I mean, we didn’t handle any of this well the first time. That goes for most places on the planet. I’m sure we won’t handle it well if it really does go south again.
masks do NOT work. Not unless you are wearing at least an N-95 or better mask. More fear-mongering in an election year, surprise surprise. Do not forget to get your lovely vaccines.
Stfu liberal. Uh oh, only n95s work, guess we can’t tell anyone to do anything. Not to mention that’s completely untrue, pretty much any mask is better than nothing.
Let’s fix your incorrect comment: “Masks prevent the spread of communicable diseases, especially N-95 masks.”
The existence of viruses is not fear-mongering. You don’t believe in the flu either? Staph? E. Coli? Is your ignorance limited to just one virus, or all of them?
You’re looking at PPE one-dimensionally. The most effective use of PPE is combined with other types of PPE, as well as additional precautions and safe habits. Masks ALONE aren’t saving shit. A vaccine ALONE isn’t making you infallible.
This is basic OSHA shit that everyone should at least realize where it applies to work. It carries over into your everyday. I’ve got a HAZWOPER certification I have to keep up every year, so it’s something ingrained at this point.
N95 work the best but that doesn’t mean other masks do nothing. They still very much reduce risk
this is an article about the UK. Election years aren’t really quite a thing in the UK as the UK parelement’s elections are called whenever the ruling party/coalition calls it as long as it’s within a certain time frame (in this case by 2025) and it’s highly unlikely for them to call for sooner than they have to as the Torries aren’t exactly polling well
Not to mention that it’s absolutely clear to everyone involved that the results of the next UK election is largely already decided and that stuff like this isn’t going to move the needle either way.
But it gets rid of Covid within 8 hours. I’ve never had a cure that worked so fast. It gives you a different set of problems (joint pain, tiredness, some weird tastes) but it doesn’t give you heart, lung, or brain damage like Covid. I’ll take it.
Yeah, Paxlovid didn’t exist the last time I had COVID. The mouth taste off of it is indeed weird, but the fact that I already stopped feeling the brain fog is a huge plus. I was feeling the brain fog for a good month or so after my last infection.
I got it in late July and STILL have it. Both testing positive and with symptoms. Isolating this long has been hell. And I have no idea when it’s going to end.
There is uncertainty about the effects of face masks. The low to moderate certainty of evidence means our confidence in the effect estimate is limited, and that the true effect may be different from the observed estimate of the effect. The pooled results of RCTs did not show a clear reduction in respiratory viral infection with the use of medical/surgical masks. There were no clear differences between the use of medical/surgical masks compared with N95/P2 respirators in healthcare workers when used in routine care to reduce respiratory viral infection. Hand hygiene is likely to modestly reduce the burden of respiratory illness, and although this effect was also present when ILI and laboratory-confirmed influenza were analysed separately, it was not found to be a significant difference for the latter two outcomes. Harms associated with physical interventions were under-investigated.
It literally says " ‘We are uncertain whether wearing masks or N95/P2 respirators helps to slow the spread of respiratory viruses based on the studies we assessed.’ "
That means that the study was inconclusive. Even in the most mask-active trial, only ~42% of people wore masks. They weren’t testing if wearing a mask helps an individual not get sick, they were measuring if it slowed the spread of a respiratory virus. Of less than half of people wear a mask, it makes it REALLY hard to know if the masks made an impact in reducing the spread of a contagious respiratory virus.
Let’s think about this in the context of something not directly covid related - secrets. In a crowd of 500 people, if you tell one person a secret, and then tell them to tell as many people as they can, even if 40% of people in that crowd are wearing earplugs, most people are going to end up hearing that secret. Even some of the people with earplugs in might have them not in all the way, or have taken them out for a moment to adjust them, and heard the secret. But, the people with earplugs will be much less likely to have heard the secret.
That’s COVID and masks. Unless EVERYONE is wearing a mask, it makes it really hard to stop spreading of the virus, even if individuals wearing masks are less likely to catch or spread the virus themselves.
Ignore the other person who responded to you. They are misinterpreting the report they linked to (I’ve made about a thousand comments to debunk it at this stage…) Try to take the opportunity to either find a rated disposable mask that you find comfortable/like wearing or a good quality reusable. Wear just whatever mask you can get your hands on over not wearing a mask at all.
Hope you like the new one even more than the old one! (Oh, though now I think of it, another tip would be to get two or three of the same mask so it’s easier to always have one freshly washed when you need it!)
In the UK at least, most people I know who work in an office can choose to WFH or do hybrid working. I do hybrid by choice, I don’t want to WFH full time.
Here in Norway there was a marked shift to acceptance for more home office post-Corona. We did have stricter and longer restrictions than you guys though, and basically things didn’t go back to normal until winter 2022. At my work I’d say 80% do home office at least 1 day per week, and 30% do home office 4/5 days in the week (we have one mandatory office day per week). I’d also say that a few percent have taken that opportunity to do “quiet quitting” and essentially do nothing (joining meetings from the car in the middle of the day on their way to IKEA and stuff like that, never engaging in or starting initiatives by themselves etc.), but that’s on management for not getting rid of them.
Personally I still go 5/5 days by own choice, because I live right next by, prefer the ritual of switching into job/focus mode that it is to walk to the office, and like sitting in a separate place that has no distractions (compared to home, where I would take 5 minutes to do the dishes, take an extended trip to the grocery at lunch, etc) and that my brain only associates with working.
My company is just doing the big return to work push now, the turnover that they’re gonna get hit with is hilarious. They have no idea how mad everyone is about it.
