Article by: Kenneth J. Ester
Covid-19 and Whether We Should Wear Masks
I hate wearing masks! I hate how breathing my own hot breath causes my nose to start running. When as I stand in line in Kroger, sniffling, I worry that someone else is probably wondering if I have Covid that I am sniffling so much. I have an idea that I may have to try. I am thinking about twisting toilet paper nose cones and shoving them up my nostrils before putting my mask on. It's not like anyone would be able to tell I have them in there, nor would they know I was walking around with my mouth open to breath.
For a long time I fought against wearing masks at all. It wasn't until a state order forced me to start wearing them in public venues like stores that I started wearing them. I was definitely anti-mask and I even had the opinion that I would rather catch the virus than have to wear a stupid mask.
The common argument is that masks really don't protect you anyway. They stop you from spitting. They don't filter pathogens or germs or whatever out of the air you breathe. But that is not entirely true.
When someone has the virus, it is not like the germs of the virus is just floating in the air. It is actually carried on small droplets of moisture. Moisture that is sent into the air when we speak, cough and sneeze. Nobody likes to admit that they spit when they speak, but the truth is everyone does to some degree. Especially when certain consonants are sounded. The "P" sound or the "T" sound are major contributors to spitting. Especially when they follow an "S". One of the greatest words in the minds of many men, "Sports" can cause quite a bit of spittle. Those sounds need the aid of pushing air outwards through our wet lips. No matter how clean of a speaker you are, you are still going to spit using those sounds. Just with some, the spittle is to a minimum, but it is still there.
When someone sneezes, that spittle is sent out in larger droplets. Those larger droplets would carry larger amounts of the virus, making them more dangerous for others to inhale. However, the force of a sneeze will send the smallest droplets, called aerosols, out to a larger area. Someone quite a ways away from you might be affected by your spittle if you sneeze without covering up.
The thing with aerosols is that they are so tiny, they will float on the slightest air currents. They will eventually evaporate and become harmless, but for a few minutes even they can hang around. Those aerosols are created simply by speaking. They just don't spread as far by speaking as they do from a cough or a sneeze.
When we wear masks, they act like crude filters. They are not going to filter all of the aerosols. They don't always filter all of the mid-sized droplets. However, they filter the larger ones, most all of the mid-sized and even some of the aerosols. Then if someone walks through the aerosols you created, some of those aerosols will stick to their mask as they breathe it in. Likely, most of the aerosols will evaporate before you breathe them in and what doesn't, will catch on your mask. What isn't filtered or evaporated, hopefully will not be enough to cause any harm.
You see, not only do you need to inhale the virus to catch it, you need to inhale enough of it. One germ is not going to infect you.
Here is the thing that I always ignored in my hate for wearing masks. I argued that masks didn't really protect you anyway. The truth is, they offer you limited protection, but if they only filtered 80% of the aerosols, it's still 80% less likely you will catch it! If they only offer 50% protection, isn't that a whole lot better than no protection?
It's not all about you!
As a nation, we have grown very selfish. We always worry about how we are affected but too often we do not think about everyone else. In this particular case, it is important to keep in mind the fact that we can catch the virus and spread it without ever showing any symptoms.
I used to think that I shouldn't have to wear masks if I didn't want to. Hey, if I want to risk getting it, that's my choice! Right? So let's pretend I choose the right to not wear a mask and I catch it. Only I am one of the carriers and I never show any symptoms. For the next 2 or 3 weeks, I will be walking around and passing it on to those I love. My wife, my step-kids and my brothers. I could pass it on to people at work. My brothers could pass it on to my mother and their kids and wives. My step-kids can pass it on to my grand-kids. A guy at work could spread it to his child who has asthma. Someone else can spread it to their elderly grandparent who could spread it to their friends at the home. It's not just you who might suffer being sick. It is those you accidentally pass it on to before you ever have any symptoms to know you are sick! It is the child with asthma's life at stake. The elderly people who could die from it.
All these people can become sick and even die because you chose not to wear a mask for a few minutes going into stores. Because you chose to hang around some friends without a mask. All because your own personal comfort was more important to you than the damage you can cause.
Can that still happen even if you wear a mask? Absolutely, but the odds are much less likely!
If two people are only three feet apart and one of them has the virus, but both are wearing masks, the odds are still unlikely the other will catch it. If either is not wearing a mask, the odds go up. If neither is wearing a mask, the odds are much higher! If you spread it to someone and they pass it on to someone who dies from it, and you were wearing a mask and not hanging all over them, then nobody can really blame you when you were trying to do the right thing. However if you don't wear a mask and you spread it to someone and it results in a death? You are not blame free!
