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Does weaing a mask so often have downsides? I'm not "anti-mask". I'm just wondering whether we will see studies in 10-20 years about a bunch of children with l

Does weaing a mask so often have downsides? I'm not "anti-mask". I'm just wondering whether we will see studies in 10-20 years about a bunch of children with lung problems from restricted airflow or weird fibers or chemicals, or other pathogens that grew on the masks, or something we haven't thought of yet. Or who knows? Maybe kids will all have super strong lungs. Or maybe lucky ones will have stronger lungs and others will suffer. I just don't know. Anyone studying this (potential) issue?

mlyle 5y ago
Who knows. But we do have large parts of the world where wearing masks during cold season is normalized, without any massive evidence of adverse effect.
- sharken 5y ago
  Well, we also have the opposite, ie. no mask mandate for large parts of the world for many, many years. We should not have any restrictions at all for Corona as soon as it's possible. And if you compare Corona with some of the large flu seasons we've seen, then based on the hospitalizations we should abandon all restrictions now. I sincerely hope that we wake up and realize this, as this is now a huge social experiment into how restricting humans work.
- dude187 5y ago
  Having an entire population hiding their face on a routine basis when interacting with the public is an enormous downside. Completely unacceptable, and forcing it on the _entire_ population is downright evil.
vbezhenar 5y ago
Of course it does. Pathogen flora flourishes in those masks and you're constantly breathing it.
Karawebnetwork 5y ago
We had a scare like this here in Québec during April: https://montreal.ctvnews.ca/recalled-masks-were-worn-by-thousands-of-quebec-kids-feds-say-import-rule-wasn-t-followed-1.5388068 https://montreal.ctvnews.ca/recalled-masks-were-worn-by-thou... As far as I know, it was more of a fear than anything else. But it raises an important question: who controls the quality of the masks we wear? What's to stop a store from ordering substandard products and ordering all its employees to wear them?
dboreham 5y ago
Like the surgeons who have been dropping like flies for the past 100 years because they wear masks all day at work?
- sp332 5y ago
  They get new masks every few hours. Or they did before the pandemic anyway.
  - Broken_Hippo 5y ago
    That depends on how long they are in surgery, I'd think. And isn't the reason for switching masks not because of adverse affects to the surgeon, but to protect the patient? We have similar things with rubber gloves: You don't need to change gloves so often if you are, say, cleaning.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- chmod600 5y ago
  You could at least make an attempt to consider differences amd whether those differences might matter. * Adult vs child * Material (e.g. cotton) * Quality * Wash / replacement schedule * Activities performed And while you're at it, consider that kids aren't dropping like flies from covid, either. So if you're performing a cost / benefit analysis, the cost to kids wearing masks doesn't need to be very high before it gets higher than whatever benefit the masks offer.
  - mlyle 5y ago
    > So if you're performing a cost / benefit analysis, the cost to kids wearing masks doesn't need to be very high before it gets higher than whatever benefit the masks offer. Outright death is rare, but there's quite a few pediatric hospitalizations. They likely come with long term consequences, too. For that matter, influenza has been greatly reduced, and there's a lot of chronic sequelae to influenza infection in youth. And don't forget to add secondary consequences. I'm still willing to teach them in part because of reduced risk to me and my father thanks to masking. And a slightly reduced chance of killing a parent or grandparent by bringing home COVID is notable, too.
IgorPartola 5y ago
The only issue I have seen so far is that constantly exhaling onto your eyes dries them out and can make them more prone to minor infections. Happened to me, doctor told me to not use contacts for a bit and take mask breaks once in a while. Outside of that, medical professionals wear masks all the time. Nurses are often subjects of medical studies because they are an accessible caprice audience. I know of no known cases of mask wearing being a bad thing.
- sn41 5y ago
  hmmm... thanks for that anecdote. i have been having dry eyes since last year... i thought it was age. But maybe I should try taking breaks when wearing masks.
  - IgorPartola 5y ago
    Artificial tears are of great help as well.
- nicoburns 5y ago
  Consider getting a mask that seals over the bridge over the nose. Bonus: this will also be much more effective at protecting you.
BoxOfRain 5y ago
I think the environmental damage is going to be a big issue in the near future, those hundreds of millions of plastic masks getting thrown away every day don't just dissolve into the aether; they stay around where they will pollute the environment especially the oceans. As far as I'm aware this topic hasn't been discussed at all by my government let alone a plan put in place to mitigate this environmental harm.

