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> zero-cost interventions like “wear a mask” At the beginning of the pandemic (and even now), many countries were PPE-constrained, particularly on masks. The
by danpalmer 6y ago
> zero-cost interventions like “wear a mask”
At the beginning of the pandemic (and even now), many countries were PPE-constrained, particularly on masks.
The messaging was "no need to wear a mask", but the reasoning was that the supply we did have should go to front-line healthcare workers.
In other words, the Opportunity Cost was high.
- maxerickson 6y agoAn adjacent example is the continued use of cloth masks long after the supply of high quality disposable masks increased.
- danpalmer 6y agoThat's true. I remember to begin with the messaging was not to use cloth masks as they were essentially useless, so it really was N95 or nothing, and the N95 supply was needed in hospitals. Now we know that a cloth mask is actually better than nothing, and we also have a lot of supply of not-great-not-bad disposable or tightly woven cloth masks.
- maxerickson 6y agoKorean and Chinese filtering masks are readily available and much better than cloth or surgical masks. N95s are also somewhat available.