Masks trap particles in a maze of small fibers using static cling.

Not all mask materials are equally good at it, but even the lowest quality options have been proven through many different comprehensive research studies to be much better than using nothing at all to catch dust, smoke, viruses and pollen (etc).

“In summary, wearing a mask can keep us safe from COVID-19 when in contact with COVID-19 carriers in a dangerous environment.” – [A Review of Filtration Performance of Protective Masks, National Library of Medicine, January 28th, 2023]

“The analysis of mask efficacy demonstrated that while cloth masks offer some level of protection, surgical masks and N95 masks exhibit higher efficacy in reducing infection rates.” – [Dual-strain dynamics of COVID-19 variants in India: Modeling, analysis, and implications for pandemic control, Science Direct, May 16th, 2024]

“…there is clear evidence that community mask-wearing can reduce COVID-19… and surgical masks reduced 1 in 3 symptomatic infections among individuals aged 60+.” – [The Impact of Mask Distribution and Promotion on Mask Uptake and COVID-19 in Bangladesh, Stanford Medicine & Yale University via Innovations for Poverty Action, September 1st, 2021]

“We also showed that masks are effective, and well-fitting respirators are highly effective, in reducing transmission of respiratory pathogens, and that these devices demonstrate a dose-response effect (the level of protection increases as adherence to masking increases).” – [Masks and respirators for prevention of respiratory infections: a state of the science review, American Society for Microbiology, May 22nd, 2024]

Most n95, kn95 or ffp2, ffp3 or p100 respirators can be worn for up to 8 hours at one time.

After being worn for a long time, masks tend to get damp with the moisture from a person’s breath, and should dry out fully (at least 2 hours, bare minimum – 2 full days is better) before being re-used again.

Masks can be worn for a lifetime range of 40 hours up to 72 hours total (not including the time spent drying out). If the elastics feel loose though, or the noseband stops feeling snug against the face when you pinch it closed, that means it is time to replace them no matter how quickly those structures get damaged.

The best practice is to keep masks in a paper bag between uses; a plastic zipper bag holds onto moisture so the mask won’t fully dry out when sealed inside one and hanging the mask to dry out in the open means it will continue to attract particles from the surrounding air and that reduces the total length it can safely be used for. The easiest way to keep a good routine of “mask hygiene” is to have at least two masks to switch back and forth between.

“Someone who wears a mask in the subway every day, for example, may need to throw it out sooner than someone who wears theirs to the grocery store every once in a while. Whatever the circumstances, switch to a fresh mask if yours is dirty, thinning, damaged, or hard to breathe through, or if it no longer maintains a good seal.” – [How to Reuse N95, KN95, and Other Disposable Masks, NY Times, January 20th, 2022]

Everyone should wear a mask whenever they are sharing air with another person from outside their household or “bubble.”

Normalizing wearing masks makes it safer for high risk and disabled people to protect themselves in public without harassment and you can never know who is sick, who is immunocompromised or who is recovering from cancer (etc) just by looking at them. Mask bans are becoming more popular as a sort of resurgence of “ugly laws” and cities that have enacted fines or jail time for wearing face coverings in public benefit from this by increasing state surveillance.

At least 50% and up to 87% of SARS infections are totally asymptomatic and there are similar numbers of cases with other illnesses that show zero symptoms.

Airborne illness can be spread outside and over great distances (like the jogger who had zero symptoms but still infected 33+ people with omicron in only 35 minutes by running around a park despite not talking to a single person nor touching anything, or the bird flu that was shown to have spread over 15 miles across the air from one farm to another) and virus particles can hang in the air for 12 hours or more when there is poor ventilation.

Wearing a mask protects everyone the same way other accessibility features benefit a whole community (such as how adding wheelchair ramps to buildings like libraries or grocery stores make it easier for anyone from a single mom pushing a heavy stroller to a young athlete with a sprained ankle, just as much as they help long-term wheelchair users).