mlyle 5y ago

Who knows. But we do have large parts of the world where wearing masks during cold season is normalized, without any massive evidence of adverse effect.

sharken 5y ago
Well, we also have the opposite, ie. no mask mandate for large parts of the world for many, many years. We should not have any restrictions at all for Corona as soon as it's possible. And if you compare Corona with some of the large flu seasons we've seen, then based on the hospitalizations we should abandon all restrictions now. I sincerely hope that we wake up and realize this, as this is now a huge social experiment into how restricting humans work.
dude187 5y ago
Having an entire population hiding their face on a routine basis when interacting with the public is an enormous downside. Completely unacceptable, and forcing it on the _entire_ population is downright evil.

vbezhenar 5y ago

Of course it does. Pathogen flora flourishes in those masks and you're constantly breathing it.

Karawebnetwork 5y ago

We had a scare like this here in Québec during April: https://montreal.ctvnews.ca/recalled-masks-were-worn-by-thousands-of-quebec-kids-feds-say-import-rule-wasn-t-followed-1.5388068 https://montreal.ctvnews.ca/recalled-masks-were-worn-by-thou... As far as I know, it was more of a fear than anything else. But it raises an important question: who controls the quality of the masks we wear? What's to stop a store from ordering substandard products and ordering all its employees to wear them?

dboreham 5y ago

Like the surgeons who have been dropping like flies for the past 100 years because they wear masks all day at work?

sp332 5y ago
They get new masks every few hours. Or they did before the pandemic anyway.
- Broken_Hippo 5y ago
  That depends on how long they are in surgery, I'd think. And isn't the reason for switching masks not because of adverse affects to the surgeon, but to protect the patient? We have similar things with rubber gloves: You don't need to change gloves so often if you are, say, cleaning.
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
chmod600 5y ago
You could at least make an attempt to consider differences amd whether those differences might matter. * Adult vs child * Material (e.g. cotton) * Quality * Wash / replacement schedule * Activities performed And while you're at it, consider that kids aren't dropping like flies from covid, either. So if you're performing a cost / benefit analysis, the cost to kids wearing masks doesn't need to be very high before it gets higher than whatever benefit the masks offer.
- mlyle 5y ago
  > So if you're performing a cost / benefit analysis, the cost to kids wearing masks doesn't need to be very high before it gets higher than whatever benefit the masks offer. Outright death is rare, but there's quite a few pediatric hospitalizations. They likely come with long term consequences, too. For that matter, influenza has been greatly reduced, and there's a lot of chronic sequelae to influenza infection in youth. And don't forget to add secondary consequences. I'm still willing to teach them in part because of reduced risk to me and my father thanks to masking. And a slightly reduced chance of killing a parent or grandparent by bringing home COVID is notable, too.

IgorPartola 5y ago

The only issue I have seen so far is that constantly exhaling onto your eyes dries them out and can make them more prone to minor infections. Happened to me, doctor told me to not use contacts for a bit and take mask breaks once in a while. Outside of that, medical professionals wear masks all the time. Nurses are often subjects of medical studies because they are an accessible caprice audience. I know of no known cases of mask wearing being a bad thing.

sn41 5y ago
hmmm... thanks for that anecdote. i have been having dry eyes since last year... i thought it was age. But maybe I should try taking breaks when wearing masks.
- IgorPartola 5y ago
  Artificial tears are of great help as well.
nicoburns 5y ago
Consider getting a mask that seals over the bridge over the nose. Bonus: this will also be much more effective at protecting you.

BoxOfRain 5y ago

I think the environmental damage is going to be a big issue in the near future, those hundreds of millions of plastic masks getting thrown away every day don't just dissolve into the aether; they stay around where they will pollute the environment especially the oceans. As far as I'm aware this topic hasn't been discussed at all by my government let alone a plan put in place to mitigate this environmental harm.