4 ms·

My hope is that, at least for some portion of society, this pandemic has normalized the practice of wearing a mask if you must go out and are sick. So even if d

My hope is that, at least for some portion of society, this pandemic has normalized the practice of wearing a mask if you must go out and are sick. So even if diseases aren't totally eradicated, we can have significant reductions in spread. Maybe a false hope, but a hope nonetheless.

DanBC 6y ago
> has normalized the practice of wearing a mask if you must go out and are sick This is one of the reasons people who are against mask wearing are against mask wearing - they encourage people to break the rules that we have good evidence for (self isolation) in favour of rules we have weak evidence for (mask wearing). Please do not go out and about if you have symptoms. That mask isn't doing much to prevent the spread of your disease.
- majormajor 6y ago
  > Please do not go out and about if you have symptoms. This is hardly a rule that anyone follows, unless symptoms are severe. That's one of the reasons COVID spreads more widely than the flu - mild symptoms don't make anyone change behavior.
  - basch 6y ago
    That should be a call to arms for governments to build better support systems for the sick and elderly, so they can receive care and supplies at home. Maybe Amazon and Wal-mart will fill that need, maybe not. It would be nice to have a "im sick" button that auto delivers some chicken soup.
- pmoriarty 6y ago
  But if someone's going to be going out anyway, how exactly is it going to hurt them if they wear a mask? Even if the chance of reducing the spread of the disease by wearing a mask is low, isn't it worth doing to increase the odds of saving some lives?
- whycombagator 6y ago
  > we have good evidence for (self isolation) in favour of rules we have weak evidence for (mask wearing). > That mask isn't doing much to prevent the spread of your disease. What is the weak evidence for mask wearing?
  - DanBC 6y ago
    People should wear masks. Masks may help prevent the spread of covid-19. This study talks about N95 or 12 to 16 layer cotton masks. Most members of the public are using much less. It rates the quality of evidence for masks as "low certainty", which means masks might be very much less effective (or very much more effective) than they estimate. https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)31142-9/fulltext https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6... > Face mask use could result in a large reduction in risk of infection (n=2647; aOR 0·15, 95% CI 0·07 to 0·34, RD −14·3%, −15·9 to −10·7; low certainty), with stronger associations with N95 or similar respirators compared with disposable surgical masks or similar (eg, reusable 12–16-layer cotton masks; pinteraction=0·090; posterior probability >95%, low certainty) > Further high-quality research, including randomised trials of the optimum physical distance and the effectiveness of different types of masks in the general population and for health-care workers' protection, is urgently needed. > Although direct evidence is limited, the optimum use of face masks, in particular N95 or similar respirators in health-care settings and 12–16-layer cotton or surgical masks in the community, could depend on contextual factors; action is needed at all levels to address the paucity of better evidence. Eye protection might provide additional benefits. Globally collaborative and well conducted studies, including randomised trials, of different personal protective strategies are needed regardless of the challenges, but this systematic appraisal of currently best available evidence could be considered to inform interim guidance. Norway have some interesting modelling: https://www.fhi.no/globalassets/dokumenterfiler/rapporter/2020/should-individuals-in-the-community-without-respiratory-symptoms-wear-facemasks-to-reduce-the-spread-of-covid-19-report-2020.pdf https://www.fhi.no/globalassets/dokumenterfiler/rapporter/20... > Given the low prevalence of COVID-19 currently, even if facemasks are assumed to be effective, the difference in infection rates between using facemasks and not using facemasks would be small.Assuming that 20% of people infectious with SARS-CoV-2 do not have symptoms,and assuming a risk reduction of 40% for wearing facemask, 200000 people would need to wear facemasks to prevent one new infection per week in the current epidemiological situation. One of the problems of DIY cloth masks being recommended to the public is that they start to lose effectiveness as soon as you put them on. https://www.ijic.info/article/view/10788 https://www.ijic.info/article/view/10788
- plorkyeran 6y ago
  Self-isolating when you have a cold has never been a standard thing to do in the united states.

DanBC 6y ago

> has normalized the practice of wearing a mask if you must go out and are sick This is one of the reasons people who are against mask wearing are against mask wearing - they encourage people to break the rules that we have good evidence for (self isolation) in favour of rules we have weak evidence for (mask wearing). Please do not go out and about if you have symptoms. That mask isn't doing much to prevent the spread of your disease.

majormajor 6y ago
> Please do not go out and about if you have symptoms. This is hardly a rule that anyone follows, unless symptoms are severe. That's one of the reasons COVID spreads more widely than the flu - mild symptoms don't make anyone change behavior.
- basch 6y ago
  That should be a call to arms for governments to build better support systems for the sick and elderly, so they can receive care and supplies at home. Maybe Amazon and Wal-mart will fill that need, maybe not. It would be nice to have a "im sick" button that auto delivers some chicken soup.
pmoriarty 6y ago
But if someone's going to be going out anyway, how exactly is it going to hurt them if they wear a mask? Even if the chance of reducing the spread of the disease by wearing a mask is low, isn't it worth doing to increase the odds of saving some lives?
whycombagator 6y ago
> we have good evidence for (self isolation) in favour of rules we have weak evidence for (mask wearing). > That mask isn't doing much to prevent the spread of your disease. What is the weak evidence for mask wearing?
- DanBC 6y ago
  People should wear masks. Masks may help prevent the spread of covid-19. This study talks about N95 or 12 to 16 layer cotton masks. Most members of the public are using much less. It rates the quality of evidence for masks as "low certainty", which means masks might be very much less effective (or very much more effective) than they estimate. https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)31142-9/fulltext https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6... > Face mask use could result in a large reduction in risk of infection (n=2647; aOR 0·15, 95% CI 0·07 to 0·34, RD −14·3%, −15·9 to −10·7; low certainty), with stronger associations with N95 or similar respirators compared with disposable surgical masks or similar (eg, reusable 12–16-layer cotton masks; pinteraction=0·090; posterior probability >95%, low certainty) > Further high-quality research, including randomised trials of the optimum physical distance and the effectiveness of different types of masks in the general population and for health-care workers' protection, is urgently needed. > Although direct evidence is limited, the optimum use of face masks, in particular N95 or similar respirators in health-care settings and 12–16-layer cotton or surgical masks in the community, could depend on contextual factors; action is needed at all levels to address the paucity of better evidence. Eye protection might provide additional benefits. Globally collaborative and well conducted studies, including randomised trials, of different personal protective strategies are needed regardless of the challenges, but this systematic appraisal of currently best available evidence could be considered to inform interim guidance. Norway have some interesting modelling: https://www.fhi.no/globalassets/dokumenterfiler/rapporter/2020/should-individuals-in-the-community-without-respiratory-symptoms-wear-facemasks-to-reduce-the-spread-of-covid-19-report-2020.pdf https://www.fhi.no/globalassets/dokumenterfiler/rapporter/20... > Given the low prevalence of COVID-19 currently, even if facemasks are assumed to be effective, the difference in infection rates between using facemasks and not using facemasks would be small.Assuming that 20% of people infectious with SARS-CoV-2 do not have symptoms,and assuming a risk reduction of 40% for wearing facemask, 200000 people would need to wear facemasks to prevent one new infection per week in the current epidemiological situation. One of the problems of DIY cloth masks being recommended to the public is that they start to lose effectiveness as soon as you put them on. https://www.ijic.info/article/view/10788 https://www.ijic.info/article/view/10788
plorkyeran 6y ago
Self-isolating when you have a cold has never been a standard thing to do in the united states.