“I always wear a mask

I haven’t been on a plane since 2019

I haven’t gathered in large crowds since 2019

I haven’t traveled since 2019

Just starting to let you know that not all Drs are taking risks, & some of us take precautions seriously.”

More than half of people who took a survey have said they've been harassed or threatened in public for wearing a medical mask. They're harassed at work, at home, and even in hospitals.

What It's Like to Wear a Mask: A Survey on Discrimination

“The Berkeley Repertory Theatre (Bay Area, CA) has mandatory masked events on Sundays and Tuesdays.

This is inclusiveness. This is community care.

Vulnerable people deserve to experience life, too.”

“Professor Beggs' expert statement made clear what we have known for some time: Covid is an airborne virus, capable of lingering in the air for hours and posing a threat particularly to those who are Clinically Vulnerable.

Yet, the response from the former UK government was, at best, wholly inadequate.”

COVID patients breathe large amounts of virus early on

COVID patients exhale high numbers of virus during the first eight days after symptoms start, as high as 1,000 copies per minute, reports a new Northwestern Medicine study.

Excellent essay on wearing masks and why it is important:

“How long are you going to wear a mask?”

“We didn’t mask before Covid so we aren’t going to now!”

These are two of the most common refrains covid aware people hear. They suggest that the pandemic is over & that precautions no longer make sense.

They’re wrong 🧵 /1

New poll: 13% mask “all the time”

A new poll found 32% of Americans believe COVID is a “large or moderate” risk to their health but only 13% said they mask all the time, while 21% had taken an at-home test in the past week.

“The severity and frequency of Long COVID is purposely obscured from public discussion as part of a continued political effort to normalize constant COVID exposure.

People who take precautions to avoid COVID are making the wise decision to protect themselves and their families; they are also safeguarding their ability to work and earn money in a society that disposes of people who cannot produce. It is a rational decision; in the case of Long COVID patients, it is a necessary one.

It is also, admittedly, a very difficult lifestyle to adopt and maintain.”

N95 Masks Nearly Perfect at Blocking COVID, UMD Study Shows

Researchers Found Even Lower-Performing Masks Were Protective

“The researchers also found that—in what might come as a surprise to many—cloth masks outperformed the specific brand of KN95 mask that was tested. Surgical masks brought up the rear in performance out of the four types, but even they blocked 70% of the virus, the tests showed. (To reflect the general public's use of masks, study volunteers were not fit-tested for their masks or trained how to properly wear them.)

‘The research shows that any mask is much better than no mask, and an N95 is significantly better than the other options. That’s the No. 1 message,’ says the study’s senior author, Donald Milton, a professor of environmental health and a global expert on how viruses spread through the air.”