Scientist Demonstrates The Effect Of Wearing A Mask Vs. Not Wearing One
Interview With AuthorEven though plenty of countries are relaxing coronavirus lockdown rules and businesses are reopening, the Covid-19 pandemic hasn’t gone anywhere. This means that wearing a mask is just as important now as it was a month or two ago. However, masks are only recommended, not compulsory in many places, even though wearing one makes a huge difference.
Researcher Rich Davis showed everyone on Twitter just how important wearing a mask is with a simple experiment using agar cultures. The scientist demonstrated that masks greatly reduce the spread of respiratory droplets and bacteria. Which is a win when we’re in the middle of a pandemic. Dr. Davis told Bored Panda that he was asked to try and show the effectiveness of mask-wearing. “This type of demonstration isn’t new which is one reason I’ve definitely been surprised at the huge online response.” Scroll down to see what a difference wearing a mask makes and read on for the rest of our interview with Dr. Davis.
When you’re done reading this post, dear Pandas, have a look through our earlier article where a doctor demonstrates how wearing different masks affects your body.
Rich Davis demonstrated just how big of a difference wearing a mask makes
He then showed what effect keeping your distance has
He repeated that masks are important to slowing the spread of the coronavirus
Somebody even summarized his little experiment in a video
It’s amazing how much good one little mask can do! Check out how a normal, everyday mask keeps respiratory droplets from spreading outside your body, potentially sharing viruses. pic.twitter.com/zeXyemJwO8
— Providence Eastern WA (@providence_phc) June 26, 2020
Rich’s demonstration got a lot of attention
Exclusive: How effective is a mask? We headed to @providence_phc‘s lab with @richdavisphd to find out. I did the following with and without a mask: talk, sing, cough, and sneeze. We just got the results today. Full story airs tonight at 6 on @KHQLocalNews. pic.twitter.com/I32VhXXEfF
— Kevin Kim (@NewsWithKevin) June 26, 2020
The role of mask: comparison of airflow when people wearing and not wearing mask talk and cough. (video: LaVision) pic.twitter.com/iDfKMUDslW
— People’s Daily, China (@PDChina) April 6, 2020
Rich said that he enjoyed talking to people about his demonstration
Image credits: richdavisphd
The expert told us that there are some times and places that wearing a mask isn’t necessary. “If you have not been exposed and don’t have symptoms of a respiratory disease, not wearing a mask around the people with whom you are quarantined (family, significant other, etc.) or when you’re alone. When in public, since it is often impossible to maintain 6 ft of distance, masking is always a good idea. There’s evidence that being outdoors (when droplets and aerosols don’t concentrate like they would in a crowded, enclosed space) is safer, but again if you might be in close proximity to others, a mask would still be a good idea.”
Dr. Davis explained that the purpose of his demonstration was to show that what comes from your mouth and throat while talking, coughing, sneezing, and singing can “largely be blocked” by wearing a mask. “Viruses are many times smaller than bacteria, but the virus that causes COVID-19 is thought to mostly be transmitted, not free-floating in the air, but in large droplets like the kind produced by these behaviors. So even if a mask without an air-tight seal doesn’t block all droplets that might be produced, it can certainly block a large portion of them.”
The number of new cases is rising again in the US
Rich is the director of the clinical microbiology laboratory at Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center in Spokane, Washington. His informative and to-the-point post got a lot of attention online. He got over 280.4k likes, his post was retweeted more than 166k times, and someone even made a video summary of his experiment! It’s a good thing Rich’s post was seen by so many people, considering that the coronavirus has made a resurgence in some places.
The situation isn’t as optimistic as we’d like it to be. The number of people who died with Covid-19 has surpassed half a million, globally. What’s more, since the coronavirus outbreak started, there have been over 10 million cases of infected.
The number of cases is rising in 30 US states, the BBC reports. While more than 400k people are under a new lockdown in the Chinese province of Hebei. It’s a confusing time because while some countries are seeing the number of cases go up, other places are further relaxing restrictions. For example, more and more businesses are reopening in Scotland, students are returning to schools in Wales after a 3-month break.
