Top reasons why some people are anti-masks. Rant of a small masks shop’s owner

The life of a small masks shop’s owner is not easy at all in the Netherlands. The snapshot above was taken on November 25th 2020, only 5 days before the ‘mondkapjesplicht’ — the mandatory use of masks in public areas — was introduced nationwide.

These search queries show clearly that some people really don’t like the idea of wearing a mask. (from Dutch: masks are unhealthy, too big, bad for your health, harmful, mandatory, fake safety, deadly, nonsense, muzzles ).

In an effort to digest this fact and the realization that I picked an unpopular hobby, I decided to collect the most common complaints myself: know your enemy, as they say.

01

Masks are bad for the environment

Yes, disposable masks pop up everywhere: outside my front door, on every sidewalk and sadly even in parks.

Yet I can assure you: none of my clients forgets around their 19.90€, washable mask. Not just for the price tag (which is worth it, I guarantee) but because fabric masks are often a nice fashion item themselves. You wouldn’t drop a nice scarf around that easily.

Let me add that a washable mask is also friendlier to your wallet, as the initial ‘investment’ pays off within a few days.

02

Masks don’t protect

Right, different masks offer different levels of protection. It depends on the material used, the number of layers and the shape. First off, a mask should adhere nicely to your face otherwise you will inhale and exhale through the mask’s sides. This was the subject of an experiment by a team of researchers of Delft University of Technology made popular by the TV show Kassa.

The take away is: get a mask of your size — there is no one-size-fits-all — with two adjustable laces on the sides. This will ensure that the mask stays in place while you talk. A bendable nose strip on top will make the mask fit nicely around your nose.

Remember: the whole point of wearing masks is not to protect you, but to protect others. With a piece of cloth over your mouth and nose, little to no airdrops will fly around when you talk.

While The effectiveness of masks was a subject of debate early in the pandemic, a considerable amount of data has proved that masks are in fact effective at preventing the spread of the coronavirus.

Here’s a photo of Jaap van Dissel (Director of the RIVM Centre for Infectious Disease Control) himself with a mask on.

03

Masks are made of bad quality fabrics out of who-knows-where

We can say: support your local masks’ producers. Right now, besides online shops like ours, in every neighbourhood someone is busy to produce the most original cloth masks. A nice opportunity to show support to your local economy.

04

Because of masks people ignore social distancing

This has been debunked: the researchers of the NSCR (Nederlands Studiecentrum Criminaliteit en Rechtshandhaving) actually went on the field — the winkelstraat — with cameras to track the difference in behavior, and they concluded that people act just the same with or without a mask. We wrote about it here, and here is the source of the original study.

05

Masks limit our freedom

But wait: with tech corporations and governments around the world tracking down our every move, isn’t it great to be wearing an item that buffles even the face recognition of the iPhone?

Making these colorful items really helped us staying motivated during the pandemic.

It’s sad to see that masks became such a controversial topic, while all they should represent is safety and care.

Placing emphasis and creativity into this has been the way to really express ourselves and bring a touch of color in a grey time.

Originally published at https://mondkatjes.com.