3 ms·

Train cars have plenty of circulation it's not the heat locker youre describing. Also it's 100% guaranteed that wearing masks is safer than not wearing them, a

Train cars have plenty of circulation it's not the heat locker youre describing. Also it's 100% guaranteed that wearing masks is safer than not wearing them, and it's minimal effort. So just use common sense and wear the mask, it's working great for managing covid in Asia. Your logic is basically this: "I heard of a study that suggest masks are less effective in an environment." --> "lets not wear masks and maximize our chances of spreading covid. Because there's a study that suggests masks are less effective in certain environments"

ryandrake 5y ago
OP is using a common disinformation tactic of rounding a non-100% probability (moderately effective but not perfect) down to a binary "doesn't work".
- nerdponx 5y ago
  I summarized my impression of the research as "they extend your expected time-to-infection by only a few minutes". If your definition of "works" is "provides nontrivial protection over the course of an 8-hour workday indoors", then yes, I would argue that does constitute a conclusion of "doesn't work". This isn't a "disinformation tactic" any more than your argument of "it's not 0% therefore it works." Note that I am also not arguing against mask-wearing. I am arguing against the notion that we can go back to normal in the near future, because masks don't seem to do all that much, and there isn't much else we can do. That, or we have to accept a nonzero (but not that large) probability of getting sick with a new disease other than the usual flu, colds, etc., and hope that for the most part the vaccine-breakthrough infections aren't serious or life-threatening.
nerdponx 5y ago
I didn't suggest that anyone should stop wearing a mask indoors. I wear them indoors all the time, and mostly refuse to go indoors without one. But I also still work remote and I rarely am indoors (other than at home) for a few minutes at a time. From the research I skimmed, it seems like a cloth mask is mostly not doing anything for you if you're indoors for an extended period of time. Do not extrapolate that I am arguing against mask-wearing, because I am absolutely not. I am arguing that we cannot go "back to normal", because you can't just put on a mask and be safe to a meaningful extent. I worry a lot about my friends who are schoolteachers, and in the next few weeks will be stuck indoors for several hours with 30+ children. Edit: also, it really depends on the train car. Have you been on the Lexington Ave line in NYC during rush hour? You are literally jammed face-to-back at times, and the air conditioners sometimes do fail. There's basically no way to avoid exchanging aerosols and large droplets with other people.

ryandrake 5y ago

OP is using a common disinformation tactic of rounding a non-100% probability (moderately effective but not perfect) down to a binary "doesn't work".

nerdponx 5y ago
I summarized my impression of the research as "they extend your expected time-to-infection by only a few minutes". If your definition of "works" is "provides nontrivial protection over the course of an 8-hour workday indoors", then yes, I would argue that does constitute a conclusion of "doesn't work". This isn't a "disinformation tactic" any more than your argument of "it's not 0% therefore it works." Note that I am also not arguing against mask-wearing. I am arguing against the notion that we can go back to normal in the near future, because masks don't seem to do all that much, and there isn't much else we can do. That, or we have to accept a nonzero (but not that large) probability of getting sick with a new disease other than the usual flu, colds, etc., and hope that for the most part the vaccine-breakthrough infections aren't serious or life-threatening.

nerdponx 5y ago

I didn't suggest that anyone should stop wearing a mask indoors. I wear them indoors all the time, and mostly refuse to go indoors without one. But I also still work remote and I rarely am indoors (other than at home) for a few minutes at a time. From the research I skimmed, it seems like a cloth mask is mostly not doing anything for you if you're indoors for an extended period of time. Do not extrapolate that I am arguing against mask-wearing, because I am absolutely not. I am arguing that we cannot go "back to normal", because you can't just put on a mask and be safe to a meaningful extent. I worry a lot about my friends who are schoolteachers, and in the next few weeks will be stuck indoors for several hours with 30+ children. Edit: also, it really depends on the train car. Have you been on the Lexington Ave line in NYC during rush hour? You are literally jammed face-to-back at times, and the air conditioners sometimes do fail. There's basically no way to avoid exchanging aerosols and large droplets with other people.