Vincent J. Curtis
20 July 20
When you’re
in the presence of Hamilton city council, it’s easy to get the feeling that you’re the
smartest person in the room. The mandatory masking by-law is one
example. The by-law’s perverse incentives create a false sense of
security. If the by-law were serious, we’d see words like NIOSH and FDA
in it, but we don’t. The by-law is a bow to the mob in the service of an
irrational aim.
The mantra
of “my mask protects you and your mask protects me” fails under the
by-law. My respirator-mask filters the air on intake, and bypasses
filtration on exhaust. My mask protects me from you, but not you from
me. A surgical mask is intended to protect those around the wearer from
germ-laden particulates exhausted by the wearer, though these have a leakage
rate of between 10 – 25 percent. Loose-fitting, they do not protect the
wearer from small particles being breathed in from the outside.
Luckily,
much of this doesn’t matter. Only a small proportion of the population is
contagious at any time, and, absent the virus, masks are irrelevant. In
addition, social distancing of 1 meter or more is sufficient protection unless
you are in a crowd indoors with contagious people. In that case, a NIOSH
approved respirator is indicated. A scarf won’t do.
The by-law
is useless on its own terms.
-30-
No comments:
Post a Comment