Better in their words…

In the last few weeks, I have seen a man wearing an n95 mask in a 200 degree sauna, holding an n95 mask in his hands in the sauna, and a 20 year old woman wearing an n95 outdoors in the pouring rain— What does it mean? Brains are broken, and don’t blame the virus.

A couple weeks ago, after a hard work out, I sat in the sauna in my gym for 15 mins. It was unusually hot— the thermometer read 200 degrees Fahrenheit. I was instantly pouring rivulets of sweat. Gradually, a couple people trickled out, and a new person entered. He was a young man, not older than forty, and appeared fit. Stepping into the tiny room, he raised a duckbill 3M mask to his face. He strapped both rubber straps over his head and sat down.

I wanted to outlast him in the sauna (mostly so I didn’t have to see him when I left), but I couldn’t— after another 15 mins (probably total time 30 mins), my body was drenched in sweat. Beads of sweat fell from my nose and landed on the cedar planks. Rivers ran down my back. The towel was getting damp. As I stepped out, I saw him; his face blood red, breathing hard. Sweat dripping down his forehead, and collecting where the mask met his face.

I tweeted out my experience.

Vinay Prasad MD MPH @VPrasadMDMPH

Have finally seen it all: fit person wearing n95 mask in a 200 degree sauna The death of common sense

9:21 PM ∙ Nov 20, 2022

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6,673Likes662Retweets

Obviously, most sensible people instantly recognized this as an act of sheer madness. I didn’t mention the detail that he initially entered the sauna without an n95 because it was already an insane act, I didn’t dare gild the lily.

Some people replied that I didn’t know his medical status. Are they stupid? There is no physical or medical status that would justify wearing an n95 mask in 200 degrees when you are dripping in sweat! Let’s me be clear: It is dangerous to wear an n95 in a sauna, and the n95 was not developed for 200 degree temperatures. After basting in your own sweat for 20 mins, the n95 mask is failing to perform its duty. There is no scenario on earth where this would be a good idea. If you get hot or dizzy, it is dangerous to have strapped to your head. I tried not to engage with the people commenting in my thread that there might be some justification for masking in 200 degrees— because I had exhausted my patience for stupidity.

One person asked why I didn’t strike up a conversation with the sauna-goer. First of all, talking is prohibited in saunas. It literally says so on the sign on the wall. Second of all, there is no need to inquire as there is literally no scenario where it would be justified. If someone entered the sauna and placed a crystal on the hot rocks and chanted an incantation hoping for rain— I also wouldn’t need to ask anything— I would know everything I needed to.

Then a week later, someone entered the sauna with a different n95 mask, but he merely held it in his hands. A moment later, a man entered in full basketball outfit, with a skin tight, cloth mask. He just stayed 5 mins. What planet am I living on?

These masks are not doing anything. Cloth masks don’t work, and not even the most zealot mask enthusiast thinks n95s work in saunas when you hold it in your hand. And, if you are going to walk around the gym holding in your hand; you might as well not carry it; you are already on a collision course with exposure.

Then, to top it off, this Saturday morning, in the pouring raining, I saw an attractive 20 year old woman wearing an n95 mask in the rain. The water directly fell onto it. The mask looked moist above her nose. Her red hair was getting wet.

There is something seriously wrong. This is not about individuals making individual choices. These people are doing things that are absolutely crazy.

• N95 masks are not meant for saunas; In fact it would be dangerous and unsafe to wear one inside
• They are not meant for outdoors (COVID does not spread outside)
• They are not meant for pouring rain (they don’t work when soaking wet)
• N95s don’t work if you hold them in your hand

These are not controversial points. They are indisputable. It is insane that people are doing these things, especially after 3-5 vaccine doses, and even worse that someone would actually defend these practices as rational personal choices. If someone slaughters a goat to treat cancer, we have to agree that it would be ineffective. We shouldn’t act like it is a rational choice.

People have become mask zealots because they were repeatedly lied to about the efficacy of masking. Those lies became more palatable when Donald Trump refused to mask— thus the lies paired with a sense of morality and superiority where Donald Trump represented both moral weakness and stupidity.

But the real stupid choice was pushing masking without robust cluster RCT data. That will haunt us for a 100 years. And, wearing a mask in a sauna is not a way to #FollowTheScience or stick it to Trump— you just stick it to yourself and common sense, science and evidence based medicine.

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PS I have to add, what am I to think that the pro-masking University of Minnesota policy center is funded by 3M. Is this a joke? Shameless