Facemasks — Blessing or Curse?
Surprising findings in regards to an inconvenient remnant of a pandemic
How it all started
Remember over a year ago, when rumors started that we are in for a bad strain of dangerous flu that was believed to have come from Wuhan in China and everyone thought this would be over in 4 weeks max?
Well, little did we know that this disease would nonetheless spread rapidly, and cause millions of deaths all over the world.
On March 6th I thought I’d outsmart you all and bought a case of Kleenex wet wipes, quite sure this would get me over the virus.
However, soon after we learned how dangerous that virus is, primarily for the older population and especially for people with underlying health conditions, we were told to wear face masks.
While vaccines have become widely available for us and there are signs of economic recovery, most of us are still wearing face masks and I was trying to figure out whether it was a good decision, to begin with, or if someone had put the proverbial wool over our heads (or faces).
We learned from the CDC website: “Masks are an additional step to help prevent people from getting and spreading COVID-19. They provide a barrier that keeps respiratory droplets from spreading. Wear a mask and take everyday preventive actions in public settings.”
Playing tennis with the masks on proved to be challenging but at facilities where tennis was allowed we were able to take them off while playing on the court.
Japan has long demonstrated the effectiveness of face masks
The following data was extracted from a recent Coronavirus Update on Worldometer. As of March 20th, we had about 30.5 million cases in the U.S.A., a country of 332 million people, with 555,000 reported deaths. The number crunchers tell us that’s 91,680 cases and 1,669 deaths per 1M people.
At the same time, Japan, a country with a population of 126 million (a little more than a third the size of the U.S.A.) had had 454,158 cases and 8,790 deaths. That’s 3,599 cases and 563 deaths per 1M people.
Julian Ryall writes in DW “How Japan’s mask culture may have saved lives during coronavirus”
As a consequence, Japanese did not bat an eyelid when medical experts stated in the early weeks of the pandemic that wearing a mask would at least reduce the risk of contracting the coronavirus.
“The Spanish flu pandemic of 1918 was when people really realized the importance of wearing a mask, and ever since then, we have just accepted it as a sensible precaution to take,” Yoko Tsukamoto, a professor of infection control at the Health Sciences University of Hokkaido, told DW.
“Face masks have now reached the point where covering one’s face is part of our culture and not something that anyone questions,” she said.
Japanese people see this as a considerate, polite thing to do. Amazing, isn’t it?
My own history of colds and Bronchitis
I began looking at the Pros and Cons of wearing face masks in regards to my own health. Believe it, or not, I found that masks are a blessing for me, and here is why.
Ever since I made the unfortunate decision to single-handedly paint the wrap-around porch of a house I owned in Germany in the 80ies, breathing in all those fumes for hours without protection, I’ve had respiratory problems. For almost all of my adult life, the symptoms of those problems were severe colds that often resulted in Bronchitis, sometimes pneumonia. Two to three light and 3–4 severe colds per year was something I endured year after year for decades. Whatever method was out there to catch a cold, I found it and it got into my system. I was always hoping and praying it wouldn’t find its way into my bronchial tubes.
When I moved to Southern California in 1993, those problems continued and were now accompanied by allergies I never had before in my life.
Much to my surprise, besides a slight cold at the beginning of the year and pre-COVID, I hadn’t had any problems in all of 2020. That has never happened before. And I’d noticed it very soon after COVID started. My assumption that it was related to my wearing a face mask in public seemed far-fetched in the middle of 2020 but when the year came to an end and I was free of any cold symptoms, it dawned on me: the mask may have been my blessing.
My allergies hadn’t gone away, though, but they became much less severe for me.
We have read that the 2020 flu season was almost non-existent. Wait. What? No flu deaths in 2020? Could it be that wearing face masks made all the difference for a disease that year after year kills tens of thousands of people, to become irrelevant?
What are the cons of wearing a face mask?
As so often in life, it depends on whom you ask. The loudest voices came from two sides. First, the people wiggling their fingers because the mask is taking some of their freedoms away. Second, there are the doctors. I can’t help thinking that doctors treating illnesses of the respiratory system may have fewer patients right now.
Yes, wearing a face mask is inconvenient and may not always look very favorable on some people. And then there are people who don’t care. Or the ones that take it really seriously. Some of them with masks from just under their eyes down to their chest.
In my opinion, there are many pros for wearing that dreaded mask in certain instances
Below I’ve compiled a list of some of the reasons for wearing a face mask, even after COVID-19 had gone away for good. And I’m not talking about celebrities who now see a great chance to go shopping without anyone easily recognizing them. I was told the celebrity sightings in the Los Angeles area have gone down dramatically.
Apart from my finding of the mask preventing all of my regular colds and bronchitis symptoms, here are more pros:
- Restaurant wait staff
I’ve been saying that forever and most certainly pre-COVID. Waiters and waitresses are like actors: the most chatty people on the planet. And I know because I had been a waiter and an actor in my life! Every waiter and every waitress has a story to tell, all of them want to please their customers. Whether they are rushing to you with your food on a tray or loading up that tray at the kitchen station, they talk and talk and talk. Which means they most certainly and unwillingly send a spray of their saliva down to your food.
My suggestion: Make wearing masks by restaurant wait staff mandatory! We’ll all benefit! - Restaurant kitchen staff
Yep, what I said about wait staff also applies to chefs and sous-chefs. They also talk a lot bent over your food. And the spraying goes on all the time.
My suggestion: Make wearing masks by restaurant kitchen staff mandatory! Again, we’ll all benefit! - Bad breath? No problem!
Forgot to brush your teeth in the morning? Had too many onions in your salsa? How about those yummy garlic mashed potatoes? No worries, friend, the mask will effectively mask your breath and you can chat away like there’s no tomorrow. - No time to shave?
Well, what can I say? There are times when men just don’t feel like shaving in the morning. Right? However, do this 3 days in a row and you may look like Harvey Weinstein on a good day.
Take note, the mask will give you confidence and you may think you look like George Clooney who seems to never have a bad shave day. - Bad teeth, pimples, cold sores?
No worries, ‘Puttin’ on the Mask’ is the new hipster song and you know how to deal with all that now.
Put on that pretty mask and your self-esteem will be shooting through the roof and no one will avoid looking into your baby blue eyes.
Some more food for thought
- What if I’m on to something with my conclusion about the mask effectively helping with colds and touches of flu?
- What if the medical world can see a chance of significantly reducing the number of flu deaths each year by recommending to do as the Japanese do and wear masks in public?
My observation and delight about facemasks keeping me healthier than pre-covid probably need to be researched by professionals. I can only report what I’m experiencing and I’m a happy camper right now.
