Anonymous wrote:Also mask brigade: just going to drop this here...

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8496910/

There is not "no harm in wearing a mask."

"89.3% of the mask samples exhibited potential carcinogenic effects to humans."

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Anonymous wrote:Like, you would rather get it repeatedly even if it's going to take 20 years off your life? Because you don't want to mask? Even if it takes 40 years off your life? Even if it makes you have a heart attack in 2 years? Because you don't like masking THAT much?

It's a strange hill to die on, but okay.

If I thought masks would do what you seem to think they do, I’d mask too. But since they don’t…

DCUM is such a strange world. People here are in complete denial that a lot of transmission is inevitable. Not all of it, but most of it.

And yet, we mask with N95s and are the healthiest weve been in years.

And if/when you remove your mask, you will be China - just delaying the inevitable.

Why would we need to remove them if they help keep us healthy? If it's NBD after close to 3 years of wearing, what is the downside to wear them in perpetuity? Like are there actually any documented risks to oral health, etc. from long-term mask usage? My dentist told me there have been studies showing that the bacterial "biome" in our mouths shifted slightly due to masking, but nothing necessarily negative. He still wears masks when seeing patients.

Dentists have been wearing masks when seeing patients since long before Covid. It’s the standard of care.

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Anonymous wrote:If you want to know why everyone is getting so sick so often these past few months, this is why. Even mild cases of Covid cause immune system damage that shares some similarities to HIV (in that it destroys T cells) and may be permanent. Repeat infections increase the damage. People think because they feel fine after they recover, that Covid is nothing. But people felt fine after they were infected with HIV too, often for a couple of years. The damage is cumulative and takes some time to emerge. https://nationalpost.com/health/is-covid-prematurely-aging-our-immune-systems

This is so wrong. 1) There's no evidence that Covid lingers in the body and continues to damage T cells the way that HIV does. 2) You produce T cells all the time. We have very effective antiviral drugs to prevent HIV from destroying T cells, and HIV patients who take their meds have absolutely normal t cell counts. HIV doesn't cause permanent destructive of T cells. Neither does Covid.

More concerning is whether Covid is wiping immune memory through destruction of B cells, the way measles does. You can also get that back but it's going to be a long process while you catch everything you ever caught as a kid.

What are you talking about? After around age 20, we mostly stop making new T cells and rely on keeping existing T cells alive. The thymus gland, which produces T cells, is mostly only active until puberty and then starts to slowly shrink and become replaces by fat. Once it's gone, it's gone! What on earth are you talking about, you produce T cells all the time???

There is plenty of evidence that covid damages T cells. But little wonder that the person who thinks T cells are so abundant has no understanding of this.

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Anonymous wrote:Like, you would rather get it repeatedly even if it's going to take 20 years off your life? Because you don't want to mask? Even if it takes 40 years off your life? Even if it makes you have a heart attack in 2 years? Because you don't like masking THAT much?

It's a strange hill to die on, but okay.

If I thought masks would do what you seem to think they do, I’d mask too. But since they don’t…

DCUM is such a strange world. People here are in complete denial that a lot of transmission is inevitable. Not all of it, but most of it.

And yet, we mask with N95s and are the healthiest weve been in years.

And if/when you remove your mask, you will be China - just delaying the inevitable.

Why would we need to remove them if they help keep us healthy? If it's NBD after close to 3 years of wearing, what is the downside to wear them in perpetuity? Like are there actually any documented risks to oral health, etc. from long-term mask usage? My dentist told me there have been studies showing that the bacterial "biome" in our mouths shifted slightly due to masking, but nothing necessarily negative. He still wears masks when seeing patients.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you want to know why everyone is getting so sick so often these past few months, this is why. Even mild cases of Covid cause immune system damage that shares some similarities to HIV (in that it destroys T cells) and may be permanent. Repeat infections increase the damage. People think because they feel fine after they recover, that Covid is nothing. But people felt fine after they were infected with HIV too, often for a couple of years. The damage is cumulative and takes some time to emerge. https://nationalpost.com/health/is-covid-prematurely-aging-our-immune-systems

This is so wrong. 1) There's no evidence that Covid lingers in the body and continues to damage T cells the way that HIV does. 2) You produce T cells all the time. We have very effective antiviral drugs to prevent HIV from destroying T cells, and HIV patients who take their meds have absolutely normal t cell counts. HIV doesn't cause permanent destructive of T cells. Neither does Covid.

More concerning is whether Covid is wiping immune memory through destruction of B cells, the way measles does. You can also get that back but it's going to be a long process while you catch everything you ever caught as a kid.

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Anonymous wrote:Like, you would rather get it repeatedly even if it's going to take 20 years off your life? Because you don't want to mask? Even if it takes 40 years off your life? Even if it makes you have a heart attack in 2 years? Because you don't like masking THAT much?

It's a strange hill to die on, but okay.

If I thought masks would do what you seem to think they do, I’d mask too. But since they don’t…

DCUM is such a strange world. People here are in complete denial that a lot of transmission is inevitable. Not all of it, but most of it.

And yet, we mask with N95s and are the healthiest weve been in years.

And if/when you remove your mask, you will be China - just delaying the inevitable.

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Anonymous wrote:What surprises me is how quickly people have turned against masks. I went to the Kennedy center recently and very few people were wearing masks. Sitting for 3 hours in a crowded poorly ventilated space during a surge, not speaking, not exercising — there’s almost no reason NOT to wear a mask. We were shocked so few people were wearing them. At this point, I’m not obsessive about the masks but I still wear them on crowds when it’s no real hardship to do so.

