Mask

A mask is an artifact that covers or conceals any part of the face. They can be worn for a wide range of reasons.

Examples

1. Protection (more under practical) - Masks can be used to protect the wearer from things ranging from gunfire (as in the head masks worn by the SWAT team) to gas masks, which protected the wearer from biological and chemical attacks.
   

   Two Chicago Fire Department firefighters, one of which is wearing a protective mask.
2. Performance - In many theatre groups, masks are used for dramatic effect or as a way to add emotion to a performance.
3. Amusement/costumes - Masks can be worn for personal amusement or to impersonate another person or character. Perhaps the most well known display of this is Halloween
4. Balls - Masquerade balls are either formal or semi-formal events attended by people wearing masks. The masquerade ball tradition started in France, and has spread in popularity to almost every Western nation, including the United States.
5. Ceremonies - Within African and ancient American (both North and South) societies, there were many rituals that involved masks. In the ancient religions (some of which still exist today) masks were believed to heighten the atonement one had with a Deity,
6. Practical purposes - In the modern era, masks are used practically for a wide range of reasons.

Medical

Medical masks, such as oxygen masks, are generally used as a way to treat medical conditions or prevent the spreading of diseases. The masks worn by surgeons protect the patient just as much as they protect the doctor. While an oxygen mask does not provide protection per se, it does allow a patient with a lung problem, such as emphysema to lead a normal life.

Protection

There are also masks that are specifically designed for the protection of the wearer. A football player wears a mask to protect himself from impacting other players and to keep stray hands out of his eyes, while a firefighter wears a flip-down mask to keep embers out of the eyes whilst fighting a fire.

Use in COVID-19

Left: Democrat Speaker Nancy Pelosi; Right Socialist premier Joe Biden - both in serious violation of their own mask mandates.

Masks have been used by the public in the COVID-19 pandemic in an attempt to reduce direct, person-to-person transmission of the virus. Many governments have required the wearing of masks. However, typical surgical-style and fabric masks contain materials which are too coarse to trap viruses. Only masks made with fine materials, such as N95 masks are capable of blocking these viruses and the aerosols which tend to carry them. Unfortunately, N95 masks are also harder to breathe through, and need to be carefully fitted to the wearer in order to be effective (which out of the box, they typically are not).

Studies made about the use of face masks have confirmed that they are both ineffective for protection against COVID-19 and can cause negative health effects (including through the rebreathing of some of the mask wearer's own carbon dioxide and of bacteria transferred through exhalation onto the inside of the masks); of particular concern is young children being forced to wear face masks due to mask diktats imposed by politicians and public officials for political, rather than medical, reasons. Among the side effects listed from wearing face masks include lowered blood oxygen levels, impeded breathing, headaches, adverse skin reactions (including acne breakouts), yeast infections, dental issues, growth of bacteria, mold and fungi on the interiors of masks, ear protrusion in children, allergy issues, shedding of fibers or micro-plastics by face masks, altered behavior, stagnation of emotional and intellectual development in children and affectation of mental health.

Florida Surgeon-General Dr. Joseph Ladapo has recommended that children not be forced to wear face masks in schools, noting that there is no clinical benefit to doing so. Ladapo's statement syncs with parents who have refused to make their children wear masks at school, backing their stance with data revealing that children are not at high risk from COVID-19, they do not spread the virus at any significant level and they may face physical and psychological damage from wearing face masks for long periods.

Joe Biden, while Christmas shopping at an exclusive white privileged shopping district in Nantucket, ignored the shopkeepers' posted mask mandate, showing one of countless publicized examples of liberal politicians and public officials hypocritically ignoring their own diktats while illegally imposing them on the rest of the public.