My company only started cracking down on it a couple months ago. Nominally the majority of employees were supposed to be working in the office three days a week as of April 2022, but most of the roles don’t require physical presence so people just kept working from home. Now the company has shifted to tracking badge data to make sure people are actually coming into the office, despite three years of data demonstrating we’re just as productive as home…
It’s not totally clear yet. My role is fully remote, so the info I have is second-hand from memos and word of mouth. The company has apparently been using an automated system to send scary emails to people not badging in (with their manager CCed), but I don’t know what happens if you just ignore those. Memos have made vague threats of implications for performance reviews, but those haven’t happened yet since they announced they would be tracking badge data.
Lol for real, can’t wait til I find a new WFH job. The brain drain that my “return to the office” job has on the way is going to be monumental. EVERYONE that doesn’t have a direct report in my department is looking for a new job.
Get over it. COVID is a lot more minor than anyone made out to be. Have you not had it yet? You will if you haven’t. And then you will get over it like a cold. COVID is over for good.
Nonsense, it is a novel virus, effects can vary widely. I got it for the first time last Christmas and my heart still hasn’t recovered, dizzy spells after climbing stairs or bending over.
Covid put my healthy 26 yo friend in hospital when he caught it last year, and I have friends who took several years of suffering before they recovered from long covid. It’s definitely not as harmless as you’re implying.
I guess Lemmy is filled with a bunch of folk that like to live in a pandemic dystopian state. Fuck that. I love people’s faces and read the fucking science on it.
Oh, I forgot, the wonderful trickle-down-economics. /s
Give the rich more and we will all benefit from it some day instead of creating social security and subsidizing education by fairly taxing everyone equally and without exceptions and loopholes.
Not sure about other countries, but at least in Europe we had quite a few comments, including by health officials, that the school closures should not have been done and upheld to the extent that they were.
And I agree, the impact on learning and children’s mental health was not justified by the real or potential dangers of the pandemic imho
Edit: One comment from the German Health Minister here, describing prolonged school closures as a mistake
Meanwhile in Asia we moved lessons to zoom for a few weeks and that was it. But Germans think giving kids a tablet or notebook is exposing them to the devil
Yeah, saying that schools shouldn’t have been closed is just silly and shows the ridiculousness of those people. Germany handled Covid not so well and still hasn’t so it should just be ignored
I mean, comparing countries with it’s peers is what you should do. I could also have taken Argentina, Bulgaria, or Russia, but at the end you’ll see that Germany did fairly well.
I think the question is somewhere how much death we accept against the impact of avoiding it. In this case, as I said before, there seems increasingly the opinion that school closures as a measure did not have the impact that justified its extent of use.
I would argue that we can’t look at that as the deaths were far too high regardless of closures. no Essentially, we don’t know how many deaths could have been avoided through thougher methods. Germany’s death rate was still far higher than it needed to be even if Europe as a whole also failed.
I feel like you only read half my comment each time.
You will always reach a point of diminishing marginal returns with measures taken, and you have to evaluate the impact of the measure against it’s effectiveness.
The argument is that school closures likely did not contribute sufficiently to justify their extent of implementation, meaning you probably would have wanted a few more people dying to avoid the shortfalls in children’s education and socialisation that you have now. The ends, in retrospective, arguably did not justify the means.
In many places schools weren’t even really ‘closed’. The number of failures stacked on top of failures is staggering. Nobody who matters will be held to account. Most westerners won’t want to accept it but China’s response was near flawless in comparison. And their economy continued to grow throughout. Albeit at a lesser rate. The west plunged itself into recession which it then reframed it’s way out of and still hasn’t recovered properly.
So just make sure you have N95s handy. There’s no reason to panic, but just be prepared if a new strain takes off over the flu season.
I don’t understand why the comments are so contentious.
Today, any hardware store. The counterfeits were a bigger problem when demand spiked and manufacturing couldn’t keep up. That being said, even a shitty counterfeit should block the spit droplets that the virus rides on.
Face masks are most effective at reducing the spread of SARS-CoV-2 when the infected persons wear them. They may reduce incidence of infection when donned by healthy persons, but they are much less effective at doing so versus the former case.
The N95 respirators one would likely find at a hardware store are not the proper masks. The 3M Cool Flow Valve Particulate Respirator 8511, for example, which I picked up recently at a hardware store, only filters the incoming air but not the outgoing air. The contagions flow straight out.
They were absolutely great for better tolerating the highly dusty environment that prompted me to purchase them. But I wouldn’t trust them if contagions were the concern at hand.
If they are your only choice? Sure. But if you have a better option? Go for it. Help protect your neighbors.
Face masks are most effective at reducing the spread of SARS-CoV-2 when the infected persons wear them.
I’ve made this comment elsewhere, but I do recommend wearing eye protection.
Also, the N95 and KN95 designators doesn’t specify if there’s a vent valve or not. Just get the ones without one. Any mask will still catch spit from coughs. If you’re in a space that gets saturated, the room has ventilation issues and masks are unlikely to do much anyway. CO2 monitors can indirectly measure the saturated level. It’s unhealthly to be in spaces like that, covid or not.
And where do you get N95s that filter outgoing air effectively? Besides, even these N95s are leagues better than the Chinese mass-produced KN95 junk you see on something like Amazon.
Edit: www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/…/free-masks.html
Here the CDC lists brands and models of masks that are effective in protecting yourself and others. As you say, the 8511 just happens to be one with an exhalation valve. I do remember the CDC explicitly saying exhalation valves were a no-go during the pandemic, so I don’t think anyone looking for N95s for COVID protection would buy masks with valves anyway. There are other options available from hardware stores.
I don’t think anyone looking for N95s for COVID protection would buy masks with valves anyway.
I remember seeing some people wearing the vented ones. One news anchor that was interviewing people going to the beach was wearing a vented mask asking people if they thought it was safe. I hate people.
