In last week’s letter to the editor (“Oxygen Up”), Christopher Calder made several points that beg a response.
When he says that the masks make humans dumber and angrier, a recent nonpartisan survey actually confirms that: those who refuse to wear masks are definitely angrier than the general public and they are also more likely to accept misinformation as fact.
He recommends wearing bandanas but only over the mouth (not the nose), even though bandanas have now proven to be the least effective of all available options. Cover your mouth but not your nose? You’re just as likely to spread the disease as if you were a mouth-breather wearing no mask at all.
His comparison of cloth masks and viruses to chain link fences and mosquitos has one big problem: Every major study confirms that face masks work.
Countries that have ordered a complete lockdown have, in fact, contained the disease. Unfortunately, that will never happen in the United States—so here, Mr. Calder is correct in stating that our best hope is to decelerate the virus.
One of the best ways to do that is by wearing a mask over your face and nose. Only the willfully misinformed refuse to believe that.
Just how misinformed is Mr. Calder? His letter claims that face masks reduce oxygen levels. This idiotic fallacy has been completely debunked by (among others) the American Lung Association, which states that “Masks absolutely do not cause low oxygen levels. There is absolutely no scientific evidence that mask wearing … weakens the immune system.”
As someone with very significant lung damage, I have a legitimate reason to not wear a mask. Yet I wear one every time I go out in public.
I just wish those like Mr. Calder would have the common courtesy and decency to do the same, as their adamant refusal to do so ultimately risks lives like mine. So, yes, Mr. Calder: “Face masks are making humans dumber.” To see one, just look in a mirror.
Anonymous