4 ms·

If you go out into public you should be wearing a face mask, period. You want 3 easy things a mask can help with? 1. Not being able to put your hands into you

If you go out into public you should be wearing a face mask, period. You want 3 easy things a mask can help with? 1. Not being able to put your hands into your nose/mouth and remind you to not touch your face 2. Prevent the spread if you are asymptomatic but have it 3. Increase the chance you get a "low dose" even if you do get it (leading to a better outcome for you) These things matter and will save lives. Even a cloth/homemade mask helps. The CDC lied when they said it didn't and they lied because they knew there weren't enough masks but in doing so they eroded public trust so when they finally do get around to asking people to wear a mask there will be those that won't now. Same way calling it "just the flu" continues to be parroted by people. You can't put the toothpaste back in the tube.

MengerSponge 7y ago
The most effective thing you can do is to stay home. Wearing a mask might help, but it may not. There isn't a good study on it. Medicine has a history of shoddy study design and outright quackery, so without a good RCT, medically trained professionals are loath to prescribe some behavior. There are studies that show how bad people are at wearing masks. As for masks effectiveness, it's complicated. They might help filter particles, or prevent the particles you exhale from going/staying airborne. But you may also touch your face more and in more dangerous ways when you're wearing a mask. There's also a very real risk of moral hazard, but people (see above) don't know the relative risks of social behavior vs masks. If people feel safe b/c they're wearing a mask, that's also self-defeating.
- SAI_Peregrinus 7y ago
  Yes, but people do need to do things like buy food. That requires either going out yourself or hiring someone to deliver it. Either way whoever is out should be wearing a mask.
  - joshstrange 7y ago
    100% agree but even a T-Shirt or bandanna is preferable to going out with nothing.
- joshstrange 7y ago
  > There isn't a good study on it. Other than countries that are currently wearing masks and are flattening the curve? > But you may also touch your face more and in more dangerous ways when you're wearing a mask. This is simply a terrible argument for a number of reasons, first and foremost: you do not get COVID-19 from touching your face. It has to get in through the mouth or nose. > If people feel safe b/c they're wearing a mask, that's also self-defeating. Even if it makes them safer? I can't even deal with people that want to say "we don't know if masks help" then why are doctors and nurses wearing them?
  - MengerSponge 7y ago
    > Other than countries that are currently wearing masks and are flattening the curve? Are there countries that are effectively flattening the curve without using masks? > This is simply a terrible argument for a number of reasons, first and foremost: you do not get COVID-19 from touching your face. It has to get in through the mouth or nose. It either gets in because you touch those places, or because you breathed in an aerosolized form through those places. (I'm assuming you breathe through your face) If a mask causes you to to aerosolize more, or contaminate your hands, then it isn't making you as safe as you thought. > Even if it makes them safer? Again, what's the evidence for this? A DOI would be sufficient. > I can't even deal with people that want to say "we don't know if masks help" then why are doctors and nurses wearing them? We don't know if masks help regular people. Normal people haven't been fitted or trained, and that means they are overwhelmingly likely to wear them incorrectly. Again, we're back to moral hazard, only worse, because you aren't as protected as you thought. Bad protection can be worse than no protection, because it leads to a net increase in risk. For example (all numbers are made up) if you go out twice as often once you've got a mask, but the mask only reduces your risk of exposure by 40%, then yes, the mask has a protective effect, but you wearing the mask leads to a net increase in risk. You would have been better off not wearing the mask, and behaving more cautiously.
- ahsima1 7y ago
  Or it can work the opposite way and everyone wearing masks will remind people that things aren't normal and they should stay at home.

MengerSponge 7y ago

The most effective thing you can do is to stay home. Wearing a mask might help, but it may not. There isn't a good study on it. Medicine has a history of shoddy study design and outright quackery, so without a good RCT, medically trained professionals are loath to prescribe some behavior. There are studies that show how bad people are at wearing masks. As for masks effectiveness, it's complicated. They might help filter particles, or prevent the particles you exhale from going/staying airborne. But you may also touch your face more and in more dangerous ways when you're wearing a mask. There's also a very real risk of moral hazard, but people (see above) don't know the relative risks of social behavior vs masks. If people feel safe b/c they're wearing a mask, that's also self-defeating.

SAI_Peregrinus 7y ago
Yes, but people do need to do things like buy food. That requires either going out yourself or hiring someone to deliver it. Either way whoever is out should be wearing a mask.
- joshstrange 7y ago
  100% agree but even a T-Shirt or bandanna is preferable to going out with nothing.
joshstrange 7y ago
> There isn't a good study on it. Other than countries that are currently wearing masks and are flattening the curve? > But you may also touch your face more and in more dangerous ways when you're wearing a mask. This is simply a terrible argument for a number of reasons, first and foremost: you do not get COVID-19 from touching your face. It has to get in through the mouth or nose. > If people feel safe b/c they're wearing a mask, that's also self-defeating. Even if it makes them safer? I can't even deal with people that want to say "we don't know if masks help" then why are doctors and nurses wearing them?
- MengerSponge 7y ago
  > Other than countries that are currently wearing masks and are flattening the curve? Are there countries that are effectively flattening the curve without using masks? > This is simply a terrible argument for a number of reasons, first and foremost: you do not get COVID-19 from touching your face. It has to get in through the mouth or nose. It either gets in because you touch those places, or because you breathed in an aerosolized form through those places. (I'm assuming you breathe through your face) If a mask causes you to to aerosolize more, or contaminate your hands, then it isn't making you as safe as you thought. > Even if it makes them safer? Again, what's the evidence for this? A DOI would be sufficient. > I can't even deal with people that want to say "we don't know if masks help" then why are doctors and nurses wearing them? We don't know if masks help regular people. Normal people haven't been fitted or trained, and that means they are overwhelmingly likely to wear them incorrectly. Again, we're back to moral hazard, only worse, because you aren't as protected as you thought. Bad protection can be worse than no protection, because it leads to a net increase in risk. For example (all numbers are made up) if you go out twice as often once you've got a mask, but the mask only reduces your risk of exposure by 40%, then yes, the mask has a protective effect, but you wearing the mask leads to a net increase in risk. You would have been better off not wearing the mask, and behaving more cautiously.
ahsima1 7y ago
Or it can work the opposite way and everyone wearing masks will remind people that things aren't normal and they should stay at home.