“Even if asymptomatic people aren’t transmitting the virus at high rates, they constitute something like 80% of all infections” – [Qixin He, UChicago News, February 12, 2021]

“…the proportion of symptomatic cases is low, ranging from 13 to 18%, and that the reproductive number may be larger than often assumed… presymptomatic and asymptomatic cases together comprise at least 50% of the force of infection at the outbreak peak.” – [Quantifying asymptomatic infection and transmission of COVID-19 in New York City using observed cases, serology, and testing capacity, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, February 10th, 2021]

“Patient zero went jogging for approximately 35 minutes in a local park without wearing a mask, according to the CDC report.  Altogether, health officials believe patient zero infected 48 people — nine people on Aug. 15 or 16 before he went jogging and 39 at the park.” – [China’s meticulous contact tracing pinpoints jogger amid recent COVID-19 outbreak, Fox13 Seattle News, November 29th, 2022]

“This outbreak indicated that the Omicron subvariant BA.2.76 could be easily transmitted to others outdoors if they are not equipped with effective protection equipment. The public should be encouraged to use good protection measures and retain safe distances amongst others both indoors and outdoors.” – [An Outbreak of SARS-CoV-2 Omicron Subvariant BA.2.76 in an Outdoor Park — Chongqing Municipality, China, August 2022, National Library of Medicine, November 18th, 2022]

“This outbreak of COVID-19 in Qingkou night market has confirmed that aerosols can spread further and stay in ambient air for a long time in a place that is not strictly enclosed, but shorter than that in experimental conditions. In a less-enclosed place like the Qingkou night market, aerosols containing the BA.5.2 strain released by patients could suspend in ambient air for up to 1 h 39 min and still be contagious.” – [Analysis of a super-transmission of SARS-CoV-2 omicron variant BA.5.2 in the outdoor night market, Frontiers in Public Health, July 3rd, 2023]

“Our findings indicate that the peak risk of viral exposure occurs within a 5-s window during face-to-face interactions, under both ventilated and non-ventilated conditions. Additionally, after the initial 5-s window of face-to-face interaction, the risk of viral exposure significantly decreases in ventilated settings compared to non-ventilated ones.” – [Peak risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection within 5 s of face-to-face encounters: an observational/retrospective study, Scientific Reports, October 16th, 2023]

Respirators protect both the wearer and anyone who is nearby them from the spread of airborne illnesses such as; SARS2 (also known as “covid”), measles, mumps, H5N1 (aka “bird flu”), tuberculosis, RSV, chickenpox, influenza, whooping cough and more!

Masks also protect the wearer from the ill-effects of smoke inhalation. Whether that’s wildfire smoke carried on the wind, cigarette smoke for someone who is allergic to tobacco, smoke from a campfire or from even just from barbecuing.

Car exhaust, paint fumes and drywall dust or sawdust, too; the less of any of those that you inhale over a lifetime, the better.

Pollen and other allergens also get trapped by a good quality mask and wearing one makes it easier for people with asthma or COPD as well as people who are sensitive to perfumes or artificial fragrances to breathe freely and easily no matter where they are.

Masks are useful tools that make many environments safer for everyone and empower people to be able to travel anywhere they need to go without stress. No time wasted wondering if they will feel ill or get congested from pollution, smog, vehicle exhaust or someone else using too much cologne. The peace of mind that comes with not having to worry too much about any of those things ever again can be very liberating.

Masking also protects against the long-term effects of “viral persistence” which is where the immune system is damaged by an infection for months or years after apparent recovery of the initial cold or flu, making the person at higher risk for other illnesses over time.

Masks protect against the organ damage that SARS infections cause and they protect against death as a secondary consequence of that organ damage. SARS has been proven to cause an increased risk for heart attack and stroke, diabetes, erectile dysfunction, early-onset Alzheimer’s and dementia, hearing loss, loss of sense of smell (associated with Parkinson’s), loss of grey matter and cognitive dysfunction that lasts at least 2 years (and may be irreversible), as well as autoimmune disorders and dysautonomia via inflammation of the vagus nerve.