I had a box of 3m n95 without valve at the start of the pandemic. Felt a little weird masking up before everyone else was for our pregnancy appointments at the hospital. Had to argue with my wife just to wear the damn things since a hospital was the most likely place to get infected and nobody knew how it might affect pregnant women and babies yet.
Kid was born into a pandemic and mass protesting going on. Of course by the time we went in for the birth they had increased their covid protocols and we weren’t allowed to leave our little hospital room and I wasn’t allowed to come back if I left. We spent 5 days in that cramped room.
Our track record dealing with covid shows us that our approach was largely unsuccessful. Masking must be enforced, not suggested. This is the only effective solution.
People were such dimwits about it though. Even if you had a security guard at the entrance to every shop challenging people to wear properly fitted n95s, I’m certain heaps of people would remove it after they walked past just on principle.
Yeah it was a shitshow, all because of how politicized it became. No one in 2018 would have thought that asking people to wear a face mask would become such an embarrassing ordeal.
But trust me, it’s easy to catch a mask less person in a store. It shouldn’t take more than a couple incidents before they learn their lesson and make an example for others.
Why do you think that curbing the spread of a lethal viral infection is against the interest of the community?
Face masks are not a religious headdress. They have been used for a very long time by doctors, nurses, lab workers, etc. to protect themselves from other infections and micro objects. It is surprising that this has to be explained. Where did you get the idea that all these nurses and lab workers (including atheist ones) are wearing a religious headdress?
The American culture is uniquely garbage because of the unique history of having a frontier for self serving pieces of shit to murder a patch of land empty for themselves and assert their right to tell everyone to fuck off. When the frontier was exhausted the homestead became the small business. When the small businesses were absorbed, “you can’t tell me what to do” became having a big truck and eating hamburgers with the motivation of spite.
We’re also uniquely garbage because our nation was founded by a bunch of religious zealots who pissed off everyone in Britain with their dickishness so much that they were told to fuck off and be assholes somewhere else.
You clearly haven’t read anything about the American revolution. Stop spewing your bullshit in an attempt to elevate your holy thank everyone mantra. Have you heard of taxation without representation? The stamp act? Freedom of expression?
If you think the British had it right and the American colonies were in the wrong, you are clearly ignorant. The constitution of the US, once it was formed, reshaped the entire world in a more positive way.
I tend to agree, but realistically who is going to enforce it? You’ve got to take into consideration the impact the constant stream of conflict has on low level employees who end up responsible for this enforcement. For those who want to protect themselves, N95 masks are highly effective when used properly.
Right, it’s not going to be accepted by the public or broadly enforced by anyone. The only thing we can do is wear effective masks to protect ourselves. That’s basically been the reality of it the whole time.
You also need to wear eye protection. Even just regular, prescription glasses showed a 30% reduction in infection rates. Masks don’t protect if other people wont also wear them.
I’m struggling to understand how glasses work wear a mask wouldn’t. I’m not saying glasses won’t help prevent people spitting Covid into your eyes. But how can you believe that and think wearing a mask won’t help at all?
Make good paying security jobs whose sole purpose is covid enforcement (joking) (maybe) (people who refuse to mask make me angry as fuck. It’s such a low effort way to save lives)
In an ideal world, the community. In our current world, the government must require businesses to require customers to wear masks and social distance, and threaten them with suspending their business if they do not comply.
the impact the constant stream of conflict has on low level employees who end up responsible for this enforcement
It will not be constant. Places where this was enforced strictly did not have that trouble. It is the wishy-washy enforcement that empowered people to do this. It will be a short lived protest that dies out quickly, and the suffering will be far easier than that of covid deaths.
For those who want to protect themselves, N95 masks are highly effective when used properly
From my understanding, it is not enough. A person sharing a public space with you and not wearing a mask poses a threat, and this threat is massive if they are carrying the virus (even if non-symptomatic).
People must not have the freedom to cause the death or others by spreading respiratory viruses due to childish irresponsibility because their favorite youtuber said so.
In an ideal world, the community. In our current world, the government must require businesses to require customers to wear masks and social distance, and threaten them with suspending their business if they do not comply.
Thankfully we’re at a point where we’ll have another uprising if they try that shit again
How authoritative. Personal responsibility is the answer. Not forcing others to your level. If your threat level is that high, ok that is your choice. However everyones threat level to this thing should take into account that not everyone in your community will be on the same page as you.
Unless you want another trucker convoy emerging, I suggest not forcing any mandates. Enforce any mandate on yourself, but only yourself.
No one must have the freedom to cause the death of other people by spreading lethal respiratory viruses, only because they failed to comply with every one of the million warnings about covid-19 and masks. Just because your favorite youtuber told you masks are bad does not give you the right to murder people. This behavior must be stopped at all costs, and I do not care what you think of it.
You are an absolute virus factory, you should never be allowed outside again. You stay home forever, we’ll bring your food don’t worry. We can’t take the chance of your germs getting out again.
By going outside and interacting in the world will always have the risk of danger, injury, illness and death. The modern world is the most safest envoriment that have ever existed.
If restrictions do return, it will only cause more division and more protests. The trucker convoy that started in Canada was a response to the government overreach in Canada and across the west since politicians and the media were treating the population at large like children.
We are adults (And I assume you are also an adult), and therefore we can make our own decisions. You can wear a mask. Your kids if you got any can wear a mask. You can refuse to spend time with others who do not wear masks, you can refuse to work at a job that makes masking optional, you can refuse to shop at places that refuse to enforce a mask policy.
This behavior must be stopped at all costs, and I do not care what you think of it.
Alright, but many people do not care what you think and will disregard your strict stance on the matter. Not because they are “murderers” which is quite a claim to make, but because everyone has their own threat level. My advice is, include the fact many other people do not care about your threat model and not force your threat model onto every one else. The world does not revolve around anybody.
