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> I remember vividly president Macron (a person that I respected before that) very serious in TV explaining to all the citizens of the republic that we should n

by Fiahil 5y ago

> I remember vividly president Macron (a person that I respected before that) very serious in TV explaining to all the citizens of the republic that we should not buy nor wear masks. Ah! This one is actually a story of "the lesser of two evils". You can't really tell people to buy masks where there is none available, and you can't really tell there is nothing to do unless you want to put every one in panic mode. You can't really trust people to act rationally in the presence of a new and unexpected situation that nobody trained for, and you can't tell them that you're also as unprepared as they are for that. So, handle the situation like you want, there's no way you aren't damaging something. I guess it was easier to take a slight (to medium for some government staff, Olivier Véran) reputation hit and announce it to the press via your health minister, than risk a state-wide panic meanwhile you are fixing the mask situation (remember the stockpile was left in a degraded state and wasn't usable). If you think of it, the only reason why getting vaccinated is not yet mandatory is because of the next elections in May. You wouldn't risk to alienate ~1/6 voters (again, they are the most motivated ones and they refused to get a shot despite not being allowed in restaurants), if it's not national-security-like important. So I suspect it will become mandatory either when we crossed the threshold where it's really dangerous (500.000 covid case per day, we're currently at 350.000), or after the elections, in june. Whichever comes first. With our current trajectory, you could expect the president or the prime minister to announce it in about two weeks, despite having said differently in previous announcements.

enriquto 5y ago
> I guess it was easier to take a slight (...) reputation hit, Not a reputation hit. A credibility hit. Essentially 100% of what they say now is lies to my ears. If their policy is to lie to me "for the global good", this is the most rational position. I'd have preferred if they had told the truth as they knew it (the disease is airborne, masks help you to avoid infect people, please leave all masks to health personnel, people who hoard masks will be severely punished).
- thathndude 5y ago
  Precisely this. The occasional manipulation to try and prevent a run on toilet paper or gas stations is not worth a total loss of credibility.
- Fiahil 5y ago
  > I'd have preferred if they had told the truth as they knew it This is perfectly understandable, however, in this situation, the truth or any version of it weren't available. If you tell everyone that masks are the best way to avoid getting infected, but there is none available, then you are creating and invoking the worst case scenario immediately: No masks available for anyone, No idea when you will get shipments, and 60M panicked citizens to manage.
  - axiosgunnar 5y ago
    Still better than living in a post-truth society.
  - loup-vaillant 5y ago
    Still, they could have explicitly said two weeks later that they lied for our own good because of the shortage. We know they lied, so they could at least admit it and rebuild some good will.
loup-vaillant 5y ago
> If you think of it, the only reason why getting vaccinated is not yet mandatory The vaccine is close to mandatory since June 2021, and is now becoming even more so, that with the negative tests not even counting any more. I don't really by the election arguments: people who aren't vaccinated already don't vote Macron for the most part, they're already alienated. I'm pretty sure Macron doesn't want their vote, he wants scapegoats. I also heard there are constitutional hurdles in making the vaccine mandatory (because it's not officially out of test phase yet), as well as that pesky thing about not compensating people who suffer side effects (aside from having regular health care like everyone else). Your predictions still make sense, though. I'm not sure they're probable, but they're definitely plausible.
michaelt 5y ago
> Ah! This one is actually a story of "the lesser of two evils". Well, there could have been a third route - Buy out the entire supply, then announce that masks help, but they do the most good on the faces of doctors and nurses so the supply of N95 masks has been reserved for them by the government; and those who can sew their own cloth masks are encouraged to do so. The decisions were made in a hurry, and our politicians aren't doctors or scientists, so some mistakes are to be expected. But there's no denying the early stop-buying-masks announcements were a mistake IMHO.

by Fiahil 5y ago

enriquto 5y ago

> I guess it was easier to take a slight (...) reputation hit, Not a reputation hit. A credibility hit. Essentially 100% of what they say now is lies to my ears. If their policy is to lie to me "for the global good", this is the most rational position. I'd have preferred if they had told the truth as they knew it (the disease is airborne, masks help you to avoid infect people, please leave all masks to health personnel, people who hoard masks will be severely punished).

thathndude 5y ago
Precisely this. The occasional manipulation to try and prevent a run on toilet paper or gas stations is not worth a total loss of credibility.
Fiahil 5y ago
> I'd have preferred if they had told the truth as they knew it This is perfectly understandable, however, in this situation, the truth or any version of it weren't available. If you tell everyone that masks are the best way to avoid getting infected, but there is none available, then you are creating and invoking the worst case scenario immediately: No masks available for anyone, No idea when you will get shipments, and 60M panicked citizens to manage.
- axiosgunnar 5y ago
  Still better than living in a post-truth society.
- loup-vaillant 5y ago
  Still, they could have explicitly said two weeks later that they lied for our own good because of the shortage. We know they lied, so they could at least admit it and rebuild some good will.

loup-vaillant 5y ago

> If you think of it, the only reason why getting vaccinated is not yet mandatory The vaccine is close to mandatory since June 2021, and is now becoming even more so, that with the negative tests not even counting any more. I don't really by the election arguments: people who aren't vaccinated already don't vote Macron for the most part, they're already alienated. I'm pretty sure Macron doesn't want their vote, he wants scapegoats. I also heard there are constitutional hurdles in making the vaccine mandatory (because it's not officially out of test phase yet), as well as that pesky thing about not compensating people who suffer side effects (aside from having regular health care like everyone else). Your predictions still make sense, though. I'm not sure they're probable, but they're definitely plausible.

michaelt 5y ago

> Ah! This one is actually a story of "the lesser of two evils". Well, there could have been a third route - Buy out the entire supply, then announce that masks help, but they do the most good on the faces of doctors and nurses so the supply of N95 masks has been reserved for them by the government; and those who can sew their own cloth masks are encouraged to do so. The decisions were made in a hurry, and our politicians aren't doctors or scientists, so some mistakes are to be expected. But there's no denying the early stop-buying-masks announcements were a mistake IMHO.