Since Monday, July 20, wearing a mask is mandatory in closed public places throughout France. Faced with a resumption of contamination, the government intends to limit the spread of the coronavirus. But it is not without a lot of misinformation that is popping up on the Internet.
The masks are thus in turn accused throughout the world of being unnecessaryor even harmful. For some, they are an opportunity for the powerful to poison populations, for others, they would only be an additional means to makemoney.
These publications, which take the form of long, falsely detailed articles or distressing videos, have in common seek to dissuade internet users skeptical of wearing masks, explicitly or implicitly. Here are four viral information checks.
1. No, they do not cause a dangerous lack of oxygen.
One of the most common misconceptions is “hypoxia”, lack of oxygen. Some explain the mask “can lead to death” for this reason. However, masks do not cause a lack of oxygen, as many doctors confirm.
On the other hand, there may be “a feeling of discomfort causing a feeling of suffocation, but it’s psychological. But in the case of a healthy person, it does not at all prevent them from performing normal daily activities “, explains Professor Coppieters, epidemiologist and professor of public health at the Free University of Brussels (ULB) .
Also, when a person is too anxious or anxious, it is possible to hyperventilate and feel dizzy and weak, explain doctors.
2. No, they do not poison with carbon dioxide
Since they wouldn’t let oxygen in, masks would be responsible for intoxication with carbon dioxide (CO2) that we exhale. Once again, this is wrong. “A masque is not a closed circuit. Almost all the exhaled air escapes from the mask so you are not breathing your own CO2 “, explains Shane Shapera, director of the lung disease program at Toronto Public Hospital (Canada).
Moreover, a small accumulation of CO2 would not cause health problems, according to Professor Vinita Dubey, doctor hygienist at the Toronto Public Health Agency.
We also regularly find the similar idea that the mask would re-inspire its own “toxins”. However, “we do not exhale toxins”, recalls Jean-Luc Gala, head of clinic at the Saint-Luc University Clinic in Brussels and specialist in infectious diseases.
3. No, they are not a virus “nest” or “factory”
Jonathan Karn, professor of microbiology at Case Western Reserve University in the US state of Ohio, who has studied the spread of viruses in the nervous system, saysit “is wrong to say that the virus is trapped in the mask” which would thus become a “virus factory”.
“If someone is already infected, then the virus will probably have already affected the exposed tissues of the nose, throat and mouth, and will spread by cell-to-cell contact rather than by re-inhaling droplets“, he explains.
The claim that they “contaminate more” does not make sense: masks are only used to block out particles – in particular postilions –, emphasizes to AFP Dr Shelley Payne, director of the LaMontagne Center for Infectious Diseases at the University of Texas at Austin (United States).
4. No, they don’t let the virus pass
Contrary to the thesis that the masks are too tight, the thesis that masks are virus strainers is also circulating and popular. “The mask filters the virus, but not the molecules. A virus is much larger than a molecule of oxygen or carbon dioxide“, underlines Jean-Luc Gala, of the Free University of Brussels.
In May, a study published in the scientific journal of the Royal Society in the United Kingdom showed that masks reduce the projection of contaminated droplets. They are therefore a simple, effective and non-dangerous means of reducing the risks of the virus spreading.
