5 ms·

An interesting article. I was recently unimpressed by the new Virginia governor's first action to reaching the mandate on masks in schools. My county has electe

An interesting article. I was recently unimpressed by the new Virginia governor's first action to reaching the mandate on masks in schools. My county has elected to retain its own mask mandate. At first blush a mask mandate is generally a public good. I keep my germs to myself, you keep yours too yourself, and we don't get the flu, or a cold, or COVID, whatever. And so for me despite not living wearing a mask I have been happy to anytime I'm near others. The article makes a decent case that, at least for kids in schools, the science to support the utility of masks just isn't there. At first I found this surprising - how could it not be? At least it should help. But kids are in school, together, for 6+ hours a day. I barely wear my mask properly for two hours at a time and I understand how they work. Kids don't care, they're just doing what they're told, cargo cult style. Of course they won't be written perfectly, which reduces their effectiveness. But the idea that they don't help at all, or at least statistically so, is astonishing. And the article provides evidence of that, cutting neighboring counties in Tennessee with similar vaccination rates where one had a 23% lower making rate, but similar spread. How can that be? Truly fascinating. Much as we've seen the downside of forced closures and lockdowns, this article reminds us that there may be downsides for kids and masks. I wasn't open to this possibility previously. What could be the downside to putting on a mask? And the answer is, we just don't know. How can we follow the science if we don't have any research? I continue to be glad to be a resident of the US, whose federalist system allows all these different jurisdictions to try different rules that may work better for them. It gives us a chance to study these differences and learn from them. Really thought provoking article. While I wait for more studies, guess I'll keep wearing this mask around people. Can't hurt, right? Probably.

dfxm12 5y ago
And the article provides evidence of that, cutting neighboring counties in Tennessee with similar vaccination rates where one had a 23% lower making rate, but similar spread. How can that be? Truly fascinating. There's more to this than vaccination and masking rate. When we're talking about being indoors all day, one other variable in this is ventilation. For their part, the CDC does suggest considering improving ventilation in buildings. Vaccination is probably the best single tool we have and if everyone who could have been vaccinated was, we'd be in a different situation. However, with so many refusing, you have to get into the minutia about wearing masks, sitting certain distance apart, ventilation, etc., but people aren't good about going into the minutia or dealing with the fact that people in different situations (like different building with different ventilation) should behave differently. Even knowing this, a lot of places simply don't want to spend money on infrastructure, including improving schools. 0 - https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/community/ventilation.html https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/community/ventilat...
Auracle 5y ago
A large portion of people wear cloth masks, which are largely ineffective. In addition, you’re talking about a group of 20+ people being in close proximity for at least an hour. (Most) masks are only going to reduce the number of viruses spread, so it might buy you a little extra time around someone that’s infected - but at some point enough will get through.
- davidw 5y ago
  In the US, at least. In countries like Italy, they mostly wear surgical masks and have started a broader push for FFP2 masks. I find this kind of bizarre - the US has a lot more money than a place like Italy, but I guess they cared more about trying to layer some preventative measures instead of turning crappy cloth masks into some sort of weird self-expression thing.
naasking 5y ago
> But kids are in school, together, for 6+ hours a day. This is probably the relevant variable. If you're sharing the same air space with someone carrying an airborne virus, it probably doesn't matter that a mask is filtering 95% if you're both breathing the same air in an enclosed space for 6 hours. Some minimal viral load is needed for infection, and even with 95% filtering you'll probably surpass that threshold after 6 hours.

dfxm12 5y ago

And the article provides evidence of that, cutting neighboring counties in Tennessee with similar vaccination rates where one had a 23% lower making rate, but similar spread. How can that be? Truly fascinating. There's more to this than vaccination and masking rate. When we're talking about being indoors all day, one other variable in this is ventilation. For their part, the CDC does suggest considering improving ventilation in buildings. Vaccination is probably the best single tool we have and if everyone who could have been vaccinated was, we'd be in a different situation. However, with so many refusing, you have to get into the minutia about wearing masks, sitting certain distance apart, ventilation, etc., but people aren't good about going into the minutia or dealing with the fact that people in different situations (like different building with different ventilation) should behave differently. Even knowing this, a lot of places simply don't want to spend money on infrastructure, including improving schools. 0 - https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/community/ventilation.html https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/community/ventilat...

Auracle 5y ago

A large portion of people wear cloth masks, which are largely ineffective. In addition, you’re talking about a group of 20+ people being in close proximity for at least an hour. (Most) masks are only going to reduce the number of viruses spread, so it might buy you a little extra time around someone that’s infected - but at some point enough will get through.

davidw 5y ago
In the US, at least. In countries like Italy, they mostly wear surgical masks and have started a broader push for FFP2 masks. I find this kind of bizarre - the US has a lot more money than a place like Italy, but I guess they cared more about trying to layer some preventative measures instead of turning crappy cloth masks into some sort of weird self-expression thing.

naasking 5y ago

> But kids are in school, together, for 6+ hours a day. This is probably the relevant variable. If you're sharing the same air space with someone carrying an airborne virus, it probably doesn't matter that a mask is filtering 95% if you're both breathing the same air in an enclosed space for 6 hours. Some minimal viral load is needed for infection, and even with 95% filtering you'll probably surpass that threshold after 6 hours.