Personal responsibility is the answer if the question is, ‘Would you like to contribute to millions of unnecessary deaths and further countless suffering?’ It clearly doesn’t work as a public health strategy.
There is no need for a public health strategy. This idea that we all must bubble wrap the world is insane. Germs and viruses will always exist. Do what is best for you stop getting mad at others who have different threat models than you.
I wish everyone used Linux, but I know that will never happen. I use Linux and will help anyone that wants to use linux and thats were it ends. I move on and am happy being a Linux user. I do not expect the government to force the population to use Linux to make a more digitial secure and private society, that will be insane and will piss off most of the population. Mandates are no different.
If we took this approach to those other germs and viruses that you mention, quality of life and life expectancy would plummet as fast as infant mortality shot up. There’s nothing special about Covid in that regard except that it needs more respect than many other issues.
Edit: I edited my comment because I was a bit rude. I apologise for that.
The world will always have a hint of danger, and germs and viruses are included in this mix. Life expectancy did not increase due to public compliants to health measures, it increased due to things like soap, showering/bathing every day or two instead of every few months and the standard for hygeine in factories like meat plants. And medicine has come a long way to cure old nasty diseases.
Edit: I edited my comment because I was a bit rude. I apologise for that.
Don’t know what you said but I do appreciate the apology.
I know what you’re saying. But basic hygeine, etc, work against some illnesses while other health scares require different strategies (as well as good hygeine). I think we may be talking at cross purposes, working with very different models of the world and of what’s possible.
If COVID was as bad as it was advertised. We would of seen the results in the world, and therefore people would voluntarily take the appropate percautions. No need for state intervention. If the pandemic was bad and the state did nothing about it, except maybe advise some caution which is how Japan mostly handled the pandemic, people will do what is nesissary.
Why does politics have to get involved? Because the government got so involved in the pandemic, that why it became politicial. Sometimes ignoring a problem like a virus you cannot really control is the best course of action and it will take care of itself in a grassroots sort of a way.
One of the smartest ways to win in the game Plague Inc is to make your virus have mild acute symptoms that are easy to dismiss or confuse as other things, and then really fucked up chronic symptoms later on. Symptom severity is not the same as underlying disease severity. The immune system doesn't always enter the panic mode entailed by a fever, in some cases because the virus has outsmarted it. HIV is a virus that starts as a cold, and then does all its damage silently. Judging a virus by its acute symptoms is one way to fuck around and find out
That’s a good read, thanks. It’s scary (a) how scary Covid is and (b) how bad public science/mathematics/health education is to lead so many people to confidently misunderstand the very basics of infection, disease, and statistics.
For one Plaugue Inc is a game. And most of the models that were made to project the outcome of COVID were way off.
Again, why does the state had to get involved? The government did not ban sex, needles or go on a hardcore ban on drugs back when HIV was the scare. HIV does still exist but has not wiped out the human race. COVID or any virus is no different. If we have like HIV 2.0, do what you want for any precautions as a personal threat model. There is no need to enforce it on others.
You people need to be stopped, you are insane autoritarians. The crisis is over, we are but fin to wear mask forever. You had your time in the lime light, now it’s back to normal. Continue to abuse this position and you will not get the population to mobilise again to alleviate the situation.
I wish the “touch grass” thought terminating cliche could be retired; it seems to be the go-to for “normalcy” obsessed treatbrains that want to go back to brunch with no restrictions. covid-cool
Once again we see the abled throwing tantrums over the idea of having to suffer a mild discomfort so as to protect the lives of the disabled, especially the immunocompromised.
I have an aunt whose immune system has to be medicated into nonexistence at all times so it doesn’t wreck her body, and she is still fucked up from covid, months after “getting over” it and with multiple vaccine shots beforehand. How many people have you killed or left permanently ill, and never realised, in your selfish ignorance?
If there were any divine justice in this world, idiots like you would be smote with horrible autoimmune diseases or total organ failure, forced to go on anti-rejection drugs for the rest of your lives, and live with the same fear you force on others, the fear that any “harmless” disease could be the death of you.
People exist outside of your suburban bubble, you laughably sheltered liberal ghoul.
your magical man in the sky delivering justice
Out of nowhere you just voluntarily announced you’re a reddit-logo style New Atheist with all the baggage of unearned arrogance that comes with. congratulations
Disease?? It’s a virus, calm tf down with that 😂 same reason the vax doesn’t do shit, it’s not a vax it’s a shot. And you all have what like 22 boosters now? Big yikes. If I brought my dog to get a rabies vax and then he got rabies I’d be pissed tf off that I got played, but some people just haven’t seemed to realize that yet. 🤔🤔
You ever gonna respond to people telling you your posts are a misrepresentation or are you just gonna call people dumb fucks? Kinda hard to trust someone posting like this.
I know you’re being combative so it’s unlikely, but did you actually read both sources? One is a review of around 70 studies, before and during the pandemic, sonme unpublished. The other is a review of 5000 articles which found statistically significant results…
A total of 6 studies were included, involving 4 countries, after a total of 5,178 eligible articles were searched in databases and references.
They literally typed some shit into the journal search database that had that many articles. They didn’t study all of those articles. Their study is founded exclusively from 6 studies. The Cochrane review’s approach is far more comprehensive and goes into considerably more depth in many more studies.
So, maybe you didn’t read the articles? Or maybe you don’t understand population level, public health study methods.
Fair point, I did misread that. But it seems you’re acting in bad faith with just one source again. Any search amongst published articles provide evidence for the efficacy and cost effectiveness of masks as a adjunct preventative measure. It seems rather like cherry picking to trust the one place that goes against the grain, no?