Here’s how some people reacted to Rich’s Twitter thread
Image credits: ontheriversedge
Image credits: nishan572
Image credits: SeeLuluRun
Image credits: IAMJohn_Harrell
Image credits: PattyArquette
I do not understand why some people think being told to wear a mask, during a pandemic, is considered having their freedoms taken away from them. That is like someone complaining about not being allowed to drive down a sidewalk.
You are talking about people who lack common sense. I tried explaining to one of them one day about the dangers of not wearing a mask, and I might as well have had a conversation with the wall. I hope the thinking shifts now that a lot of them are getting sick, but I’m still not too hopeful.
Load More Replies...If this were only about choosing whether or not to protect *yourself* from danger, then the "right to choose" would apply. But that's not the case. Not wearing a mask means you're choosing to put *others* in danger. I wear a mask to protect the people *you* love. Please please PLEASE protect those I love too.
That's what wearing a mask is about. It's not about protecting yourself, it's about protecting others. My mother says, "Your rights end where my nose begins." My right to not be sick supersedes your "right" to not wear a mask.
Load More Replies...I hate using the masks (I feel like I'm asphyxiating) but I don't leave my house without it because I realize that a small inconvenience is preferable than bringing the disease home where my family and/or neighbors could get infected.
Get surgical-quality masks. They are very comfortable to wear. The cheapo ones are plasticky and suffocating. Difference in the material.
Load More Replies...Why is the OG image (the image defined to be captured by social media) cropped in a way that completely misrepresents the results? The 6 foot distance comparison image is used, which at a glance down a facebook feed means total misrepresentation of the issue The image in question: no-mask-vs..._700-1.jpg
Why is this still an issue??? Even operation ouch handsome doctors already demostrate a mask works!! Operation ouch is a kids show!!!! If kids can get it, why it is so hard to Karens out there to understand???
Good information, but this won't sway all those people who really don't care about anyone besides themselves.
My friend still won't believe that she needs a mask. I don't go places with her anymore.
Thank you Rich Davis. The photos are very helpful. WHY haven't major medical bodies done such testing -- including different types of masks popular on the market today? It leaves mask wearers leaning on mere DIAGNOSED CASES and MOUNTING DEATH TOLLS in the face of "anti-maskers"feelings."
At the beginning, we were told that the virus was so small that a mask would not make a difference. What happened with that?
It's a case where both statements are true. If an unmasked person sneezed right into the face of a person wearing a face covering, there is a chance that viruses riding on very small aerosol droplets might get through. In that scenario, the mask didn't make a difference. However, if both people are wearing masks, the droplets are stopped from transferring, as shown above. It's like in the (gross but accurate) pee analogy: If no one wore pants and someone was standing next to you and peed, it would get all over you. If you wore pants but they didn't, you'd be somewhat protected but some would still get to your skin. If you both wear pants, though, you're protected.
Load More Replies...Yet It's clear over the last 12 months of worldwide spread of COVID-19 the poorest countries on earth have proven COVID-19 to be either an inconsequential heath issue or a lot of people are naturally immune to COVID-19! Burma, Ghana, India, Laos are perfect examples! The 30 poorest countries on earth where nearly nothing is done to control COVID-19 the Case/Infection rate per million, Death rate per million is 1/10 that of the United States & 90% of the populace there have never seen a N95 mask and wouldn't know how to use it if they had!! But imagine if Regressives could just get 70% of the rest of earths human & some domesticated pets population to wear masks they could cure an overwhelmingly non-lethal virus. Thank goodness COVID-19 has cut the heart failure, Lower Respiratory failure rate death by drowning & falling off ladders rates in half in the United States, too bad that anomaly didn't transfer to third world countries! WEAR A MASK. Stay inside, not doing so might kill you!
