Louie Gohmert’s comment about catching COVID-19 as a result of wearing a mask has received some attention.
“I can’t help but wonder if by keeping a mask on and keeping it in place, if I might have put some… of the virus on the mask and breathed it in…
Louie Gohmert, East Texas Congressman
Public Health Ontario, the CDC and the advice from the World Health Organization below all caution against touching the mask for fear of spreading the virus to your hands and then from your hands to your mouth or eyes … some how ingesting it,
Gohmert’s phraseology might have been better, but the fundamantals — being careful about touching a used mask — seem aligned with the medical advice.
There is a lot of virtue signalling going on here. Proponents of mask wearing not admitting to their limitations; opponents inappropriately assigning blame.
Within the context of cloth masks (as opposed to the N-95 masks or other medical masks that are able to block the passage of the virus through the filter) there seems to me to be a logical disconnect. First, if the wearer is infected, touching the mask makes no difference. The wearer is already infected. The benefit of wearing the mask is for others by reducing the spread of droplets and aerosols that contain the virus.
If the wearer is not infected, viruses might accumulate on the surface of the mask, but unless it is a medical mask, the virus is also likely to make it through the covering. So, it clearly makes sense to be careful in how one handles a medical mask, and while taking similar precautions for the non-medial masks is prudent, but as these masks are porous, it is insufficient.
If Gohmert did catch the virus from improper handing of his mask, then that’s not really the mask’s fault. It’s his. But it is also possible that the virus made it through the mask, given its limitations. These are known limitations and thus it is disingenuous to blame the mask. He would have breathed in the virus with less resistance if he were not wearing as mask. Similarly, for medical experts to claim it is not possible to catch the virus from the mask contradicts the advice from a number of health authorities, as noted above. This argument seems based on Gohmert’s poor phraseology, not the core truth.
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