People like you shouldn’t exist in a functioning society that values human life, and you should feel lucky that the west is so backwards, violent and bloodthirsty that people like you are allowed to have a voice
For all non-plague rats, here’s cochrane’s follow up to this widely misinterpreted study
I didn’t realize there were so many tankies on Lemmy. Go live in your dystopian land. I’ll enjoy my personal liberties and high standards of life. Thanks!
What you are linking was penned by Karla Soares-Weiser. That’s one fucking person against all the folk that actually wrote the article. Karla is just covering her ass because all the people like you are mad that the biggest and most respected journal came out saying that they don’t think masks make a different.
Also, take your hyperbole shit and stick it up your ass.
Except what she point out, as multiple people have, is that all the rct’s that that study look at are really only studying adherence to mask mandates, not mask themselves. They combined studies where people wore masks infrequently with ones where mask mandates were more complied with. Not to mention it ignores all mechanistic evidence, all of which points to masks working
It’s literally just the conservative thing that has been done throughout the whole pandemic, where they refuse to wear masks, and then when Covid continues to spread exponentially, they throw their arms up and go “look, masks don’t work!” I’d say it’s the lack of compliance that’s the issue
Your argument is tired and juvenile. It’s the classic “if only we masked up harder!”
Look at places like Japan. COVID spread there like wildfire. I guess they didn’t mask hard enough? Haha. No. Masks didn’t make a fucking difference in the most compliant place in the world.
Also, it’s not conservative versus liberal. Somehow masks got tied up in political theater, and now people like you use the mask to express your political affiliation. You love the mask because it expresses left wing to you, and you think that right wing is evil, so you become obsessed with masks. Maybe if we all recognized that one or the other side is not evil, and has no intrinsic connection to masks, we’d be better off.
Okay glad to see you’ve stopped trying to defend the Cochrane stuff.
Also what the fuck are you talking about? Japan was widely touted as a Covid success story. Including by conservatives who liked the fact that they never imposed a mask mandate.
I am not stopping a defense of the Cochrane review. It’s the best current study we have and it announces that it’s not clear if masks work. If we don’t know if they work, why should governments keep mandating them? They shouldn’t. Full stop.
Finally, the total number of deaths in Japan and the US differ widely in large part because the two populations are, broadly, very different. COVID disproportionately effects overweight people. Ask anyone that worked in the hospitals during peak waves. The simple fact is that fat people don’t do well with Covid. Now ask yourself, is there an equal number of overweight people (%) in Japan to the US? No. People in Japan are far less overweight than people in the US. It’s no wonder, therefore, that the US fared worse because it’s population is move overweight.
I am extremely confused as to what you intended to prove with those two links. Masks were not mentioned by either, the second link barely discussed Covid and seemed to focus on foreign relations, and both agreed Japan’s response was a success, which contradicts your implication that it somehow wasn’t. And the first guy says he was supportive of the government’s guidelines, which included masks. So unless there’s something else against masks that he said, I’m gonna extrapolate that he is not anti-mask.
Ok, I’m gonna just skip over the whole blaming overweight people part and ask you - do you believe overweight people are more likely to spread Covid? Because we’re discussing spread, do masks work to combat spread. Japan had lower deaths but they also had lower cases. Was it also due to overweight people that Covid cases, not deaths, were higher in the usa. And maybe a lower case load has something to do with the lower deaths in Japan, more than overweight people. Japan’s mask usage was always extremely high, even without a mandate, and remains so.
And if you want to continue the Cochrane stuff-it’s not a study. It’s a meta analysis of a bunch of studies, all of which were pretty well-known prior to the Cochrane study, and the problems with them were already recognized by those studies’ authors. So the Cochrane study just lumps a bunch of poor quality studies into one poor quality meta analysis that even the Cochrane study authors write is inconclusive and probably would not have made the splash it has if it was not done by a bunch of brownstone institute anti-maskers who decided to go on a press tour saying their study said something that it didn’t.
Not to mention we have mechanical filtration studies proving the physics of mask wearing, so unless there’s something mystical about Covid, these studies still apply.
The point of those links is to show that masks are not the answer.
Ultimately, we are concerned about COVID causing deaths and serious harm. It does this for overweight people. Other people don’t suffer nearly as badly and COVID typically presents as a mild to mid level cold or flu. Consequently, it’s really not as big of a deal as we’ve been making it out to be.
COVID sucked mostly because of poor policy. I lived in a Canadian city with a strict masking policy and high compliance. The spread of COVID was massive. The hospitals in Canada were full and fucked way before Covid, so a few extra admissions completely broke their fucked up system.
I’m no longer convinced the whole world had to shut down and mask up. COVID policy fucked over the economy and people’s’ well-being. It has especially negatively effected those most in need.
Ultimately, I think people should wear masks if it makes them comfortable. I find masks to be uncomfortable, ugly, and ultimately anti-human, because I think the face is an important part of humans. Some people don’t seem to think this, however, so I understand I might be among a minority.
Finally, isolated physical tests on masks don’t represent well what happens in the real world. I don’t know about you, but I sure as hell wasn’t hermetically sealing the masks to my face and I didn’t see anyone else doing it either. The real-world usage simply wasn’t effective. It was political.
yeah, and I’m asking you how those links show that masks are not the answer. They don’t even mention masks once. If you’re telling me masks are not the only answer, then I agree. But masks are part of the answer.
Yes we are concerned about stopping deaths from covid. How do we ensure that covid deaths do not happen - by stopping the spread. Again, skipping over the whole conversation about “overweight people,” I’m sure you agree it was not and was never only overweight people dying from covid. And even if it was, are you saying these people deserve to die? “Well, overweight people will die, but for everyone else it’s just the flu so we shouldn’t do anything.”
Except it was never only overweight people dying, and even those who got covid and it only presented as a “mild flu” have dealt with long post-viral illness afterwards. Some people still dealing with post-viral illness from being infected in the first wave. So you also have to decide that you’re okay with that.
