Hey smart people, Joe here. Bottom line: Masks work. They are safe for almost everyone to wear,
and the more people that wear them along with adhering to physical distancing and other
strategies, then thatâs more lives weâll save. A ton of people have watched my video clearly
demonstrating why simple cloth masks work to slow the spread of diseases like COVID-19. And at 250 frames per second, it shows us
exactly why masks work to slow airborne infection. A mask can stop a virus, but it also sends
a message: Weâre all in this together. But thereâs still a lot of confusion and
misinformation out there when it comes both to wearing masks and the actual risks of getting
infected with COVID-19. So today weâre going to be addressing a
few of the most common myths and misunderstandings with scientific evidence. [OPEN] Letâs address some
of the misunderstanding and misinformation out there around masks and COVID starting
with... The word âFARTSâ appears on the screen
next to Joe. He looks at it and shakes his head. Seriously. I see this claim a lot, so I have to go there:
âMy underwear and pants canât stop a fart so how is a cloth mask supposed to stop coronavirus?â Yes, weâre actually gonna talk about this
because it illustrates some really important points about why masks work. These are the gases in a typical fart. Most of them are odorless, but every flatulence
has trace amounts of these other gases and these are the ones that⌠shall we say make
their presence known. One fart smell molecule is less than a billionth
of a meter across. A coronavirus is more than 100 times bigger
than that! And these are the droplets coronavirus is
ACTUALLY TRANSMITTED inside! Remember: When people breathe out coronavirus,
itâs ejected out in droplets of moisture that are way bigger than the virus. Wearing a mask catches those droplets, and
protects other people from you possibly spreading the virus. Lemme put it like this: If a fart smell molecule was a baseball, a
respiratory droplet full of Coronavirus would be as tall as⌠holding for zoom out⌠there
we go: the world's tallest building. I almost canât believe this is a real experiment,
but years ago scientists actually tested whether it was safe for doctors in the operating room
to pass gas, whether they could potentially infect their patients with bacteria or other
germs ejected from you-know-where. So they had doctors pass gas over petri dishes
with and without pants on⌠and pants were enough to block any germs from growing on
the dishes. So even though your underwear wonât stop
a fart, theyâll stop a s*&^%⌠thatâs why masks work. Another claim I see a lot is âusing a mask
to stop coronavirus is like using a chain link fence to stop mosquitoes.â The idea being that the weave in a cloth mask
is supposedly way too big to catch super-tiny particles. And it is correct that a single coronavirus
particle is very, very small, something like 100 nanometers wide. But again, these viruses are ejected from
an infected personâs airway inside much larger droplets, 50 to 100 times larger than
a single virus. Hereâs the weave of a typical cloth mask
under a microscope. Compared to the size of typical droplets. And here are some other commonly-used mask
fabrics. None of these fabrics will stop 100% of virus
particles from escaping, but experiments show that any of them give you good droplet-blocking
power. This isn't just about the size of the holes
in a fabric weave. Itâs also about how the fibers within the
fabric are layered and stacked. We can see that by looking at the fibers in
a medical mask. Itâs more like a ratâs nest than a weave. And by layering household fabrics, we can
get some of that effect. So, a chain-link fence canât stop mosquitos,
but two overlapped chain link fences can definitely stop mosquitoes if theyâre flying around
inside tennis balls. Get it? Hereâs another one: Wearing a mask can starve
your body of oxygen or expose you to dangerous levels of exhaled carbon dioxide. If youâre not used to it the way doctors
and nurses and scientists are, breathing in a mask can feel very stifling and strange. But most of that is just the mechanical slowing
of the airflow by a mask. Just like we saw with farts, gas molecules
like carbon dioxide or oxygen are thousands of times smaller than the particles a mask
blocks. The amount of CO2 that might be hanging out
in your mask is not dangerous. This is the air we inhale. And the air we exhale looks like this. Yes, we do breathe out CO2 at a higher concentration
than we take in, but the atmospheric CO2 concentration is so low that most of what you breathe out
