If you vaccinate 180 million people, some of them are going to die shortly after receiving the vaccine just by sheer chance. People die all the damn time, and that's something many in the antivax crowd don't seem to understand
Masks just aren't all that effective. Recent study out of India showed that procedure mask use only reduced infection rates by about 16% compared to not wearing a mask at all, while cloth masks showed no benefit.
Or the 0% benefit to plastic face shields that Boomers wear to casinos....
Cool cool cool. And yet the ED groups I know have almost no work related COVID infections despite being 18 months into the pandemic. And very few of the groups are consistently using anything more than a surgical mask unless it’s a patient actively coughing or known COVID. But I think we can all agree that masks that are worn improperly when most of the people around you aren’t wearing masks aren’t 100% effective. I just don’t think that making the jump from that common point of agreement to “masks do nothing, FREEEEEEDOM!!!!” Is reasonable.
I am not saying we shouldn't be using them, just that they are only slightly better than nothing when the general public uses them
You are correct. We should be mandating N-95s at all times for everyone in public areas or there is little point. Most people wear the surgical mask incorrectly or use cloth masks/bandanas which do nothing. It's honestly not worth the time enforcing mask mandates and screaming at people for very little gain.
FWIW, almost all of the limited COVID cases in the groups came post 2nd dose of vaccine. Social distancing and masks > vaccine as solo measure in preventing infection.
Though it’s the boomers that are actually vaccinated…even in florida…
Effectiveness argument aside, with 50,000-100,000 mask-less fans stacked butt cheek to butt cheek in football stadiums across the country the past few weeks, I think we can drop all pretenses that social distancing is viable policy, at this point. Am I wrong?
You aren't wrong. We are at the point where we need to resume normal life, and those at risk can take precautions. We shouldn't pretend anymore that 100% of people won't be exposed, or contract COVID at some point.
Wasn't saying it's a widespread thing now, just that it actually worked pretty damn well in combination with masks to prevent disease in people that followed it.
I understood your point. But I think you have to apply an intention to treat analysis, for social distancing + masking, like any other treatment. It has to not only work in ideal experimental conditions, but in practice. "Social distancing and masking reduce the spread of infection," may be a true statement. I believe it to be true.
I think they work regardless of belief but it does shift the burden of preventing from vectors to a (largely) healthy population. I think this is where people get tripped up somewhat because it feels unfair that they endure some discomfort because someone else is sick. Even if that discomfort protects them.
It's not reasonable to make people do it for eternity. We are coming up on 2 years of pandemic rules in 6 months. If people choose to wear masks then great let them. Continuing COVID regulations indefinitely is bound for failure.
That’s a straw man.
In what way? For all appearances this will continue into the forseeable future.
They don't work if people don't do them. Asking people not to have weddings, graduations, social and sporting events for blocks of 2, 5 or 10 years, doesn't work. Hell, even the most pro-mask/pro-social distancing people aren't doing masking and social distancing.
Obviously.
You really think people are going to comply with wearing masks at concerts, rodeos, monster truck shows, car shows, gun shows, theatres, for years on end? They've already stopped.
And honestly from April through July-ish I had no objection to not having mask requirements. But when we get a hospital-overwhelming surge its time to do it again.
More and more what I'm hearing is, "I went ahead and got the vaccine, like I was supposed to. Now you want to require me to wear a mask and social distance because the anti-vaccination people didn't do what they were supposed to? No way."
Of course we're all pissed off about it. But its, to my mind, back to what it always was about: don't overwhelm the hospitals.
So things have changed since ww2? Our grandparents lived with rationing , blackouts, and victory gardens for 4 years… and I believe the life expectancy was less then as well.
Uh, oh. Boomer worship. I hope @RustedFox doesn't get wind of this.
That's more Greatest Generation and prior. Boomers by definition weren't alive during WW2.
Uh, oh. Did I mix up my generations?
Us early 80s folks prefer the term Elderly Millennial.
Sorry…gen X here…and if my slacker generation can follow directions and wait… well the millennials and gen z that are all Karens and Kens that need everything right a way can learn some patience and learn to think of others… they are not that special… even if their participation trophies make them think otherwise
We tried that, never really caught on.
I'm also feeling that frustration at this point and I'm rather thankful that I live in a state which has a reasonably high vaccination rate.
The restaurant owner is a hypocrite since he doesn’t want the government to tell him what to do and feels like that affects his liberty to make his own decision on mask wearing but then he responds by telling other people what to do and is taking away someone’s own decision on mask wearing. That said he’s allowed to. Nothing illegal about being a hypocrite, an dingus, or enforcing a dress code.
The depression of the 1930s was worse that WW2. People actually starved to death. Half the country didn't even have electricity.
I think it's a little more convoluted than that. The message is actually, "Wear a mask, because it will (slightly) protect the unvaccinated from you, on the off chance that you have a minimally symptomatic or presymptomatic case, which, in turn, will help to preserve some capacity in the healthcare system, should you end up with a medical condition."
Right, but that reasoning isn't based on reality, and what I wrote is nonsensical. Hence the cognitive dissonance.
