge cause it spreads germs, I got a full lecture of how when he was a kid and went to a one room country school house (and he actually did) they had a bucket hanging on a hand pumped hydrant with a ladle in it for when they got thirsty (again true). There were a few kids who lived on the boarder of the township so would ride their horses there instead of walking 2 miles, and everybody would use the same dipper out of the same bucket and half the time you’d have to shoo away the flies that were just on the horse excrement. But until he died I can never remember him ever being “sick”, and I mean never once ever seeing him sick, not a cold, not a flu, nothing, EVER in my life. But he did tell stories about having scarlet fever, having phnemonia a few times that almost killed him when he was a kid and getting really sick once with what sounded to be cholera. But he was extremely of the belief that it was important to be exposed to viruses, bacteria, pathogens in general for your immune system to function properly. And I agree.
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I've heard much the same kind of story regarding folks that think their kids need to be in a sterile environment vs. the ones that allow the kids to plop around and play in mud puddles.

I was bitten by a bat when I was about ten years old. Didn't tell my parents. Like to think I've got some immunity left over.

Ron "Bleh Bleh Bleh" Wanttaja
 
Flatiowa said:
I’m from the generation
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Ah, the “Hygiene Hypothesis”
Still only a hypothesis (inadequate data or studies is where we are on that, I believe)

Also consider that some take the benefit of early exposure to only mean it reduces allergic & autoimmune disease…. not necessarily infections.
And, the bugs it involves are not pandemic-style ones like flu or covid.
Definitely some interesting study material there.
 
Much comes down to the way the mind is wired. They likely will wear a mask for the rest of their life, fine by me. I’m not talking about the high end ‘designer’ masks some couples have. I’m talking about average masks that get fiddled with a lot.

As long as everything is optional, have at it.
 
If you really want to know, ask a few people wearing masks...
 
Half Fast said:
Saw a guy wearing a mask a while ago. While riding a motorcycle. Without a helmet. And wearing shorts. And sandals.

I really don’t understand how some people perceive risk.
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About the only time I wore a mask voluntarily was when riding. I don't wear a full coverage helmet because of my hearing aids so I wore a mask to keep from catching a bug. A real bug, not the Covid kind of bug. I started doing that after spitting out some kind of big bug but I never knew what kind it was.
 
Flatiowa said:
I’m from the generation that when I learned about germs in elementary school and told my dad he shouldn’t take a swig out of the milk jug in the fridge cause it spreads germs, I got a full lecture of how when he was a kid and went to a one room country school house (and he actually did) they had a bucket hanging on a hand pumped hydrant with a ladle in it for when they got thirsty (again true). There were a few kids who lived on the boarder of the township so would ride their horses there instead of walking 2 miles, and everybody would use the same dipper out of the same bucket and half the time you’d have to shoo away the flies that were just on the horse excrement. But until he died I can never remember him ever being “sick”, and I mean never once ever seeing him sick, not a cold, not a flu, nothing, EVER in my life. But he did tell stories about having scarlet fever, having phnemonia a few times that almost killed him when he was a kid and getting really sick once with what sounded to be cholera. But he was extremely of the belief that it was important to be exposed to viruses, bacteria, pathogens in general for your immune system to function properly. And I agree.
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DCR said:
I understand for traveling commercial - especially if you are going to visit someone who is high risk (elderly parents / grandparents).

But there appears to be a large number of seemingly healthy young people still wearing masks doing everyday things or even at work.

Genuinely curious what the reasons are. High risk? Political statement? Sick and trying not to spread it?
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If you're "genuinely curious", you would ask the people that you see wearing the mask.
 
Half Fast said:
Saw a guy wearing a mask a while ago. While riding a motorcycle. Without a helmet. And wearing shorts. And sandals.

I really don’t understand how some people perceive risk.
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The risk of bugs hitting you in the face and getting in your mouth is extremely high.

...and disgusting.
 
If I wear it anywhere else, it chafes.

Wait, that belongs in the punch line thread.
 
I am a pulmonologist among other things, but over my life have had regular high exposures to almost everything out there due to being in peoples airways, whether intubating, resuscitating, or sticking cameras in their lungs. I often joke that if I ever get sick, whatever that was is going to wipe out the world. Every now and then, I will get a cold, but pretty infrequently. At this point in my life, I appreciate constant low exposures to pathogens, to keep my immune system healthy. As mentioned above, the native cultures were decimated by foreigners bringing simple viruses and bacteria to sterile lands. I am not sure of the long term effects of hiding your immune system from common bugs, but I suspect it does "dumb down" the immune system and lead to problems later in life.

