<story><title>The case against masks at school</title><url>https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/01/kids-masks-schools-weak-science/621133/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>PaulDavisThe1st</author><text>[ EDIT: other commenters response to this comment made me go look up some original research on the topic. As a result, I fully retract what I&amp;#x27;ve said below. I found several papers that report substantial restrictions of airflow from wearing a correctly fitted N95 mask.&lt;p&gt;I was wrong, and I apologize for the misinformation. I did try to explicitly say that I was not doubting someone&amp;#x27;s experiences, but I apologize for appearing to do that too. I&amp;#x27;ve left the text up because that seems more honest. ]&lt;p&gt;I do not want to seek to diminish your very real anxiety and panic issues.&lt;p&gt;But you should be aware that there is no actual reduced inflow of air due to mask wearing, certainly not one that you would detect physiologically. In 2020, there were numerous demonstrations of this, both with actual measurements (lung volume, blood oxygen etc.) and with more anecdotal illustrations such as vigorous exercise even while wearing multiple masks.&lt;p&gt;Your mental conditions matter, and I hope you are able find ways to live reasonably happily without too much anxiety.</text></item><item><author>hydrok9</author><text>How about if you have anxiety issues and the reduced inflow of air from masks gives you panic attacks? This has been my life for this pandemic. I take medication but it does not stop them 100% from happening, and I have to use anti-anxiety techniques most times I put one on to stop from being overwhelmed by anticipation. Does anyone care about people like me? It sure feels like they don&amp;#x27;t. And I have seen my physical and mental condition degrade largely due to this (I was never personally panicked by the virus itself). There are others like me and it is deeply upsetting that we have to suffer like this.</text></item><item><author>spookthesunset</author><text>For two years we’ve been asked to park our problems and to act like literally all that matters is the spread of Covid. Nothing else matters. Just a myopic fixation on the spread of one highly infectious respiratory virus.&lt;p&gt;Even a year after vaccines we are still being asked to treat Covid like it is the #1 priority in our lives. More important than our well being, our mental health, our communities, our children, or anything else.&lt;p&gt;Heaven help you if your value system is incompatible with such an idea. Be prepared to be yelled at, called names, lose your career, and become marginalized.</text></item><item><author>throwaway22032</author><text>This is the fundamental issue with coronavirus mitigation measures. There are circumstances in which &amp;quot;drop everything&amp;quot; makes sense - if coronavirus were ten times more fatal, we&amp;#x27;d do it naturally.&lt;p&gt;But in general, looking at life from a perspective of &amp;quot;what is the minimum possible quality of life we can have&amp;quot; is depressing and fundamentally incompatible with the human spirit.&lt;p&gt;I tend to think that people who operate in this way are subhuman, in the genuine sense of the word - they seem more like bureaucratic automatons than living beings with spirits and hopes and dreams.&lt;p&gt;Like, yeah, I will take the risk of contracting coronavirus to play the piano, because I want the piano in my life. The piano is what life is, life is not simply breathing and eating.</text></item><item><author>criddell</author><text>My kids attend a university in Canada and live in residence on campus. They have had incredibly strict rules around masking and gatherings. It&amp;#x27;s clear that they are only considering one variable - number of infections - and it seems like they aren&amp;#x27;t considering any other factors.&lt;p&gt;For example, in the dorm there is a common area with a piano. Because of COVID, playing that piano is banned. Even if there was a reasonable danger of contracting COVID from a piano, there are also mental health benefits to playing music. It doesn&amp;#x27;t feel like the piano ban is in the best interests of the people who live there and I don&amp;#x27;t think the people who set the rules care because they can&amp;#x27;t measure that. They can only measure infections.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>tintor</author><text>You must be joking!
Have you tried exercising with surgical mask or N95 respirator?