Besides being impossible to detect by visible outward symptoms (because 50-80% of cases are asymptomatic), SARS also does not show up reliably on either rapid tests or PCR tests especially since it has mutated so much over the last few years. False positives are rare but a negative result basically proves nothing. Which is why wearing a mask often is the single most effective way to limit cumulative damage.

Not only is it possible to pass Covid-19 on to beloved pets, or to catch it from someone else’s cat or dog, SARS-CoV-2 has been detected in wildlife such as in 70% of white-tailed deer, as well as in mink, lynx, cougars and bears. It is found in the deepest, most remote ocean waters and even corpses are still infectious weeks after death.

“…based on the new data, the team estimates that a high shedder could potentially exhale enough virus to infect someone in a closed space in about 20 seconds, making even elevator rides risky. With an average shedder, infection could take a little under four minutes.” – [Here’s how much coronavirus people infected with COVID-19 may exhale, Science News, September 25th, 2023]

“COVID patients exhale high numbers of virus during the first eight days after symptoms start, as high as 1,000 copies per minute” – [COVID patients breathe large amounts of virus early on, Northwestern News, September 8th, 2023]

“Measles is a highly contagious, serious airborne disease caused by a virus that can lead to severe complications and death. It spreads easily when an infected person breathes, coughs or sneezes.” – [Measles Factsheet, World Health Organization, July 12th, 2024] “Mumps is primarily an airborne viral respiratory infection, known for causing painful swelling of the salivary glands at the side of the face and below the ears.” – [Mumps Factsheet, European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control]

“Our results support the hypothesis that airborne transmission of HPAI viruses can occur among poultry and from poultry to humans during home or live-poultry market slaughter of infected poultry.” – [Airborne Transmission of Highly Pathogenic Influenza Virus during Processing of Infected Poultry, National Library of Medicine, November 23rd, 2017]

“Outbreaks of highly pathogenic H5N1 … in farmed mink and seals combined with isolated human infections suggest these viruses pose a pandemic threat … and, in airborne transmission studies, the virus transmits to 37.5% of contacts … The H5N1 virus also … remains virulent at low doses … These data indicate heightened pandemic potential of the panzootic H5N1 viruses and emphasize the need for continued efforts to control outbreaks and monitor viral evolution.” – [Risk assessment of a highly pathogenic H5N1 influenza virus from mink, Nature Communications, May 15th, 2024]

“Tuberculosis is almost exclusively airborne…” – [Transmission and Institutional Infection Control of Tuberculosis, National Library of Medicine, February 6th, 2024]

“Personal ambient CO₂ monitoring may help target interventions to decrease TB transmission in healthcare facilities and help HWs self-monitor occupational risk, with implications for other airborne infections including coronavirus disease 2019.” – [Predicting Airborne Infection Risk: Association Between Personal Ambient Carbon Dioxide Level Monitoring and Incidence of Tuberculosis Infection in South African Health Workers, Oxford Academic, October 15th, 2022]

Not all masks are created equal and some types perform better than others while different styles of respirator fit certain face shapes better than others.

A good mask is one that fits you well and is comfortable enough for you to wear it often.

Headstrap masks offer a more secure seal on most faces than earloop masks do, but earloop masks can be more comfortable for some face shapes, as well as for people with textured hair or those who get tension headaches. Earloop masks can also be tightened for a better fit using a small plastic hook specially designed to lift the straps away from the ears and connect them at the back of the head.

Cloth masks are not very effective compared to tried and tested respirators, but they are certainly better than nothing! Surgical masks were primarily designed for droplets, not airborne particles; they are often nicknamed “baggy blues” because of the large gaps that form at the sides and allow air to bypass the mask. Surgical masks, when worn by everyone in an enclosed room, reduce viral particles in the air by 30 to 60%.

Even better are kn95s and n95s, which filter 95% of viral contaminants and also reduce the impact of smoke and pollen. While p100s cannot filter 100% of particles in the air (nothing is perfect), they do protect against 99.97% of viruses, smoke and other chemical contaminants including acids and oils.