When I saw the photo I thought it was tomato soup and tomato soup with a bit of basil so now I feel a bit sick.
As the poster calling himself "ontheriversedge" proves, even when benefits are clearly demonstrated, some people just insist on being f*****g stupid.
What I really don't get is why anyone with any Coronavirus symptoms needs to be out in public in the first place...
They don’t, but not everyone infected shows symptoms.
Load More Replies...This needs to be on every billboard, news cast, Twitter feed, TikTok, etc., everywhere! (I'm old so I don't know all the "new fangled" ways to communicate. Sorry-not sorry.)
Wonderful, simple demonstration for those with all sorts of excuses not to wear a mask..
Now we only need to get USA to understand this actually is true. Okay some of them.Many of them?
https://www.greenmedinfo.com/blog/masks-dont-work-review-science-relevant-covid-19-social-policy-0
Oh balderdash. Greenmedinfo my eye. Try using a reliable source instead: https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)31142-9/fulltext
Load More Replies...I do not understand the constant posting about wearing a mask. We have endured this for several months now, there is literally no one in the world that does not know about COVID. At this point, things like these demonstrations are just for attention. When you try too hard or push so much, it makes people suspicious.
My friend doesn't wear a mask! She thinks it a political thing. I don't go places with her.
Load More Replies...This guy needs to do this experiment with an actual infected person...your water droplets are not the covid 19 virus
It's a nice representation of how far your cough travels. With or without Covid-19.
Load More Replies...Folks what don't wear a mask around strangers are the same f*****s that don't wear condoms.
I’d say more like the same people who don’t wash their hands after using the restroom.
Load More Replies...This experiment is flawed. He admits corona is smaller than water droplets. It can pass through the filters of even the n95 mask. So he counters by saying the corona is passed most likely by water droplets. But its the water droplets that are stopped by the mask and not covid 19. Once launched by a sneeze,cough,talking...these smaller particles will continue to travel outward. He presents a cool experiment but he is using ordinary bacteria in his mouth to justify the use of a mask..science proves to us the covid 19 particles are smaller and the n95 are not rated to stop it And im not even anti mask...but use good science instead of nonscense. Look up the covid 19 particles size..look up the rating on a 3m n95 filter mask. Covid 19 passes right through...and most of you dont even own one. Your useing a bandana...which most likely allows tons of bacteria to escape
Covid-19 is not a dry airborne virus, if it was, everyone would've gotten it by now. Do you expect the virus miraculously separate itself from the saliva in the second it leaves your mouth? It has no mechanism that would enable it to tear free from inside of the droplets.
Load More Replies...You still don’t get it. You don’t wear a mask to protect yourself. You wear it to protect others from you and your exhalations. And since it’s possible to be infected and not have any symptoms, you might be spreading the virus without knowing it. If everyone wore masks while outside among others, the spread of Covid-19 would be greatly slowed down. And in the end, that DOES protect you, because if fewer people around you have the virus, the chance you’ll catch it is lower.
Load More Replies...So you're saying he's being deceptive? And how long did you work with agar plates? I have also and I say you're off in your assessment.
Load More Replies...Your grandma's grandma lost children to as little as a tiny scratch from a puppy's teeth. When your immune system deals with new bacteria/viruses, it either fails and you die or gets through it and you -maybe- get immunity to that disease. You won't know for sure which category you'll fall into when you get sick. Immune system trained on flu and dirt won't protect you against anything else.
Load More Replies...The CDC says wear masks, that's their job... to advise how to control disease. People who then decided to protest in public without masks and demand hair cuts made it political.
Load More Replies...This is a new virus and many “average, healthy” people have died from it. Even if that were not the case, I like how you completely missed the point of this demonstration by stating that “those who are compromised should perhaps wear masks.” The masks are so YOU do not spread to OTHERS, not vice versa. You can carry the virus without getting sick, but can infect others with it. By refusing to wear a mask, you prove that you care about no one but yourself, and do not care if your actions kill others.
