See the study published in Nature (1), or recommendations from reputable medical institutions like the Cleveland Clinic (2) and the Mayo Clinic (3) for better explanations than I could give.
I own several businesses in the hospitality and service sector and every single one of my employees are required to wear a mask for the protection of themselves and our guests. It's absolutely ridiculous that something as easy as wearing a mask is suddenly, "The Worst Thing in the World" and/or, "The Most Uncomfortable Thing I've Ever Done". I have awful seasonal allergies and asthma and when I'm at the office or out and about in public, I will wear my surgical mask the entire time. The only time my mask is off is when I'm in my car or at home.
I just can't get past the entitlement that some people have when they can't be bothered with sacrificing a tiny little bit of personal comfort to help slow the spread of a pandemic.
1: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-020-0843-2
2: https://health.clevelandclinic.org/heres-how-wearing-a-cloth...
3: https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/coronavirus/i...
/rantover
I apologize, but I'm just shocked. I expect better from my fellow HNers. Also, It's not entirely clear to me if you don't believe in wearing masks or if you're just making the comment that a mask is a political object (and by extension, websites should not display politically charged images). Either way, your comments in this thread have really thrown me for a loop.