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I think anyone who thought critically about it could see through this. It's not the masks are ineffective, it's that they're not necessary for the average perso
by beatgammit 7y ago
I think anyone who thought critically about it could see through this. It's not the masks are ineffective, it's that they're not necessary for the average person to be reasonably safe, and they're in short supply, so we should be focusing on mitigations that are available to the general public.
If you wash your hands frequently, don't touch your face, and maintain a safe distance from others, your risk goes down dramatically. If you add a mask to that, your risk goes down modestly. Everyone can do the first set of steps, but not everyone will have access to masks, and having more people panic about getting masks will likely cause more problems than we have already.
I feel like that was the intended message, but they weren't transparent about it. Trust is built over time and can be destroyed in an instant. Our leaders need to be much more careful.
- pmachinery 7y ago> I think anyone who thought critically about it could see through this. Any five year old knows some protection is obviously better than none. It's unbelievable that some people went along with such utter, obvious dangerous stupidity and repeated it. Imagine advice on HIV being condoms sometimes break, DON'T USE THEM. Would some people be ignorant enough to accept and spread such criminally stupid advice (and often in a condescending way) because it came from an official or authoritative source? Apparently probably. > Everyone can do the first set of steps Nah, not touching your face is an impossibility. People touch their faces constantly, hundreds of times a day, and usually are not even aware they're doing it. Aside from added protection, wearing a mask of any kind is a constant reminder of a not normal situation and to practice the other safety advice, distance, awareness of unclean surfaces, washing.