Yes there have been many tests on masks. A good test on masking, that gives results appropriate to real life, would be very hard to design and put together.

So many tests, they show some statistically insignificant result this way or that way, some show harm. What I have not seen is a careful test that shows that masking is beneficial and safe, that keeps the virus out. From that, I conclude
- wear a mask if you want,
- compulsion to wear is bad, almost certainly medically harmful.

Thanks for that. Though I would dispute that there really are 111 independent items in the review, I do agree with the author that the volume of evidence speaks specifically against wearing masks.

Recommend this free ebook by Dr Vernon Coleman ...
"Proof That Face Masks Do More Harm Than Good.
This short monograph contains conclusive proof that face masks do more harm than good, and being forced to wear them is a form of oppression designed to have adverse physical and psychological effects upon the wearers rather than having any protective value."

at
https://vernoncoleman.org/books/updat...

DUH for sure! I have been harping on this for over a yeaear. Our Internal Medicine doc said they were germ incubators years ago. At least 20 mask stuides were available at the beginning of the pLandemic, I sent some to Menards, they returned their source, CNN! Dumb and dumber. I have not shopped there since the mandate. Even FAuci had his name on a study from 2008, saying they were worthless, but he either forgot he wrote it, or stole it and took credit, then forgot about it. I tried to get DeWine to read them, but he wad to fixated on Dr. Amy, who said we had to be more like China and love our masks! truly hate stupid!

Wearing a mask is not only foolish but unsafe, especially in the swimming pool. Self waterboarding
can kill you. Nevermind the virus.

Yes, exactly. It's the argument that I've made for months - since before the mandates actually started.

The scientist in me gets a little crazy about how these simple mask tests have been blown out of proportion, but the realist in me thinks, "Well, fight fire with fire!"

No, and that's the problem.

Very interesting, but this paper is now marked as "retracted" despite being accurate: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/arti...

Here's another analysis where the researcher points out that masks are not only unnecessary but dangerous: http://harshman.name/Linked-To_Materi...

Common sense tells you these masks worn for hours ...even during gym and athletics events are a Petri dish.

Breathe out the bad ..... breathe in the good. That doesn’t work with a mask.

Would this show that the masks trap this stuff to keep one from inhaling it.

While this is something that underscores the issue of masks-as-benign, it's important to note that this was not a "study," much less "studies." This was 6 parents sending their masks off to a lab, and "found some stuff."

It is, however, a really good start to examining what the effect of long-term mask wearing can be, and definitely invites actual studies.

True, but even bacteria have to be able to survive in the environment long enough to get picked up and passed along.

I think humidity that comes from breathing is a global phenomenon.

Hadn't thought about that, but would totally make sense. Bacteria can be cultured by providing nutrients. Virii only replicate in host cells - a much trickier process to emulate.

They were using cultures which are very different. Good for bacteria not so good for viruses

From what I understand, it's incredibly difficult to test for the presence of virii due to their size. Part of the problem with the "tests" that they are using to "detect" COVID-19 is that they were never designed for such work in the first place.

But that wasn't really the point of the testing. It was to illustrate the fact that - just like all the other supposedly mitigating strategies associated with COVID response - there are no-so-benign side-effects of these disastrous policies. Especially when you consider that in children, the mortality rate of the virus is less than one in a million - unlike several of those bacterial nasties detected.

Now granted, this was done in Florida where the humidity helps bacteria survive and proliferate which they wouldn't do in a more arid climate like say the American Southwest or Mountain. But COVID does similarly poorly in such areas...

So they found all the usual bacterial suspects, E. coli, strep, staph, mycobacterium etc. what surprises me is they didn’t bother to sample for Wuhan Flu virus, or any of the flu viruses. Guess they we’re afraid that they would not show up?