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There have been numerous studies showing that mechanically N95 and equivalent masks can greatly reduce the emission of coronavirus and influenza, and can also g

There have been numerous studies showing that mechanically N95 and equivalent masks can greatly reduce the emission of coronavirus and influenza, and can also greatly reduce the intake of coronavirus-sized particles. That's why these types of articles always focus on mask mandate effectiveness instead of mask effectiveness. How many schools with mask mandates also have their lunch indoors with poor ventilation? Can you wear a mask while eating? How many have their noses sticking out all day? How many are wearing cloth masks? It's like having a kid constantly getting pinkeye from not wiping their ass properly, and then saying toilet paper is pointless, instead of teaching the kid how to wipe and wash properly.

Zanneth 5y ago
It is the responsibility of public health to take all of these variables into account before mandating countermeasures. The fact that people are constantly placed in situations where mask effectiveness is reduced or in some cases completely eliminated should be evidence that mask mandates are pointless when applied at scale.
- uoaei 5y ago
  Very confusing how people seem to keep making the illogical jump from "individuals follow a mask mandate improperly / mask mandates are insufficiently specific to cover the actual means of transmission" to "mask mandates are pointless". Mask mandates done poorly are pointless. Obviously. But it is completely absurd to conclude that mask mandates writ large are pointless.
  - Zanneth 5y ago
    That was a poor choice of words on my part. Instead of "pointless" I should have said "impractical." I think most of us agree that we wouldn't want to live in a world where kids are forced to wear N95 masks all day, with tape binding them to their skin, with adults constantly supervising their proper fit, and with absolutely no lunch breaks or ability to drink fluids. If mask wearing done poorly is the only realistic option, then we would be better off without them altogether.
  - pcmoney 5y ago
    I forget where I saw this but… “If your solution of some problem relies on “if everyone would just…” Than you do not have a solution. Everyone is not going to just. At no point in the history of the universe has everyone just and they are not going to start now”
naasking 5y ago
> It's like having a kid constantly getting pinkeye from not wiping their ass properly, and then saying toilet paper is pointless, instead of teaching the kid how to wipe and wash properly. Poor adherence in young populations is exactly the point.
- elsonrodriguez 5y ago
  There is a deep irony in that this conversation concerns schools and yet we're here implying that it's pointless to teach children anything.
  - naasking 5y ago
    Not sure how you go from "poor adherence on masks" to "it's pointless to teach kids anything".
  - xdennis 5y ago
    If they keep failing at teaching something, then maybe what's being taught is wrong, not who's taught. It's like how left-handed kids have been taught to write with their right hand: how many lefties must fail until they realize writing with your left should be acceptable?
chaostheory 5y ago
The article points out that children have been relatively safe from COVID, which is true. The article doesn’t really cite much data to support its case. The studies it cites show a positive benefit to masking that it fails to counter. What it also completely ignores is that the masks are mainly to protect teachers and the children’s older guardians and care takers. I’m tired of anti-maskers.
- uoaei 5y ago
  Children are safe from having debilitating symptoms due to COVID. I think it's worth being precise with language because the shorthand has been confusing for many people and used as a bludgeon in the reopening-schools-debate. But of course the real issue is children getting COVID from family, bringing it to school, spreading it to other kids who then give it to other parents. I have not seen analyses which attempt to quantify the effect of closing schools while taking this into account, but I'm sure they're out there.
  - TheCoelacanth 5y ago
    Also spreading it to their teachers, who are usually adults and who usually don't want to get deadly diseases and may not be willing to work without some precautions going towards their safety.
    - pcmoney 5y ago
      The virus is endemic, we are all going to get it sooner or later.
      - uoaei 5y ago
        No it is not and no we are not. You are advocating the sacrifice of lives which are not your own, which is unequivocally reprehensible.
        pcmoney 5y ago
pcmoney 5y ago
The kids are not allowed to interact at school. Their schools are closed arbitrarily. They are taught that they are a vector of disease. We make them eat outside on cold sidewalks in freezing temperatures. The risk to children is very low. Meanwhile, adults are going to crowded restaurants, bars, concerts without masks in the same cities. It is all a joke at the expense of our children. When these kids are running our government and we are the retirees dependent upon them etc. then the bill will come due and we will deserve it.

