What They Aren’t Telling You About N95 Masks

Media outlets and governments are telling people to wear N95 masks without warning them of the serious dangers documented in scientific journals.

SOURCES:

N95 masks are commonly worn in medical facilities: https://europepmc.org/article/pmc/pmc4670234

OSHA requires employers to conduct a medical evaluation of each employee who wears N95s because they “may place a burden on an employee’s health”: https://www.osha.gov/sites/default/files/publications/3384small-entity-for-respiratory-protection-standard-rev.pdf

The CO2 concentration of the air we exhale is 4–5%, or 40,000–50,000 parts per million (ppm): https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/ina.12286

The CO2 concentration of fresh air is about 400 ppm: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0013935121008549

A study published in 2013 found that CO2 levels in the breathing zones of 30 different models of N95 masks ranged from 13,000–35,000 ppm: https://academic.oup.com/annweh/article/57/3/384/230992

OSHA’s work shift limit for CO2 is 5,000 ppm: https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/topics/flavorings/limits.html

The indoor (classroom) limit for CO2 in “many countries” is 0.1%, or 1,000 ppm: https://aaqr.org/articles/aaqr-20-07-covid-0403

Studies have found that CO2 levels of 2,500 ppm cause “large and statistically significant reductions” in complex decision-making ability:
https://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/doi/full/10.1289/ehp.1104789
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41370-018-0055-8

Based on a systematic literature review published by the Journal of Patient Safety in 2013, “there are at least 210,000 lethal” errors in U.S. hospitals each year, and “the true number” is “estimated at more than 400,000 per year”: http://www.patientsafetyamerica.com/wp-content/uploads/A_New_Evidence_based_Estimate_of_Patient_Harms.2.pdf

Deaths in the U.S. from fatal hospital errors are roughly in the range of the number of C-19 deaths that occurred in the U.S. during the first year of the pandemic: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/covid-19.htm

Studies published in scientific journals have found that N95s cause:
• headaches: https://headachejournal.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/head.13811?af=R
• cardio-pulmonary stress: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00392-020-01704-y
• possible fatal cardiac events among people with heart disease and those who are vigorously exercising: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0306987720324671

The data above and many more facts about masks are documented in Just Facts’ article, “Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Masks, and the Deadly Falsehoods Surrounding Them”: https://www.justfacts.com/news_face_masks_deadly_falsehoods