Would masking reduce valley fever? (home, buying, gated)

[pathrunner]

Before I moved away from California exactly one year ago, Asians were the first to wear a mask and they were still wearing masks after most everyone had stopped.

[MixxDiddy]

I seriously can't believe the amount of people still clinging to this idea that putting cloths over their faces is actually effective at reducing airborne illnesses. It's literally become a form of superstition at this point.

Mask wearing had zero discernible REAL WORLD effect on transmission rates anywhere in the world. Masks absolutely did NOT reduce flu incidence. There are ZERO high quality randomized controlled trials proving Masks effectively mitigate Covid or Flu.

[MN-Born-n-Raised]

Originally Posted by MixxDiddy

I seriously can't believe the amount of people still clinging to this idea that putting cloths over their faces is actually effective at reducing airborne illnesses. It's literally become a form of superstition at this point.

Mask wearing had zero discernible REAL WORLD effect on transmission rates anywhere in the world. Masks absolutely did NOT reduce flu incidence. There are ZERO high quality randomized controlled trials proving Masks effectively mitigate Covid or Flu.

This article reviewed 19, randomized controlled trials. https://www.sciencedirect.com/scienc...20748920301139

Next time, open up your browser. Then type "Google.com" (this is called a search engine). Next, type in the search bar: "mask studies randomized controlled trials for virus". Then see what pops up before you post.

Now there is another option... The 19 randomized control studies were all flawed and the entire medical and scientific community are a bunch of technical dopes. Instead, Dr. MixxDiddy, (Stanford UG and Harvard MD PhD) says it's all B.S. Because the entire world was hoodwinked. Dude, you are BRILLIANT! Everyone else is so stupid.

So yes Dr. MixxDiddy, doctors, and nurses around the world are still going to cling to their "superstition" (a.k.a. masks). LOL

[FlurryCat]

Mask-wearing is the single most effective public health measure at tackling Covid, according to the first global study of its kind, which found that the measure was linked to a 53% fall in the incidence of the disease.

Summary article:

https://www.theguardian.com/world/20...id-study-finds


Source study:

https://www.bmj.com/content/375/bmj-2021-068302

[MixxDiddy]

Originally Posted by MN-Born-n-Raised

This article reviewed 19, randomized controlled trials. https://www.sciencedirect.com/scienc...20748920301139

Next time, open up your browser. Then type "Google.com" (this is called a search engine). Next, type in the search bar: "mask studies randomized controlled trials for virus". Then see what pops up before you post.

Now there is another option... The 19 randomized control studies were all flawed and the entire medical and scientific community are a bunch of technical dopes. Instead, Dr. MixxDiddy, (Stanford UG and Harvard MD PhD) says it's all B.S. Because the entire world was hoodwinked. Dude, you are BRILLIANT! Everyone else is so stupid.

So yes Dr. MixxDiddy, doctors, and nurses around the world are still going to cling to their "superstition" (a.k.a. masks). LOL

"Two North American trials of masks and respirators against influenza infection found no difference between the arms, but neither had a control arm to differentiate equal efficacy from equal inefficacy (Radonovich et al., 2019, Loeb et al., 2009). "

Your own 'source' LITERALLY proved no statistically meaningful benefit of mask wearing as a standalone intervention.

That is corroborated by real world data showing ZERO correlation between mask usage and Covid incidence rates. I can show hundreds of charts all over the world, of case rates being statistically congruent in neighboring jurisdictions despite different mask policies.

There are hundreds, if not thousands, of doctors all across the world who have been stating the obvious FACT that masks are useless. Including your beloved Dr. Fauci less than 2 years ago. Lol

So cut the BS. Any time someone says something as dense as "ArE aLL tHe sCienTisTs wRonG", that's an automatic signal to me that they have ZERO awareness of what "science" is besides what they hear on TV.

You do NOT want to debate me on this topic. I promise you.

[Strannik33]

Just to clarify a point debated above about doctors and nurses wearing basic surgical masks. I've been asking medical personnel about it for a while. Got the same answer every time: The masks are worn to protect the exposed flesh of the patient from the droplets from the doctors' and nurses' mouths. That's why they are called SURGICAL masks. They were never intended to protect the wearer from the virus, unlike the N95 masks specifically made for that.

[DetroitN8V]

Originally Posted by Strannik33

Just to clarify a point debated above about doctors and nurses wearing basic surgical masks. I've been asking medical personnel about it for a while. Got the same answer every time: The masks are worn to protect the exposed flesh of the patient from the droplets from the doctors' and nurses' mouths. That's why they are called SURGICAL masks. They were never intended to protect the wearer from the virus, unlike the N95 masks specifically made for that.

Precisely; they prevent droplet spread. Hence, why it's a team sport and when some choose to sit on the bench, results suffer.

[MN-Born-n-Raised]

Originally Posted by MixxDiddy

You do NOT want to debate me on this topic. I promise you.

Correct. I don't want to debate you. All the proof and words will go in your left ear and out your right.

