5 ms·

To be fair, the last wave suggests that wearing masks has no effect in this pandemic[0][1]. Comparing Sweden and Germany (which have at least similar health sys

To be fair, the last wave suggests that wearing masks has no effect in this pandemic[0][1]. Comparing Sweden and Germany (which have at least similar health systems and count similarly) the mortality rate of SARS-CoV-2 is about the same, where Swedes rarely wear any masks and in Germany it is mandatory indoors (accessible to the public) and even mandatory in some zones outdoors. Also when you think about it, the permanent mask usage has some serious hygienic downsides. 1. You need to touch your face way more often (reseat+put on/off) 2. Most masks still allow viri to go through (especially on the sides) 3. Masks are often reused and used for too long (correct usage would need either a lot of money+time or hundreds of masks/month) The positive effects of masks in this pandemic are pretty debatable especially given the "circumstantial" evidence. [0]: https://imgur.com/a/MNlOoTN https://imgur.com/a/MNlOoTN [1]: https://github.com/owid/covid-19-data/blob/master/public/data/owid-covid-data.xlsx https://github.com/owid/covid-19-data/blob/master/public/dat...

loloquwowndueo 6y ago
“Viri” is not the plural of “virus”. https://www.thoughtco.com/what-is-the-plural-of-virus-112199 https://www.thoughtco.com/what-is-the-plural-of-virus-112199
- Blikkentrekker 6y ago
  Personally, being a compulsive perfectionist, I always use “virus” in English as a mass noun, and never pluralize it. I thus say “several parts of virus” or “several programs of virus”, — an elegant solution, I would say. And yes, I do say “octopodēs”; I am not some bourgeois peasant.
  - loloquwowndueo 6y ago
    The guy I knew who used “scenarii” instead of “scenarios” would probably drive you up the wall :)
    - Blikkentrekker 6y ago
      Indeed. Such I stand atop such lesser men of lesser etymological knowledge, that I unironically præfer the spelling of “lim”, for the “b” is but a false etymology, an was never there. I demand nothing less than perfection, and I shall receive it.
      - loloquwowndueo 6y ago
        Bravo, this made my day. Kudos to you. :)
varjag 6y ago
I'm impressed to see spring 2020 WHO mask denialism persist all way into this season. Virtually all countries that stuck to mask regimen a year ago despite the misguided advice regurgulated here have the epidemic under control for a long long while.
- Applejinx 6y ago
  I'm not impressed so much as dismayed. My theory is that it is warfare by decentralized means, worked through witting and unwitting subjects. In other words, there are a bunch of people whose job it is to keep the enemies of their country in mask denialism and maximum COVID infection as deeply as possible, and it's primarily done through social media. And while it's useful in a sense to put forth such intentions while knowingly coordinating bot networks and the like, it's social engineering that does the heavy lifting: the real effectiveness comes in ways you can't directly control, when people soak up the information around them and begin propagating your message (or weird mutations of it) on their own initiative, thinking they've invented it. And that's how they getcha. So I'm not the slightest bit impressed or surprised to see spring 2020 memes persisting: they're being fed, on purpose, singlemindedly. I confess to being surprised when the same memes turned up in English in various EU countries, but when the job is to propagate the message, I guess English signs in foreign countries is all part of the game, indeed a normal part of anybody trying to send messages to the West.
  - isoskeles 6y ago
    I’m both impressed and dismayed that both of your comments don’t do a single thing to refute mask denialism, specifically whatever his point is on Sweden and Germany. I don’t even believe his comment, but I’m not going to sneer at it and call it mask denialism to shut it down. I feel better about his comment at least attempting to state an argument and evidence in support of it. Anyway, this is a strange tangent for the OP.
    - varjag 6y ago
      Why not compare Sweden and Norway, in many ways a better comparison in culture, population density and geography than Sweden and Germany? …oh. See, I didn't specifically went with countering the OP line of argument because refuting BS takes an order of magnitude more effort than slinging it. It's something anyone who did try to reason with generally unreasonable people so abundant lately can attest to. The laminated checklist from March 2020 above just gives that vibe of someone brining up their homework here and all reasoning is going to be futile.

loloquwowndueo 6y ago

“Viri” is not the plural of “virus”. https://www.thoughtco.com/what-is-the-plural-of-virus-112199 https://www.thoughtco.com/what-is-the-plural-of-virus-112199

Blikkentrekker 6y ago
Personally, being a compulsive perfectionist, I always use “virus” in English as a mass noun, and never pluralize it. I thus say “several parts of virus” or “several programs of virus”, — an elegant solution, I would say. And yes, I do say “octopodēs”; I am not some bourgeois peasant.
- loloquwowndueo 6y ago
  The guy I knew who used “scenarii” instead of “scenarios” would probably drive you up the wall :)
  - Blikkentrekker 6y ago
    Indeed. Such I stand atop such lesser men of lesser etymological knowledge, that I unironically præfer the spelling of “lim”, for the “b” is but a false etymology, an was never there. I demand nothing less than perfection, and I shall receive it.
    - loloquwowndueo 6y ago
      Bravo, this made my day. Kudos to you. :)

varjag 6y ago

I'm impressed to see spring 2020 WHO mask denialism persist all way into this season. Virtually all countries that stuck to mask regimen a year ago despite the misguided advice regurgulated here have the epidemic under control for a long long while.

Applejinx 6y ago
I'm not impressed so much as dismayed. My theory is that it is warfare by decentralized means, worked through witting and unwitting subjects. In other words, there are a bunch of people whose job it is to keep the enemies of their country in mask denialism and maximum COVID infection as deeply as possible, and it's primarily done through social media. And while it's useful in a sense to put forth such intentions while knowingly coordinating bot networks and the like, it's social engineering that does the heavy lifting: the real effectiveness comes in ways you can't directly control, when people soak up the information around them and begin propagating your message (or weird mutations of it) on their own initiative, thinking they've invented it. And that's how they getcha. So I'm not the slightest bit impressed or surprised to see spring 2020 memes persisting: they're being fed, on purpose, singlemindedly. I confess to being surprised when the same memes turned up in English in various EU countries, but when the job is to propagate the message, I guess English signs in foreign countries is all part of the game, indeed a normal part of anybody trying to send messages to the West.
- isoskeles 6y ago
  I’m both impressed and dismayed that both of your comments don’t do a single thing to refute mask denialism, specifically whatever his point is on Sweden and Germany. I don’t even believe his comment, but I’m not going to sneer at it and call it mask denialism to shut it down. I feel better about his comment at least attempting to state an argument and evidence in support of it. Anyway, this is a strange tangent for the OP.
  - varjag 6y ago
    Why not compare Sweden and Norway, in many ways a better comparison in culture, population density and geography than Sweden and Germany? …oh. See, I didn't specifically went with countering the OP line of argument because refuting BS takes an order of magnitude more effort than slinging it. It's something anyone who did try to reason with generally unreasonable people so abundant lately can attest to. The laminated checklist from March 2020 above just gives that vibe of someone brining up their homework here and all reasoning is going to be futile.