Zanneth 5y ago

It is the responsibility of public health to take all of these variables into account before mandating countermeasures. The fact that people are constantly placed in situations where mask effectiveness is reduced or in some cases completely eliminated should be evidence that mask mandates are pointless when applied at scale.

uoaei 5y ago
Very confusing how people seem to keep making the illogical jump from "individuals follow a mask mandate improperly / mask mandates are insufficiently specific to cover the actual means of transmission" to "mask mandates are pointless". Mask mandates done poorly are pointless. Obviously. But it is completely absurd to conclude that mask mandates writ large are pointless.
- Zanneth 5y ago
  That was a poor choice of words on my part. Instead of "pointless" I should have said "impractical." I think most of us agree that we wouldn't want to live in a world where kids are forced to wear N95 masks all day, with tape binding them to their skin, with adults constantly supervising their proper fit, and with absolutely no lunch breaks or ability to drink fluids. If mask wearing done poorly is the only realistic option, then we would be better off without them altogether.
- pcmoney 5y ago
  I forget where I saw this but… “If your solution of some problem relies on “if everyone would just…” Than you do not have a solution. Everyone is not going to just. At no point in the history of the universe has everyone just and they are not going to start now”

naasking 5y ago

> It's like having a kid constantly getting pinkeye from not wiping their ass properly, and then saying toilet paper is pointless, instead of teaching the kid how to wipe and wash properly. Poor adherence in young populations is exactly the point.

elsonrodriguez 5y ago
There is a deep irony in that this conversation concerns schools and yet we're here implying that it's pointless to teach children anything.
- naasking 5y ago
  Not sure how you go from "poor adherence on masks" to "it's pointless to teach kids anything".
- xdennis 5y ago
  If they keep failing at teaching something, then maybe what's being taught is wrong, not who's taught. It's like how left-handed kids have been taught to write with their right hand: how many lefties must fail until they realize writing with your left should be acceptable?

chaostheory 5y ago

The article points out that children have been relatively safe from COVID, which is true. The article doesn’t really cite much data to support its case. The studies it cites show a positive benefit to masking that it fails to counter. What it also completely ignores is that the masks are mainly to protect teachers and the children’s older guardians and care takers. I’m tired of anti-maskers.

uoaei 5y ago
Children are safe from having debilitating symptoms due to COVID. I think it's worth being precise with language because the shorthand has been confusing for many people and used as a bludgeon in the reopening-schools-debate. But of course the real issue is children getting COVID from family, bringing it to school, spreading it to other kids who then give it to other parents. I have not seen analyses which attempt to quantify the effect of closing schools while taking this into account, but I'm sure they're out there.
- TheCoelacanth 5y ago
  Also spreading it to their teachers, who are usually adults and who usually don't want to get deadly diseases and may not be willing to work without some precautions going towards their safety.
  - pcmoney 5y ago
    The virus is endemic, we are all going to get it sooner or later.
    - uoaei 5y ago
      No it is not and no we are not. You are advocating the sacrifice of lives which are not your own, which is unequivocally reprehensible.
      - pcmoney 5y ago

pcmoney 5y ago

The kids are not allowed to interact at school. Their schools are closed arbitrarily. They are taught that they are a vector of disease. We make them eat outside on cold sidewalks in freezing temperatures. The risk to children is very low. Meanwhile, adults are going to crowded restaurants, bars, concerts without masks in the same cities. It is all a joke at the expense of our children. When these kids are running our government and we are the retirees dependent upon them etc. then the bill will come due and we will deserve it.