Load More Replies...Colin, you're surely a functional illiterate because it clearly says they're not stopping either viruses or bacteria but RESPIRATORY DROPLETS THAT CARRY THEM.
Load More Replies...I do not understand why some people think being told to wear a mask, during a pandemic, is considered having their freedoms taken away from them. That is like someone complaining about not being allowed to drive down a sidewalk.
You are talking about people who lack common sense. I tried explaining to one of them one day about the dangers of not wearing a mask, and I might as well have had a conversation with the wall. I hope the thinking shifts now that a lot of them are getting sick, but I’m still not too hopeful.
Load More Replies...If this were only about choosing whether or not to protect *yourself* from danger, then the "right to choose" would apply. But that's not the case. Not wearing a mask means you're choosing to put *others* in danger. I wear a mask to protect the people *you* love. Please please PLEASE protect those I love too.
That's what wearing a mask is about. It's not about protecting yourself, it's about protecting others. My mother says, "Your rights end where my nose begins." My right to not be sick supersedes your "right" to not wear a mask.
Load More Replies...I hate using the masks (I feel like I'm asphyxiating) but I don't leave my house without it because I realize that a small inconvenience is preferable than bringing the disease home where my family and/or neighbors could get infected.
Get surgical-quality masks. They are very comfortable to wear. The cheapo ones are plasticky and suffocating. Difference in the material.
Load More Replies...Why is the OG image (the image defined to be captured by social media) cropped in a way that completely misrepresents the results? The 6 foot distance comparison image is used, which at a glance down a facebook feed means total misrepresentation of the issue The image in question: no-mask-vs..._700-1.jpg
Why is this still an issue??? Even operation ouch handsome doctors already demostrate a mask works!! Operation ouch is a kids show!!!! If kids can get it, why it is so hard to Karens out there to understand???
Good information, but this won't sway all those people who really don't care about anyone besides themselves.
My friend still won't believe that she needs a mask. I don't go places with her anymore.
Thank you Rich Davis. The photos are very helpful. WHY haven't major medical bodies done such testing -- including different types of masks popular on the market today? It leaves mask wearers leaning on mere DIAGNOSED CASES and MOUNTING DEATH TOLLS in the face of "anti-maskers"feelings."
At the beginning, we were told that the virus was so small that a mask would not make a difference. What happened with that?
It's a case where both statements are true. If an unmasked person sneezed right into the face of a person wearing a face covering, there is a chance that viruses riding on very small aerosol droplets might get through. In that scenario, the mask didn't make a difference. However, if both people are wearing masks, the droplets are stopped from transferring, as shown above. It's like in the (gross but accurate) pee analogy: If no one wore pants and someone was standing next to you and peed, it would get all over you. If you wore pants but they didn't, you'd be somewhat protected but some would still get to your skin. If you both wear pants, though, you're protected.
Load More Replies...Yet It's clear over the last 12 months of worldwide spread of COVID-19 the poorest countries on earth have proven COVID-19 to be either an inconsequential heath issue or a lot of people are naturally immune to COVID-19! Burma, Ghana, India, Laos are perfect examples! The 30 poorest countries on earth where nearly nothing is done to control COVID-19 the Case/Infection rate per million, Death rate per million is 1/10 that of the United States & 90% of the populace there have never seen a N95 mask and wouldn't know how to use it if they had!! But imagine if Regressives could just get 70% of the rest of earths human & some domesticated pets population to wear masks they could cure an overwhelmingly non-lethal virus. Thank goodness COVID-19 has cut the heart failure, Lower Respiratory failure rate death by drowning & falling off ladders rates in half in the United States, too bad that anomaly didn't transfer to third world countries! WEAR A MASK. Stay inside, not doing so might kill you!
When I saw the photo I thought it was tomato soup and tomato soup with a bit of basil so now I feel a bit sick.
As the poster calling himself "ontheriversedge" proves, even when benefits are clearly demonstrated, some people just insist on being f*****g stupid.