I train regularly with N95 since Omicron started and they definitely negatively affect airflow and aerobic exercise performance. N95 respirator even more than surgical mask. I am used to them and don&amp;#x27;t have anxiety, but they aren&amp;#x27;t comfortable at all. They also affect temperature of air that you are inhaling as it mixes inside the mask with the hot air that you exhale, increasing your rest and cooldown time.</text></comment>
<story><title>The case against masks at school</title><url>https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/01/kids-masks-schools-weak-science/621133/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>PaulDavisThe1st</author><text>[ EDIT: other commenters response to this comment made me go look up some original research on the topic. As a result, I fully retract what I&amp;#x27;ve said below. I found several papers that report substantial restrictions of airflow from wearing a correctly fitted N95 mask.&lt;p&gt;I was wrong, and I apologize for the misinformation. I did try to explicitly say that I was not doubting someone&amp;#x27;s experiences, but I apologize for appearing to do that too. I&amp;#x27;ve left the text up because that seems more honest. ]&lt;p&gt;I do not want to seek to diminish your very real anxiety and panic issues.&lt;p&gt;But you should be aware that there is no actual reduced inflow of air due to mask wearing, certainly not one that you would detect physiologically. In 2020, there were numerous demonstrations of this, both with actual measurements (lung volume, blood oxygen etc.) and with more anecdotal illustrations such as vigorous exercise even while wearing multiple masks.&lt;p&gt;Your mental conditions matter, and I hope you are able find ways to live reasonably happily without too much anxiety.</text></item><item><author>hydrok9</author><text>How about if you have anxiety issues and the reduced inflow of air from masks gives you panic attacks? This has been my life for this pandemic. I take medication but it does not stop them 100% from happening, and I have to use anti-anxiety techniques most times I put one on to stop from being overwhelmed by anticipation. Does anyone care about people like me? It sure feels like they don&amp;#x27;t. And I have seen my physical and mental condition degrade largely due to this (I was never personally panicked by the virus itself). There are others like me and it is deeply upsetting that we have to suffer like this.</text></item><item><author>spookthesunset</author><text>For two years we’ve been asked to park our problems and to act like literally all that matters is the spread of Covid. Nothing else matters. Just a myopic fixation on the spread of one highly infectious respiratory virus.&lt;p&gt;Even a year after vaccines we are still being asked to treat Covid like it is the #1 priority in our lives. More important than our well being, our mental health, our communities, our children, or anything else.&lt;p&gt;Heaven help you if your value system is incompatible with such an idea. Be prepared to be yelled at, called names, lose your career, and become marginalized.</text></item><item><author>throwaway22032</author><text>This is the fundamental issue with coronavirus mitigation measures. There are circumstances in which &amp;quot;drop everything&amp;quot; makes sense - if coronavirus were ten times more fatal, we&amp;#x27;d do it naturally.&lt;p&gt;But in general, looking at life from a perspective of &amp;quot;what is the minimum possible quality of life we can have&amp;quot; is depressing and fundamentally incompatible with the human spirit.&lt;p&gt;I tend to think that people who operate in this way are subhuman, in the genuine sense of the word - they seem more like bureaucratic automatons than living beings with spirits and hopes and dreams.&lt;p&gt;Like, yeah, I will take the risk of contracting coronavirus to play the piano, because I want the piano in my life. The piano is what life is, life is not simply breathing and eating.</text></item><item><author>criddell</author><text>My kids attend a university in Canada and live in residence on campus. They have had incredibly strict rules around masking and gatherings. It&amp;#x27;s clear that they are only considering one variable - number of infections - and it seems like they aren&amp;#x27;t considering any other factors.&lt;p&gt;For example, in the dorm there is a common area with a piano. Because of COVID, playing that piano is banned. Even if there was a reasonable danger of contracting COVID from a piano, there are also mental health benefits to playing music. It doesn&amp;#x27;t feel like the piano ban is in the best interests of the people who live there and I don&amp;#x27;t think the people who set the rules care because they can&amp;#x27;t measure that. They can only measure infections.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>jaywalk</author><text>Pure, unadulterated BS. I was in the hospital for a few days last year (unrelated to Covid) and as part of the standard discharge process, I had to walk around (with a mask on) while my blood oxygen was measured. It was slightly low, so the nurse said &amp;quot;take off your mask for a second&amp;quot; and sure enough, it popped right back up to normal. She said she sees it with almost everyone.&lt;p&gt;You&amp;#x27;re breathing in less air, and more CO2. There is no way it&amp;#x27;s &lt;i&gt;not&lt;/i&gt; going to have an impact.</text></comment>