diffuses away through your mask very quickly. Thatâs just basic chemistry and physics. And carbon dioxide is not always bad. Breathing out too much CO2 too fast is actually
why you get dizzy from hyperventilating. Accumulation of CO2 in the blood, called hypercapnia
*can* be dangerous. But itâs not likely to happen from wearing
a mask - even an n95, for long periods of time. And especially not when you pop on your mask
to run into the grocery store or something. That said, if you have a serious respiratory
condition like COPD or other lung problems, talk to your doctor about your mask concerns. Or leave a comment on a Doctor Mike video⌠I know he loves that stuff. Thereâs also the issue of not getting enough
oxygen, or hypoxia. According to the American lung association:
There is no evidence that dangerously low oxygen levels occur from wearing a face mask. And Iâve been wearing six masks here for
5 minutes, and as you can see from this fingertip oxygen meter, my bloodâs still at 99% oxygen saturation. A plus. Go me. Look at that, oh 99 again. A plus. Okay, I don't want anyone claiming I don't actually have 6 masks on. 1 mask, 2 mask, 3 mask, 4 mask, 5 mask, 6 mask Again, wearing a mask may make it feel like
it takes a bit more work to take a breath, but it wonât materially change the makeup
of air that comes in and out through the mask. And speaking of breathing things in and out,
you may have heard that wearing a face mask will stop your body from being able to expel
toxins that it needs to get rid of. But, thatâs not really how this works. Our airways are not the primary exit path
for the vast majority of your bodyâs unwanted waste materials and byproducts and toxins,
and neither is sweating. Thatâs a common misconception. Most of your bodyâs self-cleaning is done
by major organs like your liver and kidneys, which use special proteins and enzymes to
break down and remove anything that is unwanted or harmful to the body, and typically excrete
it in your urine. Thereâs a reason doctors screen your pee
to look for stuff. Your respiratory system is involved in cleanup
but not because you breathe out a stream of toxic junk. Particles that make it into your nose, airway
or lungs are coughed up or swallowed in mucus, and masks are actually helping block that
stuff in the first place. Typically, the only hazardous thing we breathe
out is carbon dioxide, and weâve covered that. If youâre infected, wearing a mask isnât
going to make your infection worse. Coughing out virus isnât what cures you
when youâre sick - itâs the virusâ way of ensuring it infects another host. A mask will help slow that down. Next misconception: I feel totally normal
and healthy, so I donât need to wear a mask. Ok, even if you feel healthy, you could be
infected with the virus and be spreading it to others. Current estimates tell us that almost half
of people who spread COVID donât show any symptoms. Theyâre either pre-symptomatic, or in some
cases never show symptoms, even if the virus is replicating in their body. Letâs do a little thought experiment: Say
you got infected with COVID-19 three days ago. And then today you go and get a test. With current testing backlogs in some places,
you may not get your results for several days after that. And even if you get a positive test and immediately
quarantine, that is maybe a full week that you could be walking around, with no symptoms,
potentially passing the virus to others around you. And new research suggests a lot of the pandemic
is being driven by so-called superspreaders: These are single, highly infectious people
spreading the virus to dozens of people at a time, and those people might not show any
symptoms, EVER. So just because the person next to you looks
totally healthy, does NOT mean they arenât infected. Ask yourself: Would you feel better if they
were wearing a mask? Well, they feel the same way about you. If masks arenât 100% effective at stopping
coronavirus, why should we even use them? Ok, first off there is pretty much no medical
intervention of any kind that is 100% effective. Even a vaccine, which most scientists and
doctors think is by far our best strategy for eventually containing the pandemic, wonât
be 100% effective. A good vaccine gets close, but nothing is
perfect. From the very beginning of mask recommendations,
the idea has been that masks are just one part of a bigger strategy that includes physical
distancing, good hygiene like handwashing, and staying home whenever possible. But more and more studies are telling us that
masks DO significantly reduce transmission. Even if it's not 100%, it is worth doing! Because itâs an easy thing that you can
do every day, and when combined with other strategies your levels of protection add up. Ya know what, letâs look at some history
