I don't think cloth masks do very much to shield the receipt of viral loads. I believe they're somewhat useful for stopping the projecting transmission because whatever is carrying the virus (breath, saliva, whatever) doesn't go as far when projected through a mask. However, once it hits your cloth mask, I don't think it makes much difference.

I know people who wore a mask the entire time at Vegas casinos and still got COVID (and weren't really going anywhere else for the most part).

While that's anecdotal, I really do believe that the masks have an unfortunate negative side-effect of giving people a false sense of confidence. Even Master Scalir told me, "But I was wearing a mask!" when defending the somewhat reckless behavior which led to him catching COVID. The other guy who presumably caught it from Master Scalir also told me he was surprised the mask didn't protect him.

There is a great misconception that putting on a mask basically protects you from COVID, and that those catching COVID are just idiots who refuse or don't bother to mask. It's a phenomenon called "the illusion of safety", and this sort of thing can make you LESS safe, because it causes you to let your guard down.

I don't want to hijack this thread into a COVID debate, but let's just say that there's still a poor public understanding of COVID risk, especially by young and middle aged people.

In short:

If middle-aged, there's a decent chance you will get permanent lung damage (or other permanent damage) which will be a significant quality of life issue.

Masks do not protect you very much. It's a good idea to wear them, but masking and social distancing isn't going to shield you from COVID indoors. If that were true, Master Scalir wouldn't have COVID right now.

If young (under 30), you are unlikely to get more than mild COVID symptoms, and unlikely to face any kind of permanent damage from it. There is a tremendous difference between COVID at 25 and 45, on average. This isn't emphasized enough in the media.


If you understand that you've got a reasonable chance of permanent lung damage from catching COVID at age 45+, and still want to risk it, then that's your choice. Everyone should have a right to decide for themselves. Just doesn't make sense to me to take the risk, though, since presumably this will be gone or treatable at some point in the next 2 years.