Wearing a mask is not the end of the world! It is a simple inconvenience, and you are nothing but pure selfish if you don't care about the possibility catching it and spreading it to others. Remember, unlike other viruses, with Covid-19, you are contagious well before you even know you have it! That is why it is important to wear masks for this virus and not for colds and flues!
God would have you wear a mask!
A lot of Christians argue that it's wrong to wear a mask. Some believe that it shows a lack of faith because if you wear a mask, you are caving into fear. This is false doctrine being taught at its best. A false doctrine that I was falling for as well.
I have told many that I truly believe that I will not catch it unless God wants me to, whether I wear a mask or not. If God doesn't want me to have it, I won't catch it. Mask or not! In truth I really do believe that. I do not fear this virus in the least bit. My faith is truly in God.
However, when you truly study the Word of God, you learn there is a major difference between having faith in God and testing God. We are to have faith in God. We are not to test God!
When the Apostle Paul was bit in the hand by a venomous snake, the indigenous people of the island he was on all watched, expecting him to collapse and die. Only Paul simply shook it off his hand and continued to work and God protected him from that venom affecting Him. That is because Paul had faith in God. What Paul did not do is pick up the snake to prove that God would protect him. That would have been testing God. If your actions are reckless and deliberately place God in a position to protect you, that is testing God. If the situation just happens to you by pure happenstance, then it is having faith that God will protect you.
We know for a fact that this virus is real. We know that wearing masks will help protect us from spreading it and to a much lesser degree, protect us from getting it. If you go without a mask, that is purposely being reckless and putting God in a position to protect you. That is testing God! If you wear the mask, then it is having faith in God to protect you from any aerosols the mask does not filter.
Look, I know how annoying this entire pandemic is. I fully believe that the numbers are grossly exaggerated. I know that there are a lot of false positive tests being counted. Just in my company there were 5 positive tests and 3 of them ended up false positives. Over half! So I would not be surprised if nearly half of the 11.6 million people who have had Covid-19 in America so far were actually false positives.
I know the virus itself is likely no more dangerous than the flu. I believe hospitals are claiming every death they can to be Covid-19. I am in full agreement with many of you when it comes to all the lies the government and media are pushing on us. But none of that stops the virus from being real! Not one bit of that means that you can't spread it before you even show any symptoms. And that is why this virus is more dangerous than the flu. Not because it will kill as many in comparison, but because we can catch it and spread it before we have any idea we have it. For that reason alone it is worth wearing a mask when around others outside your own household.
For a long time I fought against wearing masks at all. It wasn't until a state order forced me to start wearing them in public venues like stores that I started wearing them. I was definitely anti-mask and I even had the opinion that I would rather catch the virus than have to wear a stupid mask.
The common argument is that masks really don't protect you anyway. They stop you from spitting. They don't filter pathogens or germs or whatever out of the air you breathe. But that is not entirely true.
When someone has the virus, it is not like the germs of the virus is just floating in the air. It is actually carried on small droplets of moisture. Moisture that is sent into the air when we speak, cough and sneeze. Nobody likes to admit that they spit when they speak, but the truth is everyone does to some degree. Especially when certain consonants are sounded. The "P" sound or the "T" sound are major contributors to spitting. Especially when they follow an "S". One of the greatest words in the minds of many men, "Sports" can cause quite a bit of spittle. Those sounds need the aid of pushing air outwards through our wet lips. No matter how clean of a speaker you are, you are still going to spit using those sounds. Just with some, the spittle is to a minimum, but it is still there.
When someone sneezes, that spittle is sent out in larger droplets. Those larger droplets would carry larger amounts of the virus, making them more dangerous for others to inhale. However, the force of a sneeze will send the smallest droplets, called aerosols, out to a larger area. Someone quite a ways away from you might be affected by your spittle if you sneeze without covering up.
The thing with aerosols is that they are so tiny, they will float on the slightest air currents. They will eventually evaporate and become harmless, but for a few minutes even they can hang around. Those aerosols are created simply by speaking. They just don't spread as far by speaking as they do from a cough or a sneeze.
When we wear masks, they act like crude filters. They are not going to filter all of the aerosols. They don't always filter all of the mid-sized droplets. However, they filter the larger ones, most all of the mid-sized and even some of the aerosols. Then if someone walks through the aerosols you created, some of those aerosols will stick to their mask as they breathe it in. Likely, most of the aerosols will evaporate before you breathe them in and what doesn't, will catch on your mask. What isn't filtered or evaporated, hopefully will not be enough to cause any harm.
