Actually masks DO protect you, just not completely. They are not air tight but pretty damn close. The REAL benefit of them is that they stop you from touching your face, which is ESPECIALLY helpful for kids. So leave that poor fucker alone, they're just trying to protect their kids.

@1 NO. Health experts are telling people NOT to wear masks. Anyone wearing a mask or having their kids wear a mask are not doing anything productive but teaching their kids how to be stupid.

https://time.com/5794729/coronavirus-face-masks/

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/the-cdc-says-americans-dont-have-to-wear-facemasks-because-of-coronavirus-2020-01-30

Don't touch your face. Wash your hands often.

@2 - can you explain to me how having the mask in place to act as a barrier between our own hands and our face isn't better than touching your face with your hands.

The data provided by HHS regarding anything scientific is going through VP Pence, and well frankly all data coming out of the US is now suspect and not really a valid reference.
SE Asia which took the worst of the SARS and other recent outbreaks, their citizens are all wearing masks. Anecdotally the evidence of experience dictates heeding the practices of other cultures with histories of similar outbreaks.
How many Americans are already infected? Do to the current administration's ostrich response we don't have significant data to support the claims by HHS and other American institutions regarding infection rates. If you have elderly people in your life, err with caution and wear a damn mask around them just in case you have it already. International health agencies have released their conclusions that the virus is contagious before it is symptomatic.

@2, the CDC is notorious for failing to report reliable and/or current data. I witnessed a surge in military nosocomial MRSA cases that the CDC blatantly overlooked until it mutated and systematically began to shut down operating rooms across the country. If this person wants to wear a mask, so be it. There are fifty better things to be “uncomfortable” about in public nowadays.

@3 Wearing a mask will do literally nothing to prevent you from getting COVID-19. Wearing masks did not prevent the spread of COVID-19 in China. But please, continue to ignore everyone telling you not to wear masks, no matter who they are, because you know best.

My mother is 71 and I am high risk due to my neuromuscular disease. Still not wearing masks. Washing our hands, engaging in social distancing, not taking any unnecessary risks, and not panicking or hoarding or behaving like this is the apocalypse.

Facts matter. COVID-19 is not an airborne virus. Period. If you are healthy wearing a mask is pointless unless you are caring for a COVID-19 patient.

https://www.the-scientist.com/news-opinion/how-covid-19-is-spread-67143

The World Health Organization is not under the thumb of the Trump administration.
WHO video on masks (and why wearing them is not recommended)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=13&v=Ded_AxFfJoQ&feature=emb_logo

Panic buying of masks puts health care workers’ ‘lives at risk,’ WHO says
https://www.theverge.com/2020/3/3/21163587/face-masks-healthcare-protective-equipment-shortage-who-coronavirus

Just because Asian countries are telling people to wear masks (and punishing them if they do not) HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH SCIENCE.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/health-fitness/body/coronavirus-face-masks-truth-do-they-work/

Health Experts Are Telling Healthy People Not to Wear Face Masks for Coronavirus. So Why Are So Many Doing It?
https://time.com/5794729/coronavirus-face-masks/

https://www.forbes.com/sites/tarahaelle/2020/02/29/no-you-do-not-need-face-masks-for-coronavirus-they-might-increase-your-infection-risk/#2e18874b676c

CR so I guess you believe the same experts that put 14 sick people on a plane with about a hundred healthy Americans that were greeted by healthcare workers with no protective gear whatsoever when they got here. If you we're listening to real experts you would know that by definition the novel coronavirus is airborn. Because of its cellular structure it can only take root in the lungs, that's the whole thing that makes it different from other coronaviruses. A lot of people are parroting the message that you shouldn't wear a mask, but it really doesn't take much common sense to realize that this is a fake message which is designed to quell panic and prevent hoarding.

@6 So I guess you believe wearing masks will prevent you from getting COVID-19? I pity you. And I sure as shit am not going to listen to you when the World Health Organization has explained in explicit detail the FACTS about wearing masks and COVID-19.

Everything I've shared states unequivocally that health care workers, in direct contact with those with the virus and testing those for the virus, ARE THE ONES WHO NEED THE MASKS TO REDUCE THEIR RISK (NOT PREVENT THEM FROM GETTING THE VIRUS). The irresponsible and irreparable damage done by the healthcare workers who greeted those with the virus WITH NO PROTECTIVE GEAR WHATSOVER is not the same thing as everybody and their idiot kids wearing masks.