[desert88]

Well, here's my view on it all.....viruses, bacteria, and a fungus which cause valley fever are WAY more intelligent than us humans. All it takes is some reading the science on what we know on how they survive and thrive, morph, change at the drop of a hat, evade, and it's obvious their intelligence and ability to survive and thrive is 2nd to none, Like science fiction. So thinking a silly cheap mask with large gaping holes vs the size of a fungus/spore, bacteria, or virus is the answer, well, I think it's obvious just on common sense alone it won't do that much if anything. Plus the issue of being uncomfortable to wear, breathing in your own carbon dioxide over long periods of time, user error in wearing them, all the gaps on the side of them, people constantly adjusting their masks, touching their face, etc. This isn't a lab, this is real world behavior of people that is obvious to see, even for a casual observer.

If evolution sprouts humans a "mask", I'm all for it and will accept it. I think it has been proven over and over again that our own immune systems are far more intelligent and effective in handling such things as valley fever than the jerry-rigged things humans come up with in comparison. And viruses, bacteria, and fungus always seem to be a step ahead of us. Create a drug, shot, to circumvent X? X figures out a way around it, often in short order......a new strain, new technique, new something or other to infect us. See COVID for exhibit A. See the history of any viral epidemic or bacterial disease. If only the human ego could accept this reality. Largely out of our control folks. I know we all like to believe humans can control things like viruses, bacteria, spores of valley fever, but I think history shows we can't in large part, beyond the simple common sense things like stay out of dust storms, wash your hands, don't touch your face, etc. Beyond that, sorry. That's life.

Beyond the obvious of not walking out in the middle of a dust storm, I think the best prevention of valley fever or any virus/bacterial infection is a strong immune system and science agrees. That's our best defense, period. Is it 100%? Of course not, nothing is, but it's the best defense we have, but only if it's primed and given the right fuel to perform at its peak. Same for getting viral and bacterial diseases. I think man's pills, procedures, shots, etc are a joke compared to what our immune system does and is capable of if it's given the chance, which means the obvious like truly eating healthy(vast majority of us don't), keeping a healthy weight which most of us don't(2/3 of people in the US are obese or overweight last I read), keeping active, proper sleep, getting some sun for vitamin D and a good attitude are great places to start and end. Hippocrates about let food be thy medicine and Einstein's words on the topic, 2 pretty smart dudes, had this figured out a long, long time ago.

[MN-Born-n-Raised]

Originally Posted by desert88

Well, here's my view on it all.....viruses, bacteria, and a fungus that cause valley fever are WAY more intelligent than us humans. So thinking a silly cheap mask with large gaping holes vs the size of a fungus/spore, bacteria, or virus is the answer, well, I think it's obvious just on common sense alone it won't do that much if anything. Plus the issue of being uncomfortable to wear, breathing in your own carbon dioxide over long periods of time, user error in wearing them, all the gaps on the side of them, people constantly adjusting their masks, touching their face, etc. This isn't a lab, this is real world behavior of people that is obvious to see, even for a casual observer.

Recently, real-world experience has taught me that there are a lot of people walking this planet that are terrible at math and science. Even worse, they lack critical thinking skills. In this thread (post #4), I laid out the details of N95's compared to the size of a fungus. Maybe it was over your head?

So reluctantly after reading your mostly train (reck) of thinking, I have to agree with you that with a subset of the population, the viruses, bacteria, and fungus are unfortunately WAY more "intelligent" than they are.

Originally Posted by desert88

If evolution sprouts humans a "mask", I'm all for it and will accept it. I think it has been proven over and over again that our own immune systems are far more intelligent and effective in handling such things as valley fever than the jerry-rigged things humans come up with in comparison.

Your post was far off in so many ways but we agree that having a better tuned immune system (reducing stress, being healthy, a good night's sleep, and food/vitamins) certainly is more important than wearing a mask. Therefore, people's immune system is the #1 force against fighting the virus by a LARGE margin. Analogy #1: people understand that they don't need to build body fat to stay warm. That's why clothes were invented. Analogy#2: I don't need to only rely on my well-protected evolutionary brain design while biking which includes skull bones plus cerebrospinal fluid to cushion my brain. So I can mitigate my risks by wearing a helmet. So people in a side-by-side riding in the desert, often wear a bandana or mask to help avoid valley fever. That might be a POS mask but it helps. We don't need to rely only on the small hairs in your nose that help filter out large particles or the mucus that is produced in the trachea and bronchial tubes that help in intercepting the desert dust. Now if you want to give your body a larger fungus load because you were not born with a mask and think that the "WAY more intelligent" Valley Fever is going to outsmart you... Well, now you know why I am disappointed in people's critical thinking skills.

Speaking of evolution, we all got the human brain. As in, it allows us to think about thinking. Some people got high-performance versions of the brain and can think their way out of problems by applying math and science to a situation. Yet others kind of got screwed and overthink their thinking. So in just one example of your post, if you think putting on a mask isn't warranted because we weren't designed with a mask, I'd suggest using your brain and understand post #4.