It only feels "sudden" in the DC area because people kept wearing them for so long here. Go almost anywhere else in the country and masks fell away a while ago.

But yeah, if you're high risk, you need to keep up the social distancing, avoid crowded places like event venues, airplanes, Disney etc.

We went to Disney recently, wore masks everywhere, ate outside, and didn’t get Covid. Masks work if you wear them consistently and properly.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Like, you would rather get it repeatedly even if it's going to take 20 years off your life? Because you don't want to mask? Even if it takes 40 years off your life? Even if it makes you have a heart attack in 2 years? Because you don't like masking THAT much?

It's a strange hill to die on, but okay.

If I thought masks would do what you seem to think they do, I’d mask too. But since they don’t…

DCUM is such a strange world. People here are in complete denial that a lot of transmission is inevitable. Not all of it, but most of it.

And yet, we mask with N95s and are the healthiest weve been in years.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What surprises me is how quickly people have turned against masks. I went to the Kennedy center recently and very few people were wearing masks. Sitting for 3 hours in a crowded poorly ventilated space during a surge, not speaking, not exercising — there’s almost no reason NOT to wear a mask. We were shocked so few people were wearing them. At this point, I’m not obsessive about the masks but I still wear them on crowds when it’s no real hardship to do so.

It only feels "sudden" in the DC area because people kept wearing them for so long here. Go almost anywhere else in the country and masks fell away a while ago.

But yeah, if you're high risk, you need to keep up the social distancing, avoid crowded places like event venues, airplanes, Disney etc.

We went to Disney recently, wore masks everywhere, ate outside, and didn’t get Covid. Masks work if you wear them consistently and properly.

Anonymous wrote:Getting viral infections increases chances of getting cancer. Hpv causes various cancers, mono causes lymphoma . Wouldn’t shock me if even the cold causes cancer

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What surprises me is how quickly people have turned against masks. I went to the Kennedy center recently and very few people were wearing masks. Sitting for 3 hours in a crowded poorly ventilated space during a surge, not speaking, not exercising — there’s almost no reason NOT to wear a mask. We were shocked so few people were wearing them. At this point, I’m not obsessive about the masks but I still wear them on crowds when it’s no real hardship to do so.

It only feels "sudden" in the DC area because people kept wearing them for so long here. Go almost anywhere else in the country and masks fell away a while ago.

But yeah, if you're high risk, you need to keep up the social distancing, avoid crowded places like event venues, airplanes, Disney etc.

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Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What surprises me is how quickly people have turned against masks. I went to the Kennedy center recently and very few people were wearing masks. Sitting for 3 hours in a crowded poorly ventilated space during a surge, not speaking, not exercising — there’s almost no reason NOT to wear a mask. We were shocked so few people were wearing them. At this point, I’m not obsessive about the masks but I still wear them on crowds when it’s no real hardship to do so.

Why would you go to the Kennedy Center at all if you consider it so high risk? Masks only take you so far. People don't wear them because they hate wearing masks. Going to the Kennedy Center is totally optional, they are not going to pay to be uncomfortable for hours.

But that’s my points. I’m living life pretty much as I normally would and it’s so easy to throw on a mask when there’s no downside to me. Even if it gives me incremental benefit, the cost is almost nothing. Why not do it? Fwiw, I’ve been living normally for a while now, traveling, take metro nearly every day, etc. I did get covid once from my kid who was eating indoors in a crowded school cafeteria every day so that was largely unavoidable. I’m really surprised so many people view it as a hardship. I have asthma and it doesn’t bother me unless I’m exercising or walking hard. Just sitting in a theater or on metro, it’s zero hardship.

It's zero hardship for you. I find it incredibly uncomfortable. I find wearing a good mask limits my field of vision (which is important when you have a toddler in crowded places). It fogs up my glasses. Luckily I am past this stage but for many people it gives them horrible acne (which can cause permanent facial scars). Just saying since you are so confused why everyone (most people) do not act like you do.

+1, especially to fogged glasses. If I thought I needed to wear a mask to the Kennedy Center, I wouldn't go, and I didn't do things like that when they were required. The experience wouldn't be worth it if I had to wear a mask.

Right? Like some people will pretend it's our fault for wearing the wrong type of mask. But the fogging happens with the best N95 masks (I've tried different sizes) especially in certain types of weather.

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Anonymous wrote: Our family has been sick so much in the past few months. My son's out of school with a fever for 3 days every 3-4 weeks since school started. The doc just gave him some lab test looking for a dozen different illnesses/bacteria and he was found to have had "in the recent past" flu A, flu B, mono and 2 bacterial infections... ironically no covid. He's never tested positive for covid. My husband, daughter, granddaughter and myself have had cold after cold after cold. There's definitely something up with our immune systems. I am the only one that's tested positive for covid.

Immunity debt from so much forced lockdown and masking. Our immune systems are just dealing with all the viruses/infections we would normally have gotten over the past 3 years if we hadn't been isolated and masked up. It will stop soon.

The rest is just COVID hysteria (and I'm triple-boosted, so not an anti-vaxxer.)

And yet you are here making an anti-science argument!

This is not anti science!

Here we go again with the “Science” - science is turning into a religion at this point. Science allows for differing opinions and questioning. But this “science” you speak of doesn’t allow for that. Anyone speaking differently is labeled anti science. Sounds like a cult to me.

There is a cult for this! I can’t find the article, but the Atlantic just wrote a great article about this group of people calling themselves “The People’s CDC” or something. Basically they want to mask forever and keep screaming “follow the science” like some kind of crazed mantra.

Oops New Yorker. Here it is:

https://www.newyorker.com/news/annals-of-activism/the-case-for-wearing-masks-forever/amp