for a second. Wearing masks goes back to 17th century plague
doctors who wore special hoods with long beaks that they filled with perfumes, since at the
time they believed that sickness was spread by âbad odorsâ. In 1905 a doctor named Alice Hamilton published
one of the first studies recommending masks after proving that surgeons were passing dangerous
bacteria to their patients just by breathing or talking during surgery. But it wasnât until 1910 during an epidemic
of pneumonic plague in China that a doctor named Wu Lien-teh first developed masks to
be worn by both medical personnel and the general public in order to prevent the spread
of the airborne disease. And this mask-wearing practice was adopted
by many cities during the 1918 influenza pandemic often considered the worst of the modern era. Masks work, and weâve known that for a long
time. Iâve seen some people claim that there are
mask exemption cards floating around, distributed by the government, saying you donât have
to wear a mask. Thatâs fake. Those are all fake. The US Dept of Justice even made an official
statement to clear up posts on social media that suggest they issued exception cards because
of the Americans with Disabilities act. They did not. Even if a post has the official DOJ seal,
itâs not real. Now, when it comes to masks and disabilities,
most local governments have made exceptions for people with legally recognized disabilities. But even if you meet those requirements, legally
it doesnât mean you can do whatever you want. Under the Americans with Disabilities Act,
A business can still turn a person away if they are a substantial risk to the health
and safety of others. These potential impacts on disabled people
are even more reasons we all have to protect each other. And just like someone using a fake service
dog, using fake exemption cards hurts people with actual disabilities. Donât be that person. And finally this is one of the biggest misconceptions
Iâve seen in response to masks and just COVID-19 in general. That COVID-19 isnât a big thing to be afraid
of, because the death rate is low, or because youâre young, and COVID-19 is only really
dangerous in older people. This is one of the most dangerous misconceptions
going around, for a few reasons. The death rate of COVID-19 is thankfully low,
or at least much better than it could be. As of this video, across all ages, we see
maybe 1 death for every 200 known infections. And yes, we do see higher death rates among
older people. But imagine for a second that we take that
0.5% death rate and just let COVID spread across the entire US population. That would mean more than one and a half million
deaths, and there is no way to call that good news. But the other 99.5% of COVID cases are not
harmless. This is a new disease and we have basically
no data on its long-term effects for those with severe or even mild symptoms. While some people may fully recover, others
might have permanent lung scarring, which is backed up by what we saw happen with related
diseases like SARS and MERS. New York and China have seen increased rates
in strokes, as high as 1 in 20 cases in some places, and even strokes in younger people. We are seeing reports of heart damage, pulmonary
embolisms in as many as a quarter of hospitalized patients, blood clots, and neurological damage,
from cognitive impairment to mental health. Some people â even young people â may
never return to living their normal life, even if they recover. We have seen that this disease kills people
under 40, under 30, even under 20. And we still have very incomplete data on
how lingering effects could impact children that get infected. Battling covid can knock you out of work for
weeks, or months. And most people canât afford that. This disease is a big deal, and no matter
how young or healthy you think you are, you are at risk. Not just of dying. Listen. Everyone, including me, including the scientists
and doctors and nurses out there, wants life to get back to normal. Unfortunately you and I canât get into the
lab and make a vaccine come faster. But there is something that we can do. Every one of us has the power to make a small
difference in stopping this pandemic through simple actions. And one of those is wearing a mask. Scientific models tell us if 95% of Americans
wear masks then we can save tens of thousands of lives before winter. This (mask) is not a political statement. The only statement it makes is that you care
about those around you, and you want them to care about you. Stay curious.
Dr Joe does a great job explaining things. He is one of my favorite PBS science guys.