What I really don't get is why anyone with any Coronavirus symptoms needs to be out in public in the first place...
They don’t, but not everyone infected shows symptoms.
Load More Replies...This needs to be on every billboard, news cast, Twitter feed, TikTok, etc., everywhere! (I'm old so I don't know all the "new fangled" ways to communicate. Sorry-not sorry.)
Wonderful, simple demonstration for those with all sorts of excuses not to wear a mask..
Now we only need to get USA to understand this actually is true. Okay some of them.Many of them?
https://www.greenmedinfo.com/blog/masks-dont-work-review-science-relevant-covid-19-social-policy-0
Oh balderdash. Greenmedinfo my eye. Try using a reliable source instead: https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)31142-9/fulltext
Load More Replies...I do not understand the constant posting about wearing a mask. We have endured this for several months now, there is literally no one in the world that does not know about COVID. At this point, things like these demonstrations are just for attention. When you try too hard or push so much, it makes people suspicious.
My friend doesn't wear a mask! She thinks it a political thing. I don't go places with her.
Load More Replies...This guy needs to do this experiment with an actual infected person...your water droplets are not the covid 19 virus
It's a nice representation of how far your cough travels. With or without Covid-19.
Load More Replies...Folks what don't wear a mask around strangers are the same f*****s that don't wear condoms.
I’d say more like the same people who don’t wash their hands after using the restroom.
Load More Replies...This experiment is flawed. He admits corona is smaller than water droplets. It can pass through the filters of even the n95 mask. So he counters by saying the corona is passed most likely by water droplets. But its the water droplets that are stopped by the mask and not covid 19. Once launched by a sneeze,cough,talking...these smaller particles will continue to travel outward. He presents a cool experiment but he is using ordinary bacteria in his mouth to justify the use of a mask..science proves to us the covid 19 particles are smaller and the n95 are not rated to stop it And im not even anti mask...but use good science instead of nonscense. Look up the covid 19 particles size..look up the rating on a 3m n95 filter mask. Covid 19 passes right through...and most of you dont even own one. Your useing a bandana...which most likely allows tons of bacteria to escape
Covid-19 is not a dry airborne virus, if it was, everyone would've gotten it by now. Do you expect the virus miraculously separate itself from the saliva in the second it leaves your mouth? It has no mechanism that would enable it to tear free from inside of the droplets.
Load More Replies...You still don’t get it. You don’t wear a mask to protect yourself. You wear it to protect others from you and your exhalations. And since it’s possible to be infected and not have any symptoms, you might be spreading the virus without knowing it. If everyone wore masks while outside among others, the spread of Covid-19 would be greatly slowed down. And in the end, that DOES protect you, because if fewer people around you have the virus, the chance you’ll catch it is lower.
Load More Replies...So you're saying he's being deceptive? And how long did you work with agar plates? I have also and I say you're off in your assessment.
Load More Replies...Your grandma's grandma lost children to as little as a tiny scratch from a puppy's teeth. When your immune system deals with new bacteria/viruses, it either fails and you die or gets through it and you -maybe- get immunity to that disease. You won't know for sure which category you'll fall into when you get sick. Immune system trained on flu and dirt won't protect you against anything else.
Load More Replies...The CDC says wear masks, that's their job... to advise how to control disease. People who then decided to protest in public without masks and demand hair cuts made it political.
Load More Replies...This is a new virus and many “average, healthy” people have died from it. Even if that were not the case, I like how you completely missed the point of this demonstration by stating that “those who are compromised should perhaps wear masks.” The masks are so YOU do not spread to OTHERS, not vice versa. You can carry the virus without getting sick, but can infect others with it. By refusing to wear a mask, you prove that you care about no one but yourself, and do not care if your actions kill others.
Load More Replies...Colin, you're surely a functional illiterate because it clearly says they're not stopping either viruses or bacteria but RESPIRATORY DROPLETS THAT CARRY THEM.
Load More Replies...
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