Look At It This Way (#LAITW)

Let’s try a little thought experiment. Einstein used thought experiments to uncover many of the discoveries he made.

It’s about face-coverings for COVID. Picture yourself wearing a typical face mask. You know it doesn’t make a really good seal between you and the open air because if it did you’d asphyxiate. So how good a seal does it make?

For starters, just observe a lot of face masks in action. Are the nose AND mouth covered? Are there gaps between the circumference of the mask and the wearer’s skin? Can you picture air getting out of any of those gaps?

OK, here’s the thought experiment. Imagine yourself in a large ballroom all by yourself in a corner, sitting on a chair, wearing a mask, and smoking a cigarette. I know, it would be terribly hard to smoke a cigarette without disrupting the mask-wearing, but that’s where your brain comes in – imagine that you could smoke a cigarette without constantly taking the mask on and off.

Do you think you would see smoke coming out either through or around the mask? Remember your observations about how masks are generally worn.

Now, imagine there’s another person in this large ballroom in the opposite corner from you. How long do you think it would be before that person smelled smoke? In other words, how long would it take for your smoke particles to get up that other person’s nostrils from many yards away?

Now realize that a coronavirus is smaller than a smoke particle on average.

Does thinking that through change your opinion on the efficacy of masks?

Next time we’ll ask… For whatever help masks provide, what is the price? How, if in any way, does wearing a mask do harm?