I know nothing about Canada, but I don’t understand your reasoning.
The hospitals in Canada were full and fucked way before covid, so a few extra admissions completely broke their fucked up system.
Okay, so you blame masks and lockdowns for that? That’s exactly what lockdowns were supposed to mitigate - stop the spread so covid does not put more stress on an already overstressed system. We were dealing with the same thing here in the USA. So you admit covid stressed an overstressed system, but your solution is to…let covid spread more? Wouldn’t that put more stress on hospitals. Or, as you say, well it only presents a mild flu for some. Okay…then why did it put so much stress on the hospitals in 2020 if it’s not a big deal?
isolated physical tests on masks don’t represent well what happens in the real world.
Except those real world studies were all inconclusive. So we have mechanistic evidence that shows without a doubt that masks work, versus inconclusive rcts that need to be stretched by ideologues, beyond the conclusions of the authors, to maybe sort-of support that masks don’t work.
I sure as hell wasn’t hermetically sealing the masks to my face and I didn’t see anyone else doing it either.
I did not have a mask that fit my face until just before the omicron wave. This was not a failure of masks. I argued to someone here (maybe you) that any mask is better than no mask. However, yes, some masks are better than others and if you’re walking around in a loose fitting cloth mask you’re getting very little protection, especially when no one else is taking any precaution. But, at least here in the US, we were first told that masks were unnecessary, then told we should wear a cloth mask, and then finally the baggy blue surgical masks were promoted, which was better but still inadequate. I don’t know what it was like in Canada, but for us this was a failure of policy. There were contradictory statements, no real push to get people educated about masks, and of course poor masks were promoted. So you’d walk around seeing people wearing surgical masks below their nose, upside down. Then of course there was the issue where people were selling counterfeit masks, including n95s, that didn’t work, so you had people also walking around with fake masks. And of course the whole issue at the start of the pandemic where we had a shortage of PPE.
There were a whole lot of policy disasters, many of which predated covid, but to blame masks and make the charge that they don’t work because of those policy disasters makes no sense. Just in time manufacturing should never have been used to supply PPE, masks should have been promoted from the start (and “the start” should have been at least by early January, not March 15), and n95s should have been made easy to acquire with an education campaign to get people to wear them correctly. Instead we were all left on our own to try and sort through all the contradictory statements of the CDC and misinformation on the internet, fight with people at stores to even get a mask, do intensive research at home to figure out if your mask was even real, and then even once you did all that many people didn’t even understand how to wear them. When I got an n95 finally it was late 2021 and I was working in a nursery school. As kids and teachers wearing loose fitting masks that they were extremely lax with began dropping like flies, I was getting tested weekly (because I was constantly exposed) and never got covid once. Masks work.
It must be cool to be on the side of death & disability for the largest human catastrophe in your life time. Also one million percent you were not lockdowning and masking for two years straight.
Actually I was shuttng down anti maskers during the pandemic and now I have no problem shutting down the crazies who push in the other direction of insanity.
libertarianism is a fake ideology to trick children and people with a child’s brain into supporting fascism. Quick, I need to laugh, tell me what you think of nato.
I love people like you who will travel around the world, experience different cultures, talk to different people, and then somehow manage to have it just reinforce your biases and western exceptionalism. Do you really, honestly think that my opinions have been wholly formed by sitting on my ass in front of my computer?
We also need lockdowns where people are supported in staying home long enough to eliminate the virus, regular and updated testing, updated vaccines, free high quality accessible healthcare, and changes to make workplaces safe - like letting people work from home; changing in-person work to be socially distanced, and unlimited paid time off so people can get medical care when they need it.
The number of big babies who huffed and puffed at being asked to not stand on other people’s feet. Unreal. As if keeping 6ft distance from complete strangers in the supermarket is a major request. Like, why do you need my body heat we don’t even know each other.
There was a moment in my life where I was optimistic about masks. I pictured a cyberpunk future we didn’t get sick as much and had a cool new fashion accessory we could have fun with. It is wild how capitlaism couldn’t even resist the power of covid
I went to a restaurant when they started re-opening. We were speaking to one of the waiters about it. He said he has autism and makes involuntary mouth movements. He said the mask helps customers as much as him about getting awkward when his twitch goes off.
Covid has taught me that we will not do enough, then complain that we did too much. I am not optimistic about things if this new strain is as bad as the first ones.
Seriously? I found masks uncomfortable and annoying, I would hate the idea of it being the new norm for the rest of our lives.
I live in a climate which gets hot in the summer and cold in the winter. I was often getting hot under the mask or fogging up my glasses so bad I couldn’t see where I was going.
I would honestly rather just get the latest vaccine and risk getting a little sick by not wearing a mask than going through that whole mask thing again
I agree with you, at the same time it would be great if our air output would be viewed as “unclean” with masks being the worst fix for that if no better ventilation systems are available. We need to stop recirculating somebody elses waste air in indoor environments to make airborn diseases less common.
It is hot here but it doesn’t get very humid. So maybe it is easier. It could get uncomfortable at time but I still liked it. It did take a few tries to get masks that worked for my glasses, this is also true.
It doesn’t get humid where I am either, I personally never found a mask I was really happy with, then I just got fed up with it and only wore it when I didn’t have a choice.
It’s mad that people can go “hey my actions put people at risk of death and injury and I’m just going to do it”
Coming from someone living with a person with long-COVID, someone who got infected AFTER being fully vaccinated and AFTER the emergency period, I just gotta say that this kind of thinking is really disappointing. Can you imagine if there was an afterlife, and you had to explain your actions to your higher power.
It’s mad that people can go “hey my actions put people at risk of death and injury and I’m just going to do it”
Yeah, you know, I realize that driving my car around puts others at risk, it pollutes the air, I might hit and kill someone accidentally, but I have to get food and go to work somehow. I guess screw me for just trying to live my life, right?
