As France faces a ninth wave of Covid-19, the government is considering a possible return to the mandatory mask in public transport. A news that provoked an outcry from the anti-mask movement, fueled by many false information.
The mask would be dangerous for your health “. He … not ” would not protect against the coronavirus » and would only be a « enslavement symbol “. This is claimed by several false information that can be read repeatedly on social networks in recent days under the #Jeneporteraipluslemasque.
These fake news spreaders rely on false scientific arguments. The most striking example is a simplistic sketch, supposed to prove, by image, the ineffectiveness of surgical masks. We see a virus represented by a point, much smaller than the space left between the meshes of the fibers that would make up the mask.
In fact, this illustration, which been circulating for several years, does not correspond at all to the true structure of our masks. They are made with not one, but three layers of non-woven microfibers. This is what allows it to have a significant filtration effect.
The other error in this diagram relates to the supposed size of the virus. If the virus itself is much smaller than what the mask can filter, you have to look at the size of the droplets that carry it. These droplets, for the most part, are well intercepted by the mask.
The mask protects
Always with the aim of proving the alleged ineffectiveness of the mask, some also rely on an indication present on the back of certain packages of masks for the general public. She indicates ” does not protect against contamination “.
Concretely, this means that surgical masks do not provide 100% protection against viral or infectious contamination. But that does not mean that they are not effective since they considerably reduce the spread of infectious agents. This efficiency is all the greater if everyone wears the mask.
Efficiency in numbers
A study conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the United States, shows that these surgical masks reduce the risk of contamination by 66%.
Another study published in the American scientific journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (Pnas) specifies that a person who chats with a Covid-19 positive individual, without a mask, for one hour, has a 90% chance of being contaminated. This ratio drops to 30% if both people wear a surgical mask and even to 0.4% with an FFP2 type mask.
Who is behind this misinformation campaign?
At the maneuver, we find the far-right politician Florian Philippot, the former right-hand man of Marine le Pen. He triggered this digital raid on November 30, in response to the call launched the day before by Élisabeth Borne to wear a mask and respect barrier gestures.
He asked his supporters to relay en masse the #Jeneporteraipluslemasque, which he himself initiated.
A hashtag then pushed by several accounts followers of disinformation around the Covid-19.
In addition, he launched a petition and even a pin sold for 4 euros each. That’s almost the price of a pack of surgical masks which, when used well, can protect yourself and others.