There is something called the hygiene hypothesis that is thought to be involved in some of the worsening of certain types of diseases like allergies and autoimmune diseases. Our "clean" society may be preventing our immune systems from developing properly. Here is an AI article I pulled up. I perused it for reasonable accuracy.

I am one that would take the paci out of the dogs mouth and stick it back in the baby. No allergies or sickness in my kids ;-)

The hygiene hypothesis is a medical theory that suggests early exposure to certain microorganisms can help children develop healthy immune systems and protect against allergies:


The hypothesis is based on the idea that a lack of exposure to microbes can lead to poor immune tolerance. The theory has been extended to other conditions, including autoimmune diseases. For example, some research suggests that exposure to infections early in life may protect against multiple sclerosis, type 1 diabetes, and childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia.


The hygiene hypothesis was first proposed in 1989. It's supported by epidemiological data, but the underlying mechanisms are not fully understood. Some research suggests that the human immune system co-evolved with certain microbial organisms and parasitic helminths, which are vital for normal immune development.
 
DCR said:
I understand for traveling commercial - especially if you are going to visit someone who is high risk (elderly parents / grandparents).

But there appears to be a large number of seemingly healthy young people still wearing masks doing everyday things or even at work.

Genuinely curious what the reasons are. High risk? Political statement? Sick and trying not to spread it?
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People who have compromised immune systems or underlying health conditions.
 
A few weeks ago I was driving across part of the Navajo reservation, through part of the Bisti Badlands. I like the badlands, it is what I think driving on the backside of the moon would be like. Maybe 1 house every 2 or 3 miles, and very seldomly meet a car traveling in the opposite direction. I would love the live there, but I am not Navajo, just a pasty white guy...

So I see a lone human walking on the road, miles from any house, and the guy is wearing a mask...

But to understand the Navajo people. Because of the Navajo lifestyle, the reservation was one of the top hot spots for covid. For this reason the illustrious ''governor'' of New Mexico ordered the Navajo people to NOT to leave the reservation, and also locked down Gallup, not even allowing travelers on the interstate to stop and get gas. The state police and national guard were posted at the city limit to stop people from entering the town. The Navajo people were told to wear mask to try to slow the spread of covid. Eventually the Navajo people were allowed into Gallup, but only if they wore a mask. Even though wearing a mask is no longer required, the Navajo people will continue to wear one out of a sense of responsibility.
 
Barrett50 said:
Not an immunologist and didn't stay at Holiday Inn last night. I'll just leave this thought bomb here;

www.medindia.net

Peanut Allergies in Children: Lessons Learned from Two Decades

Explore how peanut avoidance guidelines led to a rise in peanut allergies, and discover why early exposure is now recommended to reduce allergy risks.
www.medindia.net www.medindia.net
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Further to your thought bomb...more reading.. not trying to direct the thread to the Middle East, just passing on an observation.

"Bamba-The undisputed king of Israeli snacks, and the main reason Israeli kids are relatively peanut-allergy free. The little, fluffy yet crunchy peanut clouds are shoved down our throats from the moment we learn how to eat, so it’s no surprise that most Israelis consider it to be an absolute staple."
 
SebIp said:
...Wearing a mask while alon[e] in the car? Yeah see above about allergies...
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I've been having trouble with various symptoms after driving my twenty-year-old car, which probably has mold in the air conditioner. When I drive my forty-year-old pickup which has no air conditioner, I feel better. I'm thinking of seeing if wearing an N95 will deal with the problem until I see if I can get the mold cleaned out.
 
I get it..... I've worn a mask to mow grass and it does help. I had a lady yell at me while I was getting gas on the mower. But, there are more than a few folks wearing them in my area for this to be "sick" people. It really is a fear thing and the masks did nothing for us to keep us safe. We all got sick and then immunity .....so go figure. More sheeple being led to the slaughter....IMHO.
 
Checkout_my_Six said:
I get it..... I've worn a mask to mow grass and it does help. I had a lady yell at me while I was getting gas on the mower. But, there are more than a few folks wearing them in my area for this to be "sick" people. It really is a fear thing and the masks did nothing for us to keep us safe. We all got sick and then immunity .....so go figure. More sheeple being led to the slaughter....IMHO.
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I don't worry too much about what other people do unless it impacts me. Masks fall into the "doesn't impact me" category.
 