Can you imagine if there was an afterlife, and you had to explain your actions to your higher power
I would ask why that higher power thought creating covid was a good idea in the first place, or why he didn’t care enough to stop it.
Guy, you drive a car under the speed limit, sober, and when you have the right of way. If you fail to do any of those, and someone gets hurt, you are definitely at fault. You need to reasonably limit how much air pollution your car has and not roll coal.
God definitely gave you the means to stop it. It’s masks, filtration, ventilation, and obviously vaccines.
Am I not putting people at risk of death and injury by driving my car even if I do it while sober and follow the rules? Am I not harming people with my exhaust, even if it’s stock and legal? We all do stuff that puts others at risk, it’s part of life.
God could have made it not even happen in the first place, he needs to answer for creating a death virus, and cancer, and all the other horrible stuff he is responsible for.
Am I not putting people at risk of death and injury by driving my car even if I do it while sober and follow the rules? Am I not harming people with my exhaust, even if it’s stock and legal? We all do stuff that puts others at risk, it’s part of life.
As I already mentioned, the risk is much greater and is considered murder if it’s outside of what’s necessary. You drive but don’t speed.
I see your comment that you didn’t even mask during the mandate. Guy, after the suffering I’ve seen, your actions are appalling. But a sociopath like you will never get that no matter how many reasons you hear.
The rush may be greater if I don’t follow the laws, but then finding the laws the risk still exists. I don’t feel bad for driving and putting others at risk while I just try to get to work or home.
I did mask during the mandate what I had to, I also didn’t mask during the mandate when I didn’t have to. It’s not like I went into a nursing home without a mask, I went out with other people who were also willing to not use masks, it’s not like I intentionally exposed my breath on those who wanted to stay isolated and masked up. If it’s appalling to hang out with other intentionally un-masked individuals, I don’t know what to tell you.
As someone who didn’t try to not to get sick, avoided wearing a mask whenever I could, went to crowded bars with friends during the height of covid, etc, and never once got noticeably sick,
If I gave covid to anyone, it was someone who either got it even though I was wearing a mask, or they were intentionally at an unmasked event where neither of us was required to wear one. Either way, I’m not going to be sorry for following the rules and trying to socialize during the pandemic.
I highly doubt I caused anyone death or disability, relatively few people got disabilities or death from covid compared to the whole population.
I dunno. Maybe I am just weird but I like wearing work gloves and touching stuff I know wouldn’t be good to touch bear handed. I always kinda get that same feeling from wearing a mask.
As someone who didn’t try to not to get sick, avoided wearing a mask whenever I could, went to crowded bars with friends during the height of covid, etc, and never once got noticeably sick, I didn’t find the air I was breathing to be all that dangerous to warrant protection.
I’m not denying that COVID exists, I got my vaccine the second it was available to me, I just didn’t feel as threatened by it as some others did.
If it comes down to then being required again I’ll look out for those and give them a try.
I’m in the US, I think we have had maybe the best access to these vaccines. I just checked one pharmacy in my area, 17 locations within 30 miles all with appointments today, I can even choose between Moderna and Pfizer. I haven’t gotten a booster in a while, but I want to say I’ve gotten the first two shots and like 2-3 boosters. The last booster was an updated one I think for Delta.
boosters don’t have much impact on you getting other people sick. you can get a spray to stop glasses fogging up, you can get cooling towels or a personal fan to deal with overheating. wear a fucking mask please
“nobody cares”, except people with medical conditions who can’t risk getting COVID so can’t go out in public since people stopped wearing masks, or those of us who don’t want to be part of a large-scale experiment about the debilitating effects of long COVID. maybe try different anti-fog products, there are some that definitely work. and wear a fucking mask
If you have medical conditions where you can’t risk getting covid, then you shouldn’t be going outside with other people in the first place, mask or not.
I don’t know how to make this more clear, literally basically everyone doesn’t wear a mask anymore here, there is no point to me being the one person wearing one.
wow what a disgusting take - people with medical conditions can’t go out in public for the rest of their lives because wearing a facemask is mildly inconvenient for you?
you wearing a mask could prevent you from infecting dozens if not hundreds of people with COVID over the rest of your life, several of whom could die or get longterm disabilities from it. very unclear how what other people are doing affects that
If getting sick is that high of a risk, do you really think relying on everyone in public to do something is worth the risk? If it only takes one person not doing something to put yourself at risk, you will be at risk, because you just can’t trust everyone in public to do it.
Yeah, I’m not writing a mask for the rest of my life, sorry. Nobody else is wearing one, everyone is agreeing to be out in public without a mask, that’s just how life is now.
If everyone around me is not wearing masks, the chances that me specifically will be the cause of someone getting so sick they have disabilities is extremely low. If everyone not wearing a mask would infect dozens or hundreds as you claim, we are already screwed.
we are very screwed, in large part because of people like you, enthusiastically volunteering to help with propaganda in support of corporate real estate and retail tycoons.
you could be part of the solution by wearing a mask.
perhaps research the effects of repeated COVID infections on otherwise-fine people, reconsider how transmission and probability works (“oh, there’s no point using condoms, anyone I have any kind of sex with is likely to get HIV from someone else”), and try and imagine how you’d feel if you or someone you care about had an immune system disorder and couldn’t safely go outside in your area because of healthier people who prioritise their comfort in not wearing a small piece of cloth on their faces
we are very screwed, in large part because of people like you, enthusiastically volunteering to help with propaganda in support of corporate real estate and retail tycoons.
Where in the hell did you get that from? What does anything I said have to do with real estate?
you could be part of the solution by wearing a mask.
Me being the only person wearing a mask isn’t going to help solve anything.
