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I agree, I still cannot make up my mind about masks... It seems like "back in the day" people trusted the experts, becuase well, there weren't many alternative

I agree, I still cannot make up my mind about masks... It seems like "back in the day" people trusted the experts, becuase well, there weren't many alternatives (?); but now thanks to the internet everyone can google for a while and feel like they have a worthwhile opinion. It seems like now it's possible to find an expert (and/or data) to justify any opinion. I am not saying this is bad, but that it's just different. The game has changed.

Gibbon1 7y ago
After rolling things around my current thought is, what if this isn't the last rodeo? What if there is another outbreak? Because there will be. Of 'something' but we don't know what that will be. Seems to me then what you want to a robust set of responses that do not require people to make decisions based on god knows what. Because in the future you don't know ahead of time what's going to be helpful and what won't be. What you want to public to do is reflexively anything that might help. And then later tell them what measures they can back off on. Not the other way around.
btilly 7y ago
I agree, I still cannot make up my mind about masks.. What's so hard about masks? That's one area that experts seem pretty consistent on, and what they say makes sense. It is slightly complicated but not contradictory. Wearing a mask doesn't do that much to prevent you from getting sick. But it does a lot to prevent you from getting others sick. If there is a limited supply of masks, the best people to give them to are people are at high likelihood of being sick and come face to face with lots of people who get sick easily. Which is to say medical staff. If there were masks to go around, we'd want everyone wearing them as a precaution. So that you're not getting people sick even if you don't yet know that you are sick. Some countries, like Taiwan, already make enough masks that they can actually do that. The USA does not. In time we should fix that. Can you find anyone whose expertise is generally respected who says something that disagrees with what I just said?

Gibbon1 7y ago

After rolling things around my current thought is, what if this isn't the last rodeo? What if there is another outbreak? Because there will be. Of 'something' but we don't know what that will be. Seems to me then what you want to a robust set of responses that do not require people to make decisions based on god knows what. Because in the future you don't know ahead of time what's going to be helpful and what won't be. What you want to public to do is reflexively anything that might help. And then later tell them what measures they can back off on. Not the other way around.

btilly 7y ago

I agree, I still cannot make up my mind about masks.. What's so hard about masks? That's one area that experts seem pretty consistent on, and what they say makes sense. It is slightly complicated but not contradictory. Wearing a mask doesn't do that much to prevent you from getting sick. But it does a lot to prevent you from getting others sick. If there is a limited supply of masks, the best people to give them to are people are at high likelihood of being sick and come face to face with lots of people who get sick easily. Which is to say medical staff. If there were masks to go around, we'd want everyone wearing them as a precaution. So that you're not getting people sick even if you don't yet know that you are sick. Some countries, like Taiwan, already make enough masks that they can actually do that. The USA does not. In time we should fix that. Can you find anyone whose expertise is generally respected who says something that disagrees with what I just said?