European standards use the ffp2 and ffp3 labels to indicate the effectiveness of a respirator; ffp2 filters a minimum of 94% and ffp3 a minimum of 99%.

Elastomeric masks are another improvement on the fit and seal of a mask; with a rubber or latex base that connects to various grades of filter such as those mentioned above, they are also the most sustainable option as they can be reused over and over again for many years, merely replacing the detachable filters as needed.

Some half-face and full-face respirators such as the 3M brand (and their filters) can be purchased at most hardware stores or found online at places such as Amazon.ca or Uline.ca (etc). The “Flo-mask” is another option which is n95n equivalent and has various colours and styles available, making them look less industrial or clinical and more versatile from a fashion-forward perspective; they can be purchased at flo-mask.com

Air purifiers are an incredible resource that improves the functionality of any mask you may choose to wear and make the immediate area surrounding them much safer for anyone nearby. A box fan and a few MERV13 furnace filters, plus a bunch of duct tape, can easily be assembled into an air filter that will rival more expensive HEPA filters. It is also possible to purchase pre-made air filtration devices from a number of different places online and many options can be found on the shelves of hardware and department stores.

It can, yes. Studies show SARS-Cov-2 results in inflammation and lymphocytopenia, both of which can trigger the development of many types of cancer (even for people who are not genetically predisposed to them) as well as being able to re-awaken dormant cancers in people who have long been in remission and a single COVID infection can also speed up progression of pre-existing cancers by a very noticeable amount.

Yes, unilateral damage. Every single COVID infection results in a little more gray matter loss across the board in every case where it was tested for.

Casually described as “brain fog” and technically defined as “cognitive damage,” the research on this shows that memory loss is cumulative and that repeat infections compound on each other increasing neurological concerns of all kinds; Alzheimer’s and dementia become more common, as do instances of schizophrenia, Parkinson’s disease and overall “brain aging” which is caused by a shortening of the telomeres resulting in an average loss of ten years in total longevity per infection.

Multi-organ damage, yes.

SARS-Cov-2 is short for Severe Acute Respiratory Virus; the severity of how much damage it can do is right there in the name.

It doesn’t just wreak havoc on the respiratory system alone, though — besides lung disease, both SARS-1 and SARS-2 can cause many different cardiovascular ailments such as stroke or POTS which is an acronym for Postural Othostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (where the body cannot tolerate standing for sometimes even sitting upright for long periods without the heart rate speeding up to dangerous levels that in turn trigger a domino effect that contains all sorts of other health problems).

“Covid” as it’s casually referred to, can cause kidney failure and liver damage, it can trigger diabetes and limit brain function. There is substantial evidence that most covid infections result in creating or exacerbating gastrointestinal concerns like IBS (irritable bowel syndrome), gastroparesis or Crohn’s disease. It can trigger whole-body conditions like chronic fatigue and MCAS (Mast Cell Activation Syndrome), among other illnesses.

Cases of Covid-19 have been shown to result in both infertility and erectile dysfunction, too.

Alopecia, hair loss, hearing loss, vision loss, MS (multiple sclerosis), depression (including bot SAD & GAD), joint inflammation and arthritis…

Basically everything that can go wrong or malfunction within the human body has been shown to either happen for the first time or have the negative symptoms be amplified as a direct result of repeated covid infections.

Nothing good comes from getting sick with a vascular and neurotropic virus even once, let alone multiple times.

COVID is classified as a BSL-3 pathogen for a reason.

On the same level of biosecurity are tuberculosis, malaria, west nile and plague.

The common cold (rhinoviruses) and flu (influenza viruses) are only BSL-2.

SARS is not the same as them.

Undoubtedly, yes. It has been said that “Covid eats T-cells” and proven through multiple studies that even very mild or totally asymptomatic infections result in long-term immune dysfunction.

Because of how SARS-CoV-2 interacts with certain cells (such as C4 and C8 cells) it is technically even more likely to cause AIDS than even HIV.

Acquired Immune Deficiency is more and more manageable these days with modern retroviral treatments, but it is still a lethal diagnosis that shortens the lifespan of anyone who develops it.