Wearing a mask does not prevent you from contracting COVID-19. Scientists have repeatedly stated as much. People's inability to acknowledge scientific fact is astonishing. Just like people hoarding toilet paper (COVID-19 had nothing to do with toilet paper), people wearing masks (unless they are the caregiver of someone WITH the virus) are literally behaving irrationally.

COVID-19 is NOT airborne. STOP SPREADING MISINFORMATION. Airborne means that it can survive in the air and be passed from one person to another by breathing in the same air as someone who has the virus.

Per the World Health Organization:
Airborne spread has not been reported for COVID-19and it is not believed to be a major driver of transmission based on available evidence.
https://www.who.int/docs/default-source/coronaviruse/who-china-joint-mission-on-covid-19-final-report.pdf

It's no wonder this country is so fucked. We not only have the dumbest, most hateful, pathological liar residing in the WH who is responsible (along with all of his sycophants) for this spreading as it has in this country and doing absolutely nothing about it, we also have huge swaths of the population that are too stupid to listen to reason or science or facts.

IF COVID-19 were airborne, every single Republican sycophant that was at CPAC would be in the hospital right now (along with every single person they live with and have breathed near since CPAC ended). INSTEAD a small number of people who touched the guy who has tested as having COVID-19 have self-quarantined themselves, even though not one of them has any symptoms.

Really, @7? Here is language right from Johns Hopkins University (article about the flu and Covid 19): "Both can be spread from person to person through droplets in the air from an infected person coughing, sneezing or talking." Also, "While both the flu and COVID-19 may be transmitted in similar ways (see the Similarities section above), there is also a possible difference: COVID-19 might be spread through the airborne route, meaning that tiny droplets remaining in the air could cause disease in others even after the ill person is no longer near"....so even the point on it not SCIENTIFICALLY meeting the definition of airborne is not fully settled at this point.

Inhaling air that has been contaminated by an infected person coughing or sneezing is good enough for the average Joe to classify as it being spread through the air. LITERALLY.

Not saying everyone should go around wearing masks, unless they are sick, but I am saying that your argument is purely scientific definition semantics and makes zero sense. Here is a quote from a recent Guardian article (since you like quotes and citations): "Claim: ‘Face masks don’t work’: Wearing a face mask is certainly not an iron-clad guarantee that you won’t get sick – viruses can also transmit through the eyes and tiny viral particles, known as aerosols, can penetrate masks. However, masks are effective at capturing droplets, which is a main transmission route of coronavirus, and some studies have estimated a roughly fivefold protection versus no barrier alone (although others have found lower levels of effectiveness)."

So, even on the mask point, your "unequivocally" comment is BS.

Finally, people are buying toilet paper as one of the items that would be handy to have extra amounts of should they end up being quarantined...or should they just choose to not go out unnecessarily. Not wanting to wipe your ass with god knows what when you run out of toilet paper isn't hysteria, it's common sense. Plus, it's an everyday item that one will eventually use, quarantine or not.

@8 - again, where on EARTH are you coming up with this stuff? The incubation period is currently estimated to be up to 14 days, and the CPAC conference ended about 8 days ago. So no, not "every single Republican" at the conference who was exposed would "be in the hospital right now". Second, it is currently believed that many people have had mild cases of it and recovered without even knowing what it was, and also not everyone who gets it requires hospitalization. Good Lord....

People - airborne does not equal spread by droplets through sneezing or coughing. Do you really not understand this? Please all of you panic and wear mask and quarantine yourselves and spread panic and misinformation. Good god this country is doomed.

Side thought: Are we not hoarding tooth products because pooping is more fun?

How does SARS-CoV-2 spread?

SARS-CoV-2 does not linger in the air.
SARS-CoV-2 does not linger in the air.
SARS-CoV-2 does not linger in the air.

https://arstechnica.com/science/2020/03/dont-panic-the-comprehensive-ars-technica-guide-to-the-coronavirus/2/#h2

SARS-CoV-2 spreads mainly in respiratory droplets—tiny, germ-toting globs that are launched from the mouth or nose when you breathe heavily, talk, cough, or sneeze. Published data suggests that a single sneeze can unleash 40,000 droplets between 0.5–12 micrometers in diameter. Once airborne, these fall rapidly onto the ground and typically don’t land more than one meter away. SARS-CoV-2 does not linger in the air.

