At the start of the pandemic Americans got crafty at home and sewed cloth masks. People began sewing masks from old tee shirts. Pam researched the best mask designs and sewed several quality masks that had three layers including a pocked for surgical mask material as well. I have been wearing the same cloth mask for the past 18 months. Originally these masks were intended as a stop gap until quality masks became available. In the early months America purchases huge shipments of surgical masks from China. Those masks however turned out to not be the quality masks that were promised. They were cheap knock offs which did not have the fine mesh needed to stop the viral particles from getting through. Cloth masks, although far better than going mask less, weren’t as protective as other types.
Epidemiologist Dr. Michael T. Osterholm compared cloth masks to wearing Swiss cheese. Of course viral particles will get though those large holes. However if several layers of fabric are worn in the same mask then there are fewer and much smaller holes. Even better is to wear a quality well fitted KN95 mask. Pam and I purchases a set of the KN95 masks but those bands that fit around the ears are incredibly tight, giving any wearer Dumbo ears that stick out and an ear ache from the elastic pressure. I stated to wear the KN95 held in place with the cloth mask. The cloth mask Pam designed has a cloth band that ties around the neck and also around the back of the skull. This makes the mask convenient to flip up or down as needed. When down it resembles an ascot.
A recent study in Bangladesh, which has yet to be peer-reviewed linked wearing surgical masks (those ubiquitous blue masks surgeons wear) with an 11.2 percent decrease in COVID-19 symptoms, while cloth masks were associated with only a 5 percent decrease. Many countries, including France, Austria, and Germany, shifted their mask guidance away from cloth masks toward those offering higher protection a long time ago.
Back in July 2021 Joe Biden declared that vaccinations would signal a freedom from masking. On July 4th weekend Pam, her niece and I went to Saint Augustine and we were stunned to see huge crowds pressed together on the main street and for the river front fireworks display. We masked up and were in a minority that weekend. At the time I only had the three layer cloth mask to navigate the crowds. At the time of July 4th the Delta variant was just beginning to gain momentum n America. We were lucky to dodge the bullet.
Mask wearing has become a political binary war zone. “People are just divided into either you’re masked or you’re not. And that would be like saying everything that has wheels”—including a tricycle and a jetliner—“is the same.” said Osterholm. Americans generally don’t pay enough attention to the quality of a mask and how it’s worn. I am always amazed at the number of chin straps I see or people who are unable to cover their nose as well as their mouth.
Harvard epidemiologist Bill Hanage wrote to an Atlantic reporter that, surgical masks are like to a sturdy, well-made umbrella and cloth masks are like the cheap kind that inverts. “Both are better than a plastic bag held over your head, which is itself better than nothing,” he said. “I can’t speak for the CDC,” Hanage said, “but I would hope that they would be able to convey the message that all masks are not alike, just like all umbrellas are not alike.”
At the start of the pandemic the US government had a plan to ship free masks to every American but that plan was scrapped by the former president. Had messaging been consistent masks would not have become a political football. Though the number of deaths are finally dropping, this pandemic is far from over. What happens any time the numbers drop from their astronomic highs is that people immediately abandon masks and distancing and then another surge is the result. Stay vigilant and wear a quality mask. Flash your wisdom by wearing a KN95 instead of a cheap cloth mask.