Honestly, no.

There are many, many different infections that may feel like a minor cold during the initial reaction that end up being the source of much worse and longer-lasting diseases.

Chicken pox can come back years later as a way nastier case of shingles, which causes more suffering than the original illness ever did and continues in a drawn-out process which can last for decades.

It took medical science eighty years to establish the link between HPV and various cancers.

Whereas SARS2 has only been circulating widely for just over four years.

Because we can collectively build upon discoveries of the past, we have proven the tendency for Covid to cause cancer and other ailments in much less time – but it is still too early to confidently say how much worse those problems might become in ten or twenty years (and many, many similar “post-viral” conditions do in fact get a lot worse over time, even without multiple reinfections happening over and over again ad infinitum).

The lower the number of times you’ve been infected the better. There has never been a virus that has become more mild over time, not one. Not even the common cold (rhinovirus) or “the flu” (or any type of influenza).

And there will always be more vulnerable people in any human population. Neither our grandparents or young babies and children deserve to be exposed to higher odds of either early death or a lifetime of unnecessary pain, nor do disabled people, pregnant people or anyone who has a temporary injury putting them at risk — nor does anyone, not even the healthiest of elite athletes.

1 in 10 infections result in “Long Covid” or permanent disability. That’s one in ten infections, not one in ten people; those odds apply to everyone equally.

Infections that are “hospital-acquired” (meaning when anyone who enters a hospital without SARS contracts it during their visit) have a twenty percent mortality rate. Meaning any time anyone regardless of how healthy they were before gets covid from someone else inside a hospital, there’s a 20% chance of death.

That’s basically the same odds as a lethal game of roulette.

Cards on the table though, death isn’t the worst that can happen.

Developing an invisible disability like an autoimmune disorder that has zero examples of anyone ever recovering from it, few treatments that barely even reduce the symptoms, and whose progression fluctuates making it hard to document in a way that satisfies insurance providers, for example, often results in some semblance of complete abandonment not only by society at large but by one’s own loved ones, friends and family members, too, eventually.

Outliving a loved one can be said to be worse than death.

Extreme poverty universally increases suicidal ideation and suffering from both physical and mental health conditions.

Losing one’s ability to sing due to vocal cord damage, being unable to compete in athletic events anymore due to heart palpitations or dizziness that never really goes away, no longer having the energy to engage in a career once-loved nor the stamina to participate in causes or hobbies which previously sparked passion, having to isolate indefinitely because one more infection might destroy all chances of affording not only luxuries but even basic necessities in a sea of corporate greed, losing friendships and job opportunities and housing opportunities; becoming more and more alone waiting for the other shoe to drop and never knowing when that hammer will strike…

Loss of taste and sense of smell are very common post-covid. It robs people of the chance to even enjoy delicious food or stop and smell the roses, literally.

That’s not mild.

Yes and no, depending on how you define “work.”

Yes vaccines are effective at reducing the chances of getting sick, that basic rule is almost always true in the vast majority of cases — but not everyone can get vaccinated! Immunocompromised people and children under the age of 5 cannot tolerate certain vaccines.

And not all vaccines work equally well for all people; sometimes the negative side effects outweigh the benefits of protection.

For example, the mRNA vaccines developed to work on SARS-CoV-2 can cause myocarditis or inflammation of the heart and anyone who had pre-existing cardiovascular concerns (like POTS or even just high blood pressure, those who’ve previously experienced a heart attack, people like firefighters who have a higher exposure to smoke inhalation or anyone whose careers or family history put them at increased risk for heart disease, etc) may find they have a severe reaction to the spike and discover it is necessary to avoid future boosters.

Novavax is a different kind of vaccine altogether that was released later on and has been shown to be much more effective with less risk of negative side effects and there is evidence that even a single novavax shot can help repair any lingering negative side effects caused by a previous mRNA vaccine for those whose immune systems reacted poorly to them.

