How has public health mask guidance gotten so out of step with what we know is safe?

Most people now accept that COVID-19 is airborne. For those with lingering doubt, the contagiousness of the Omicron variant is now understood to be roughly tied with (or slightly ahead of) the most infectious virus known to humans. That virus is Rubeola, which causes measles, and it is so contagious that a person can readily infect an entire room of people — even if patient zero leaves well before the others arrive. Efficient airborne transmission is the only conceivable way for Omicron to spread so aggressively. As a result, here is what all of us should do...

Get and wear a properly fitting N95 mask.

Expert consensus is that the appropriate and effective mask technology for airborne contagion is a properly worn N95 (or one of its common variants, CN95, FN95, KN95). Yet, in the fight against COVID-19, community use of N95 masks has not been encouraged by governments or public health authorities. Instead, guidelines for the public usually prescribe a homemade cloth mask, or a blue rectangular medical mask, to prevent transmission at close range by large droplets.

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