Yserbius123,
“We have to measure what the bigger danger is: wearing a mask or not wearing one.”
There’s no way to make accurate measurements if we can’t even be honest about what we are trying to measure.
“The people who physically or psychologically are unable to wear masks are very few, perhaps one out of 1000.”
Oooh, I can make up statistics too. That should be fun and constructive! Maybe I should just be grateful that you’re allowing 1 in a thousand. Earlier in the thread you were at zero.
“The majority of those who claim they can’t wear masks, simply haven’t found one that they feel comfortable in and don’t see a pressing need to wear one.”
And on what do you base this assumption?
“So it’s a question of forcing that tiny minority of people who can’t wear masks to be stuck inside until the pandemic is over, or forcing elderly, immune compromised, and other sick people inside until the pandemic is over. Unfortunately, we have to inconvenience the minority (people who can’t wear a mask) so that the majority (elderly etc.) won’t be inconvenienced.”
False dilemma.
“And no. Scientists have yet to find a situation where a fabric face mask has restricted someone’s oxygen. It’s literally never happened. CO2 and O2 can pass through the fabric of an N95 mask no problem.”
If you’re referring to the study I think you are referring to, there was pretty much no oxygen depletion measured in the blood, a bit of increased CO2 that was still within OSHA standards, but the measurements of the air in the pocket between the mask and the face were well outside of OSHA standards for both low oxygen and high CO2. The study participants were healthy healthcare workers with proper training and fitting of the equipment. I have put a pulse oximeter on my own finger and sat on the couch for 20 minutes in a cloth mask. When breathing normally only, my O2 saturation gradually fell from 98/99 to 95. I could keep it up near 98/99 by frequently sighing, yawning, and tugging on the mask while inhaling. I have (usually) well controlled asthma, but wonder how easy it would be to keep up the O2 saturation if I were having a significant asthma episode (not that I’d be out and about at the grocery store with bad asthma – but what about someone who needs to go in for a breathing treatment?). Or someone with COPD, or congestive heart failure, or Covid, etc.