You see, not only do you need to inhale the virus to catch it, you need to inhale enough of it. One germ is not going to infect you.
Here is the thing that I always ignored in my hate for wearing masks. I argued that masks didn't really protect you anyway. The truth is, they offer you limited protection, but if they only filtered 80% of the aerosols, it's still 80% less likely you will catch it! If they only offer 50% protection, isn't that a whole lot better than no protection?
It's not all about you!
As a nation, we have grown very selfish. We always worry about how we are affected but too often we do not think about everyone else. In this particular case, it is important to keep in mind the fact that we can catch the virus and spread it without ever showing any symptoms.
I used to think that I shouldn't have to wear masks if I didn't want to. Hey, if I want to risk getting it, that's my choice! Right? So let's pretend I choose the right to not wear a mask and I catch it. Only I am one of the carriers and I never show any symptoms. For the next 2 or 3 weeks, I will be walking around and passing it on to those I love. My wife, my step-kids and my brothers. I could pass it on to people at work. My brothers could pass it on to my mother and their kids and wives. My step-kids can pass it on to my grand-kids. A guy at work could spread it to his child who has asthma. Someone else can spread it to their elderly grandparent who could spread it to their friends at the home. It's not just you who might suffer being sick. It is those you accidentally pass it on to before you ever have any symptoms to know you are sick! It is the child with asthma's life at stake. The elderly people who could die from it.
All these people can become sick and even die because you chose not to wear a mask for a few minutes going into stores. Because you chose to hang around some friends without a mask. All because your own personal comfort was more important to you than the damage you can cause.
Can that still happen even if you wear a mask? Absolutely, but the odds are much less likely!
If two people are only three feet apart and one of them has the virus, but both are wearing masks, the odds are still unlikely the other will catch it. If either is not wearing a mask, the odds go up. If neither is wearing a mask, the odds are much higher! If you spread it to someone and they pass it on to someone who dies from it, and you were wearing a mask and not hanging all over them, then nobody can really blame you when you were trying to do the right thing. However if you don't wear a mask and you spread it to someone and it results in a death? You are not blame free!
Wearing a mask is not the end of the world! It is a simple inconvenience, and you are nothing but pure selfish if you don't care about the possibility catching it and spreading it to others. Remember, unlike other viruses, with Covid-19, you are contagious well before you even know you have it! That is why it is important to wear masks for this virus and not for colds and flues!
God would have you wear a mask!
A lot of Christians argue that it's wrong to wear a mask. Some believe that it shows a lack of faith because if you wear a mask, you are caving into fear. This is false doctrine being taught at its best. A false doctrine that I was falling for as well.
I have told many that I truly believe that I will not catch it unless God wants me to, whether I wear a mask or not. If God doesn't want me to have it, I won't catch it. Mask or not! In truth I really do believe that. I do not fear this virus in the least bit. My faith is truly in God.
However, when you truly study the Word of God, you learn there is a major difference between having faith in God and testing God. We are to have faith in God. We are not to test God!
When the Apostle Paul was bit in the hand by a venomous snake, the indigenous people of the island he was on all watched, expecting him to collapse and die. Only Paul simply shook it off his hand and continued to work and God protected him from that venom affecting Him. That is because Paul had faith in God. What Paul did not do is pick up the snake to prove that God would protect him. That would have been testing God. If your actions are reckless and deliberately place God in a position to protect you, that is testing God. If the situation just happens to you by pure happenstance, then it is having faith that God will protect you.
We know for a fact that this virus is real. We know that wearing masks will help protect us from spreading it and to a much lesser degree, protect us from getting it. If you go without a mask, that is purposely being reckless and putting God in a position to protect you. That is testing God! If you wear the mask, then it is having faith in God to protect you from any aerosols the mask does not filter.
Look, I know how annoying this entire pandemic is. I fully believe that the numbers are grossly exaggerated. I know that there are a lot of false positive tests being counted. Just in my company there were 5 positive tests and 3 of them ended up false positives. Over half! So I would not be surprised if nearly half of the 11.6 million people who have had Covid-19 in America so far were actually false positives.
I know the virus itself is likely no more dangerous than the flu. I believe hospitals are claiming every death they can to be Covid-19. I am in full agreement with many of you when it comes to all the lies the government and media are pushing on us. But none of that stops the virus from being real! Not one bit of that means that you can't spread it before you even show any symptoms. And that is why this virus is more dangerous than the flu. Not because it will kill as many in comparison, but because we can catch it and spread it before we have any idea we have it. For that reason alone it is worth wearing a mask when around others outside your own household.