4 ms·

Yes, masking works in degrees. It's not hard to understand that. Where schools break down, however, is during lunchtime. Kids - like adults - drop their masks

Yes, masking works in degrees. It's not hard to understand that. Where schools break down, however, is during lunchtime. Kids - like adults - drop their masks to eat and drink (of course) and carry on as if there is something magical about holding a sandwich in front of their faces. After 30 minutes of much needed socializing, the masks go back on. To be clear, at my both of my kids' schools in Seattle masks are 100% voluntary, yet there is a culture to wear them (even on the sidewalks while walking home from school - not joking). It's not like the masked schools are 100% solid, no, so the tests are wobbly to say the least. Yet, my kids don't sit next to every student in the school during lunch, so their exposure is also teeny tiny. But we're anecdotally seeing cases rise at work and school here in Seattle over the past 3 weeks unlike any time I can remember during the past 2 years. Every area is different... It used to be, "Do you know anyone who has caught it?" And now I know several. I sometimes think the UK has it right. People there have simply accepted it and deal. They have a big spike every 2 months but carry on with packed pubs, covid be damned.

azinman2 4y ago
> They have a big spike every 2 months but carry on with packed pubs, covid be damned. And with that come consequences. It’s all trade offs.
- EricE 4y ago
  What consequences? Ones that aren't near as bad as the economic and sociological destruction that the lockdowns brought? What's really disgusting is the health "leadership" have shot their wad overplaying COVID. God help us if there ever is a contagion worthy of all the fuss because half the people are going to extend a middle finger no matter how valid. And it's not their fault for feeling that way either. Credibility - incredibly hard to earn, very easy to piss away. Once pissed away on frivolous shit, it's even harder to earn back.
  - azinman2 4y ago
    Millions have died, many have long Covid causing difficulty with cognition and a host of other conditions.
ghaff 4y ago
>It used to be, "Do you know anyone who has caught it?" I think I personally knew maybe one person at the very start who probably had it. In the last month or two, I'm not sure I know dozens who have gotten it but it's quite a few.
StanislavPetrov 4y ago
Most people I know have had Covid by now, regardless of where they live or what the mask mandate situation is/was. That being said, it's fascinating to see how masking has become almost entirely a cultural phenomenon. I live in the New York City area. In many places here masks are still mandated, while in others masks aren't mandated but masking is nearly universal. I have a friend that lives "upstate" (about 40 miles north of the city). When I visit him, there is nary a mask in site. We hang out in packed bars and restaurants and it is exactly like Covid never existed. Nobody talks about it and nobody is concerned with it. Doubtless there is some level of awareness about the ~1 in 100,000 chance for someone up there to get seriously ill or die, but, unlike New York City, it isn't something that people dwell on or think much about at all. Just another one of the infinitesimally small risks entailed in daily life.
- belltaco 4y ago
  Maybe coz the vulnerable are already dead, hospitalized or suffering for long Covid upstate. https://www.newsday.com/news/health/coronavirus/covid-19-positivity-rates-new-york-t22150 https://www.newsday.com/news/health/coronavirus/covid-19-pos...
  - StanislavPetrov 4y ago
    Maybe. Or maybe because your odds of dying from Covid if you are under 85 and not morbidly obese or suffering from a long list of other health problems are less than your chances of dying in a car accident on the way to work or falling off of a ladder.
    - belltaco 4y ago
      Source? Lots of people under 85 survived with oxygen and ventilators in hospitals and ICUs with proper staffing. If no one wore masks the survival rate would have gone down a lot. A live example of majority healthy younger people dying: https://www.indiaspend.com/covid-19/covid-19-second-wave-deaths-data-variants-comorbidity-757997 https://www.indiaspend.com/covid-19/covid-19-second-wave-dea...
hajile 4y ago
Masking is effective until a person has breathed out enough particles into the room that anyone taking a breath will get enough virus particles into their lungs to statistically chance catching the disease. Even with a well-fitting mask, a sick person will saturate a rom with virus particles given enough time. When you account for lousy cloth masks with only 10-20% effectiveness that rapidly drops to effectively zero combined with n95 masks NOT being recommended for children, of course infections would occur. Put them into a little room and in close proximity all day, and we should probably be surprised that the infection rates weren't even higher.

azinman2 4y ago

> They have a big spike every 2 months but carry on with packed pubs, covid be damned. And with that come consequences. It’s all trade offs.

EricE 4y ago
What consequences? Ones that aren't near as bad as the economic and sociological destruction that the lockdowns brought? What's really disgusting is the health "leadership" have shot their wad overplaying COVID. God help us if there ever is a contagion worthy of all the fuss because half the people are going to extend a middle finger no matter how valid. And it's not their fault for feeling that way either. Credibility - incredibly hard to earn, very easy to piss away. Once pissed away on frivolous shit, it's even harder to earn back.
- azinman2 4y ago
  Millions have died, many have long Covid causing difficulty with cognition and a host of other conditions.

ghaff 4y ago

>It used to be, "Do you know anyone who has caught it?" I think I personally knew maybe one person at the very start who probably had it. In the last month or two, I'm not sure I know dozens who have gotten it but it's quite a few.

StanislavPetrov 4y ago

Most people I know have had Covid by now, regardless of where they live or what the mask mandate situation is/was. That being said, it's fascinating to see how masking has become almost entirely a cultural phenomenon. I live in the New York City area. In many places here masks are still mandated, while in others masks aren't mandated but masking is nearly universal. I have a friend that lives "upstate" (about 40 miles north of the city). When I visit him, there is nary a mask in site. We hang out in packed bars and restaurants and it is exactly like Covid never existed. Nobody talks about it and nobody is concerned with it. Doubtless there is some level of awareness about the ~1 in 100,000 chance for someone up there to get seriously ill or die, but, unlike New York City, it isn't something that people dwell on or think much about at all. Just another one of the infinitesimally small risks entailed in daily life.

belltaco 4y ago
Maybe coz the vulnerable are already dead, hospitalized or suffering for long Covid upstate. https://www.newsday.com/news/health/coronavirus/covid-19-positivity-rates-new-york-t22150 https://www.newsday.com/news/health/coronavirus/covid-19-pos...
- StanislavPetrov 4y ago
  Maybe. Or maybe because your odds of dying from Covid if you are under 85 and not morbidly obese or suffering from a long list of other health problems are less than your chances of dying in a car accident on the way to work or falling off of a ladder.
  - belltaco 4y ago
    Source? Lots of people under 85 survived with oxygen and ventilators in hospitals and ICUs with proper staffing. If no one wore masks the survival rate would have gone down a lot. A live example of majority healthy younger people dying: https://www.indiaspend.com/covid-19/covid-19-second-wave-deaths-data-variants-comorbidity-757997 https://www.indiaspend.com/covid-19/covid-19-second-wave-dea...

hajile 4y ago

Masking is effective until a person has breathed out enough particles into the room that anyone taking a breath will get enough virus particles into their lungs to statistically chance catching the disease. Even with a well-fitting mask, a sick person will saturate a rom with virus particles given enough time. When you account for lousy cloth masks with only 10-20% effectiveness that rapidly drops to effectively zero combined with n95 masks NOT being recommended for children, of course infections would occur. Put them into a little room and in close proximity all day, and we should probably be surprised that the infection rates weren't even higher.