I See You, CDC

     I thought it would be five or ten years before the CDC would admit that the masks they have been insisting for 11 months are the barrier between pandemic and protection, life and death, are ineffective. Many of us have known that the paper surgical masks most wear are only up to 20% effective against droplets which, because they fall to the ground quickly, are not a major source of infection, and 0-5% effective against the fine particles that are much more likely to spread disease. And even that minimal protection is mitigated by how well the masks fit. Cloth masks are even less effective than surgical. Frankly any mask that is comfortably breathable is not much protection. The CDC has been strangely silent about what masks should be made out of, and/or how well they fit. And the long beards currently in vogue are un-fit. 

     But now that the media-instigated double-masking genie is out of the bottle, the CDC is telling us we can create a mask that is 95% effective by the same technique that makes a cake better, layering, wearing a cloth mask over a surgical mask, and making sure the nose piece fits properly. But 95% effective masks have been around for many years. They are called N95s and the CDC specifically told us not to purchase those so they would be available for front line workers. (Although most of the front line workers I have seen are wearing cheap surgical masks like the rest of us.) I think the real reason they did not recommend N95s, is that they knew if people had to suck air through such sweaty, suffocating accessories no one would wear them.

     Even though logic has become a lost art in American culture, it is obvious that if they are now telling how make effective masks, the ones they have been hammering onto our heads through every possible media are, by default, ineffective. After "To mask or not to mask" has separated families, divided churches, closed business, imposed fines, turned nosy neighbors into narcs, resulted in threats and fistfights--we find out those weren't even the good masks. It is very unlikely that the general public, already sick--of masking--is going to double up on their efforts. But the Maskalorians, who wear masks when alone in their own homes and vehicles, will probably be thrilled to have another talisman to protect them from plague. 

     Montana's governor just rescinded the state wide mask mandate in favor of individual responsibility, which is rare, but not yet extinct in Montana. However, masking may still be mandated by business owners, "Kool-Aid" counties, and p.c. cities. But now that the call for effectiveness is on the table, it is time to show your cards, ICU CDC.