If any droplets containing SARS-CoV-2 land on a nearby person and gain access to the eyes, nose, or mouth—or are delivered there by a germy hand—that person can get infected.

SARS-CoV-2 does not linger in the air.
SARS-CoV-2 does not linger in the air.
SARS-CoV-2 does not linger in the air.

CR so why are they telling us to stay 6 feet away from people? Or to avoid travel if you're among the vulnerable? Or that you can get it in a room for up to 6 hrs after an infected person has left it? That New York City lawyer infected at least 10 people before he was hospitalized, INCLUDING THE GUY WHO DROVE HIM TO THE HOSPITAL. The cruise ship that
finally made landfall today had 20 positive passengers out of 46 tested. Do you really think these people were all licking each other's faces? You're right about one thing though: this country is fucked. No wait, I mean the world. But it's not because some of us are thinking critically or using common sense. It's because THIS SHIT IS EVERYWHERE AND THERE'S NOT A GODDAMN THING WE CAN DO ABOUT IT. Except take care of our loved ones, practice common sense and yes, stock up on the essentials.

CR - are you drunk?

Here is your quote: "People - airborne does not equal spread by droplets through sneezing or coughing. Do you really not understand this?"

Quote that you then post 10 seconds later: "SARS-CoV-2 spreads mainly in respiratory droplets—tiny, germ-toting globs that are launched from the mouth or nose when you breathe heavily, talk, cough, or sneeze."

Also, if masks don't work, why does the CDC recommend that healthcare providers wear them?

Are you just trolling to purposefully make people face-palm? Please tell me you are....

@15 I am not troling, but i am done arguing. Wear a face mask. It will TOTALLY PROTECT YOU. You and all your friends and especially Aurelius141 should all wear face mask and have everyone you know where face mask. None of you will get sick or spread the virus if you have it.

If you bothered to read any of the links I provided you will see why droplets do not equal airborne and why health care workers need masks. But why bother? Stupid is as stupid will be and thank god I am nowhere near any of you fucking people. I know I won't get COVID-19 and it won't be because I wore a fucking useless face mask while going out in public like an idiot,

Good luck.

*not trolling
not drunk
not stupid as fuck.
carry on!

Hey Christina,

Just FYI, You forgot to name check seattle and New York in your recent ramblings.

Not since the Battle of the Bulge has the word "Airborne" invoked such terror.

To paraphrase General McAuliffe, this shit is nuts.

Well, you aren't acting very intelligent on this one. Here are the facts that you fail to recognize:
- Nobody said a mask would prevent the virus. The jury is out on how effective wearing a mask is, but they certainly aren't "fucking useless" as you put it.
- The virus is most often spread through the air, through coughing / sneezing / breathing and it moving THROUGH THE AIR into someone's mouth, onto their body, or onto a surface where it is picked up by someone else. It DOES NOT MATTER, and nobody cares, if that meets the strict scientific definition of airborne that you keep harping on. Nobody is saying it does. You severely contradicted yourself on this coughing / sneezing point, as I pointed out above with your own quotes.
- In addition to not understanding particle transmission that GOES THROUGH THE AIR, you don't seem to have any grasp on incubation period (see your CPAC / "they would all be in the hospital" comment above that you conveniently fail address in subsequent rants)
- Nobody knows for sure what the reduction potential of a facemask is, but many believe it does help. Again, nobody is arguing against the guidance that it isn't NECESSARY to wear a face mask, but the only reason that this was put out by the CDC, etc. was to 1 - minimize hysteria in the face of mask shortages, 2 - try to not make the shortages worse so that masks will be available for people who need them, 3 - the argument can be made that wearing a mask in the wrong manner and / or constantly touching it or your face could make things worse, and 4 - to get people to focus on things like hand washing instead of having a false sense of security based on a mask.

if the virus was airborne we'd all be sick and millions more would be dead, but keep beating the dead fucking horse.

I think I'll get my info from the infectious disease experts rather than you guys. No offense.

Everyone's gonna be exposed sooner or later. We have 1,000 cases after only 5,000 tests. All you can do is be careful and hope for the best.