Are masks and gloves really keeping you from getting infected?

Are+masks+and+gloves+really+keeping+you+from+getting+infected%3F

Haylee Freeman, Staff Writer

If you are like me, wearing these masks/facial coverings/gloves is ridiculously aggravating. COVID is like any other disease, such as the flu, and it is here now and it is here to stay. The Corona Virus will never just simply “go away,” and it does not make much sense to think that it ever will. People still continue to die from the flu every single year. There were an estimated 24,000-62,000 deaths because of the flu this past year in 2020. Therefore, people still die of the flu and a significant amount at that. The Corona Virus will never truly and fully go away, and these masks will not prevent you from getting it.

Let’s be honest, half of the people that wear them don’t even wear them the correct way either. The ones that are scared of the pandemic tend to not even wear them the correct way. It has been proven that wearing a mask is deemed unnecessary for most people, and can even spread the infections faster. Yes, of course there are viruses out there and we should keep ourselves clean and neat, but wearing a mask is not going to protect you from getting infected. World Health Organization’s director, Mike Ryan, stated “there are limits to how a mask can protect you from being infected and we’ve said the most important thing everyone can do is wash your hands, keep your hands away from your face, observe very precise hygiene.” They advise us to wash our hands, keep our distance from others we do not know well, to stay clean, and more. These are things we should have already been doing though, is it not?

Just like with a common cold in the winter, washing your hands, not touching your face or anyone else, not being right up close to people whom you do not know, helps prevent the spread of viruses, diseases, germs, etc. A mask will not keep you from getting sick. When people go in public areas wearing a mask and they have to touch their face to adjust it, they have not washed their hands and they put on their mask, or however it is done, that is how the infection is spread. It is not spread by not wearing a mask of any kind.

Then, the gloves. The gloves do not help keep you from getting infected. This is especially true because with a glove or not, you are still touching your face. The germs are on the glove too. If anything, it is going to increase your chances of getting sick. Of course, the option to wear a mask or to wear gloves is solely up to your discretion but it is not going to keep you from contracting an infection of COVID-19 or any other virus/infection/disease at that.