5 ms·

> the published evidence to support the general public wearing masks was quite weak The physical basis of a face mask is well understood, and engineers have me

by sampo 6y ago

> the published evidence to support the general public wearing masks was quite weak The physical basis of a face mask is well understood, and engineers have measured filtering efficiencies in labs. What was weak, was randomised controlled trials where you give masks to people and ask them to use them, with a control group to which you don't give masks. This kind of studies also give at best weak evidence that condoms would help preventing sexually transmitted diseases or unwanted pregnancies. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3009845/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3009845/ "Despite the public health importance of increasing condom use there is little reliable evidence on the effectiveness of condom promotion interventions." According to your criteria, we should maybe stop recommending condoms?

scoopertrooper 6y ago
To make the condom metaphor relevant to this discussion we'd have to make a few tweaks to the mechanics of condoms and human physiology: * Humans would have to require at least some fluids to pass through during sex to survive, so condoms would have to be porous enough to allow these fluids through while trapping sperm * Condoms capable of this feat would have to be relatively scarce, so the general population would instead use improvised genital coverings * Women would have to be able to become pregnant by merely touching some dried out sperm on a door handle and then rubbing their genitals some time later * Men would have to be of the habit of ejaculating on various public surfaces throughout the day * Women would have to be of the habit of rubbing their genitals throughout the day * A large segment of the population would have to refuse to wear their genital coverings while ejaculating on public surfaces or rubbing their genitals * Even those that complied with state genital covering regulations were prone to adjusting them throughout the day and accidentally rubbing their genitalia. So yes, with those minor tweaks, I'll concede your point.

by sampo 6y ago

scoopertrooper 6y ago

To make the condom metaphor relevant to this discussion we'd have to make a few tweaks to the mechanics of condoms and human physiology: * Humans would have to require at least some fluids to pass through during sex to survive, so condoms would have to be porous enough to allow these fluids through while trapping sperm * Condoms capable of this feat would have to be relatively scarce, so the general population would instead use improvised genital coverings * Women would have to be able to become pregnant by merely touching some dried out sperm on a door handle and then rubbing their genitals some time later * Men would have to be of the habit of ejaculating on various public surfaces throughout the day * Women would have to be of the habit of rubbing their genitals throughout the day * A large segment of the population would have to refuse to wear their genital coverings while ejaculating on public surfaces or rubbing their genitals * Even those that complied with state genital covering regulations were prone to adjusting them throughout the day and accidentally rubbing their genitalia. So yes, with those minor tweaks, I'll concede your point.