[Perspectives] Masking harm: dust, diseases, and industry

During the COVID-19 pandemic, we were all reminded of the long history of masks used as protection against disease, ranging from the iconic plague doctor's beaked mask to the cloth masks seen in historical paintings of past epidemics. Yet history holds its surprises. The beaked mask never existed as a real object: 17th-century engravings of plague doctors were satirical, portraying them as crows—omens of death that stole from the sick. As for the cloth masks, they were indeed worn, but as perfuming devices, not air filters.