But even Novavax is not a “sterilizing vaccine.” Sterilizing vaccines would confer true immunity to an illness, meaning someone who has been vaccinated can no longer get infected NOR pass on the illness to other people. Sterilizing vaccines are a myth, no vaccine that currently exists is 100% effective and most scientific evidence suggests full sterilization of any pathogens is somewhat (if not entirely) impossible to ever achieve. Not smallpox, polio, HPV, dengue or any other vaccine.

Sterilizing vaccines don’t exist. What existing vaccines CAN do, is reduce the risk of getting sick in the first place and also reduce the chances of passing on the illness by those who do get it to others. Vaccinated people have better odds of avoiding hospitalization and are less likely to die from the acute phase of infection as well. But no matter how up-to-date a person is on getting boosters or how well they take care of their health through nutrition and good fitness habits, anyone can still encounter a new strain, variant or recombinant version of nearly any virus and the risk of death is never zero. The risk of hosting a cryptic lineage and prolonged shedding through viral persistence is never zero. The risk of ultimately killing or disabling someone more vulnerable is never zero. The whole reason we use vaccines as a tool for protection is to reduce those odds as much as possible and they have been proven time and time again to be very, very useful in helping keep all people safe via herd immunity.

Herd immunity works. Sterilizing immunity is a pipedream and it’s pure hubris for anyone to think they are indestructible.

Vaccines DO work, and they work well. They just never work as perfectly as we wish they could and much like being unvaccinated increases the odds of a bad outcome for everyone around, so too does the misconception that being vaccinated & boosted makes it impossible to either get sick or pass on sickness.

Not true, everyone is at risk of developing a permanent disability from COVID.

People with pre-existing conditions have a higher risk, for sure, but being previously healthy is not at all a guarantee of recovery. Kids are no less harmed by multiple covid infections than adults are and many star athletes who had peak performance records before having one or more covid infections since 2020 have completely lost their ability to even stand, cook, shower and perform basic survival tasks with very low chances of ever returning to their former levels of achievement.

Long-term damage from this virus is not rare.

Long-term damage from any virus is not rare.

Everyone should want to avoid gambling with their jobs, their freedom, their very lives and the lives of their loved ones.

No matter how good the winning streak, anyone who keeps betting against the odds with no end in sight will eventually learn that losing everything is inevitable.

There is plenty of proof shared all across the board, there are just also a lot of attempts to distract from that evidence in an attempt to divide and conquer. One only has to know where to look to see just how much of it there truly is stacking up.

For example, a clear trend has emerged where niche publications like Forbes, the Financial Times and other news outlets that primarily cater to the business class have been publishing far more articles about the society-wide impacts of letting COVID run rampant compared to other, more generalized news providers whose audience is made up of “average” workers and employees instead of CEOs and upper management. Both headlines and sourced cited in these kind of publications tend to frame risks as more serious and to provide better and more reputable studies to back those claims up.

All news outlets are biased and the fodder that they put out to entice and retain subscribers is entirely dependent on who their investors are and which target demographics they are trying to appeal to. But even the most casual and homogenized platforms haven’t exactly been hiding what’s been going on these past four years.

Social media algorithms have changed a lot in that time as well. People are becoming increasingly disconnected from their friends, family and close-knit communities in favour of having advertising and AI-generated content pushed on them while incendiary, controversial posts are used to drive engagement via argumentation at the expense of both truth and enjoyability. That said, there is still a LOT of evidence that people are dying, becoming disabled and suffering as a result of COVID — just as much now in 2024 as they did in early 2020, if not more. As for the growing body of evidence in our day-to-day lives, that is also very clear to see for anyone who chooses to look for it. Generally speaking, most people hesitate to disclose their private health problems — especially when they are struggling to find medical support and financial help for dealing with them — because the perception of widespread ableism enforces the idea that admitting to weakness will paint a target on your back, which is not wrong. But still, many businesses and places of work are short-staffed all the time now and it’s not at all becuase “nobody wants to work anymore” but rather due to so many different types of illness and injury both increasing in frequency and severity. Climate change and greedflation, the stagnancy of minimum wage and economic recession are all factors involved but none are so impactful as the increase in excess death and the