So the latest cdc I read on Covid was if you had Covid, stay home 5 days. If you don’t have a fever after 5 days you should wear a mask in public for 5 more days. I did this when I had Covid a few months ago. I was ready for someone to give me crap about it. My plan was to pull the mask down and say I’m getting over Covid. But, as I thought might happen , no one cared.
 
Barrett50 said:
There is also an opinion out there that deserves attention indicating that the attendant handling, mounting, dismounting, adjusting, and touching the mask on the face actually increased contamination of the hand(s), and may have increased the manual spread of the virus. :confused2:
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That's an opinion held by people who did not know or acknowledge the established mechanism of spread for this virus.
 
I guess I want to ask - why are so many people (of a certain demographic) so against OTHERS wearing masks ? I mean they choose to wear masks to prevent the spread of their own germs and perhaps catching others. Its a mitigator. .. but why are people all bent out of shape because OTHERS are wearing them. No one is now forcing you to wear them.
 
Barrett50 said:
There is also an opinion out there that deserves attention indicating that the attendant handling, mounting, dismounting, adjusting, and touching the mask on the face actually increased contamination of the hand(s), and may have increased the manual spread of the virus. :confused2:
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YMMV depending on the germ in question. For COVID I think it's been pretty well established that the primary transmission method is airborne particles, not surface contact. For other diseases, the opposite can be true. But then how much a mask might increase contamination of the hands in those cases, when one might already be frequently coughing into one's hands or sneezing into a tissue, is questionable.

Flatiowa said:
But he was extremely of the belief that it was important to be exposed to viruses, bacteria, pathogens in general for your immune system to function properly. And I agree.
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Yup. That's how/why vaccines work. All of the benefits of immune system response to exposure to germs with a fraction of the risk of actually getting sick.

As to the original question: I've been traveling to Japan for business for about 15 years now. It is common/expected to wear a mask there when sick. Pre-pandemic, I did not ever do that over there on the rare occasions I was sick, but post-pandemic I have adopted that behavior even here at home. Whether it does any good or not, it's at least an attempt to avoid harming others.

But I am also a cancer survivor, and I was undergoing chemo as the Covid situation was transitioning back to "normal life". My immune system was trashed by my treatments, and had I gotten sick at that time, not only would the illness I caught have been a lot worse due to my compromised immune system, an even worse consequence would be that I would not have been allowed to take my treatments on schedule, which would potentially compromise the effectiveness of the treatments and allow the cancer to persist or grow. So you bet your boots I was wearing a mask when I had to mingle with others--my life was literally at stake!

So now on the (thankfully very rare) occasions when someone accosts me in public about wearing a mask, I tell them I have cancer and that if they get me sick they might be killing me. It's not true today, but it was true not long ago, and it could be true for anyone out there, so maybe just don't be a jerk about it and leave people alone.
 
weilke said:
That's an opinion held by people who did not know or acknowledge the established mechanism of spread for this virus.
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It also disregards the known effectiveness of thorough hand-washing.
 
As long as it is not a requirement to wear or not wear a mask, I don't see why it is any of my business. I can think it is stupid to wear a mask alone in a car, but I also think it is stupid to wear pants that sag down so far they almost fall off. It's called personal choice and people are allowed to make stupid fashion choices.
 
Some people wear them to commit crimes, avoid security cameras, and make identification more difficult.
 
Domenick said:
Some people wear them to commit crimes, avoid security cameras, and make identification more difficult.
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I saw one of these on the street yesterday:

balaclava.jpg
 
I don't care if anybody still wants to mask in public, but I always tend to give them a wide berth when I see them. So I guess they are kind of helpful...
 
Anthem said:
I guess I want to ask - why are so many people (of a certain demographic) so against OTHERS wearing masks ? I mean they choose to wear masks to prevent the spread of their own germs and perhaps catching others. Its a mitigator. .. but why are people all bent out of shape because OTHERS are wearing them. No one is now forcing you to wear them.
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Because people take someone else doing something different (or not doing something)as a value judgement against themselves. So they either have to attack that position or justify theirs. Despite saying they don't care what other people do/dont do i've found that to not be the case.
 
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