Today, Power Line's Scott Johnson writes at some length citing evidence wearing a face mask does no good vis-a-vis avoiding Covid-19. Johnson's colleague Paul Mirengoff adds links which, he claims, show the opposite. I will share with you what I know from my personal experience.
The other DrC doesn't like wearing masks, though she has become somewhat accustomed to them. When masking was first a thing, roughly a year ago, she bought clear plastic face shields for both of us and we wore those for several months when shopping although not in medical offices. Most non-medical places would accept the shields in lieu of the masks.
What the DrsC learned from wearing clear plastic shields is that a human sprays a considerable quantity of tiny saliva droplets when talking, mouth breathing, etc. The droplets end up on the inside of the plastic shield, dry there, and end up looking unsightly and vaguely dirty. We'd Windex the shields when we returned home.
I believe face masks mostly protect the other people you are around, not yourself. Like the plastic shields, masks catch the micro-droplets of saliva we all shed without being aware of doing so. It is, however, true that if everyone around you also wears a mask, their masks protect you from their saliva spray.
In other words, I have no faith in masks' ability to filter inhaled air, but considerable faith in their ability to intercept the wearer's sprayed saliva droplets. I know describing this is gross, but if you believe I'm wrong, get a plastic face shield, wear it for 2-3 hours, and see for yourself how much viral-laden saliva we all shed. You'll be amazed and probably grossed-out as well.
