Column: Masks are not a viable option for USC Aiken
Content note: This is an opinion article and should be taken as such. The contents of this article are the opinions of the writer and are not the beliefs of the staff, student body or institution.
I believe that masks on campus are not a viable option for reducing the risk of transmission from the infected.
The Ulsan College of Medicine in Seoul, South Korea published a research letter Apr. 6 in the Annals of Internal Medicine that compared the effectiveness of surgical and cotton masks.
Four patients diagnosed with the coronavirus coughed five times into a petri dish while wearing no mask, a surgical mask, a cotton mask and again with no mask. The study found that droplets of the coronavirus were being released into the environment regardless of mask use.
The cotton mask is the most effective in reducing the amount of the disease being released into the environment, but cotton masks are only 0.71 log copies/mL short of how many germs were found after an unprotected cough, according to this study.
Harvard researchers believe the risk of transmitting the COVID-19 virus is strongly correlated with the duration and intensity of contact. The risk of transmission among household members is up to 40%, whereas passing encounters is well below 5%.
From Texas A&M, the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences concluded masks were essential in curbing the spread, but the study they drew this conclusion from studied how viral particles were spread and extrapolated, therefore it wasn’t designed to jump to those kinds of conclusions. This study isn’t relevant to the efficacy of wearing masks, although it is one that is heavily mentioned and relied upon by mainstream media groups.
In classrooms where social distancing is impossible, the only real purpose of wearing masks is to make people feel better. Wearing a mask itself has become a sign of respect because of how much the efficacy of the masks has been over-exaggerated. It’s important to understand the risk and consider the steps we take to lessen that risk without blindly believing what mainstream media leads us to believe.
