a good video on face masks

In a time of COVID-19, people in the US still wonder whether masks are a good or a bad thing. Part of the confusion stems from politics; part of it is from the ever-changing scientific advice we receive from experts who seem to vacillate way too much. The following video doesn't tell the whole story (e.g., it says nothing about the possibility of rebreathing pathogens, nor does it explore the issue of washing one's mask), but it provides a good argument for why masks are likely a good thing. I haven't changed much from my original position that masks do little to protect oneself, but I'm increasingly convinced of masks' practical utility when it comes to the protection of others. The video also offers dramatic evidence of why it's unwise to allow your nose to hang out of your mask. Watch and learn.

While we're on the subject of COVID-era hygiene, the video below was news to me: soap apparently does kill bacteria. This wasn't what I learned while working for an infection-control company: what I learned was that soap, at best, lifts dirt and pathogens off your skin and washes everything down the drain. According to the video below, though, even regular soap has antibacterial properties... which makes me wonder what difference there is between regular soap and specifically antibacterial soap. Whatever the case, it's reassuring to know that hand-washing is a reliable way to deal with germs.