Did you seriously just compare a bad flu virus to HIV? You are just being ridiculous now.
Do you think it’s safe outside for an immune compromised person if im the only one wearing a mask? No, obviously it’s not. Me staying a mask is going to have no effect on their safety in public. If I went over to this person’s house, sure, I would wear a mask if they wanted me to, but in public where nobody is wearing one it’s kinda pointless.
I guess for the West, the US has more access. Other countries, such as the UK, are paring back boosters except for the really vulnerable. It is still weird that the current vaccine is for a strain in 2021, though. Our societies should be doing better.
Same here. I was hopeful that covid would get people to at least be more conscious about not going places when sick, wearing masks when they are not feeling well, etc. But where I am at, people go to work, church, recreational activities, etc. with the flu and covid, even with positive test results knowing that they are contagious. I don’t understand it and it hasn’t gotten better.
As far as cyberpunk… I still want a full face respirator with a clear face shield (so people can see your lips when you talk), an integrated HUD (for navigation, air quality monitoring, and browsing lemmy), and some LEDs for night time illumination (and aesthetics)
Even if it kills (which it likely will), our track record shows that didn’t care enough about that, and in a decreasing manner. So it’ll only be worse.
The issue is that it happens out of sight out of mind so it’s just an abstract statistic that it’s easy to ignore or pretend away. If Covid-19 killed you by making your head spontaneously fall off we’d have eliminated it or reduced it to a few tiny isolated pockets simply by the change in the public’s attitude to it. But because it kills you “quietly” out of sight in a hospital bed or at home, people were able to just convince themselves everything is basically normal.
Pretty sure every virus has killed people, from the cold, to flu, and of course covid. It feels like now the death rate for the latest variants of covid are pretty comparable to the flu, the virus has lost a lot of its killing power over time.
Fun fact: the CDC readjusted what the ‘normal’ rate of deaths is to include the years of the pandemic so now it’s harder than ever to find hard numbers because “excess deaths” was one of the last ways to get any information at all!
Plus a world wide fast aging population would increase the death background number even if nothing else happens.
Anything that doesn’t make an observable, statistically significant difference, has no cause to further impose restriction on how people live their lives
For the love of god: everyone should ignores what the CDC says. You can see for yourself how many people died from Covid under their watch. They have no morals and they made it obvious by downplaying Covid
I know I’ve read reports about the latest variants being much less deadly. I did see one study recently which for patients presenting to hospital covid was a few percentage points more likely to result in death compared to hospitalized flu patients. There were a lot more covid patients though.
Found it:
death rates among people hospitalized for COVID-19 were 17% to 21% in 2020 vs 6% in this study, while death rates for those hospitalized for influenza were 3.8% in 2020 vs 3.7% in this study
I mean, that’s one way to look at it. I looked at it as only a couple percent higher death rate than the flu. Either way, a little less than 2x is way better than like 5x worse.
Even if we pedantically accept that ‘almost double’ is really ‘just a few percent higher’ while we’re looking at a single digit likelihood, ‘just a few percent more’ than for the flu is a lot more people in overall numbers with something that spreads far quicker than the flu. We could get the death rate of Covid down to ½ the rate for the flu but if infections are more than double (this is just an example, I don’t know the actual stats on this one), it still means Covid would be more deadly. Unless I’m missing something obvious.
COVID is basically a year round disease where flu is seasonal. So yeah it’s gonna produce about an order of magnitude more death with just a few percent higher death rate.
I’m not sure how severe an effect this would have on the numbers, but the death rate would non-negligibly go down after millions of the most vulnerable people died in the first wave. As well, the newer variants get more contagious and bypass immune responses more easily, and we’re taking way fewer precautions as a society. so 6% is a lower percent but still an incredibly high number
I saw it as an evolutionary benefit to be less deadly. The way I’m seeing this, the virus’s purpose in life is to spread, so a higher infection and contagious rate with less death rate is ideal from an evolution standpoint.
There’s one crucial thing you overlooked in this: in 2020, most people hadn’t been infected, and hadn’t gotten the vaccine (because there was no vaccine until December,and even then it was in extremely short supply). Now, most people have some sort of immunity, be it from vaccine or from a prior infection. That definitely skews the hospitalization numbers downward. You can’t compare then and now, unfortunately, since there’s no real community that hasn’t been vaccinated and hasn’t caught it - and so you can’t compare their numbers.
That’s fair, but I think you can still compare it to the flu, which is not that far off from covid percentage wise. At this point both the flu and covid should be at an equal level of people having vaccines and natural antibodies, right? Even if you go with covid being about twice as deadly as the flu, twice as deadly as almost nothing is still almost nothing.
It’s the problem that people like you let this be reality. That we just dismiss millions of preventable deaths as mere statistics rather than doing simple and easy things like wearing masks during pandemics.
I know I am a bit biased here because I didn’t get sick and didn’t really try that hard to avoid it either. I only wore a mask when I had to, I went to bars with friends, really didn’t take any extra precautions, and I washed my hands normally. If I got covid I didn’t notice it.
Personally I would hate if we went into lockdown again, but again, I didn’t get sick, the worst I felt was when I got the vaccine.
Yup. More effective action faster would have had a higher same-day-you-make-the-decision cost but would have been tremendously less harmful economically to all the entities blocking it for fear of the economic impact to them. They were digging a mass grave and then leaping into it.
the sheer number of Covid infections has made long Covid into a global crisis
amazing that you recognize the existence of not only long Covid, but other post-viral illnesses, and think it gives weight to your “Covid is no big deal” argument
yes, and we should be masking for that as well. even so, covid is far more insidious because so many of the disabilities it leaves behind are invisible.
Yeah, I misspoke in my initial comment. I was under the impression the percentage was lower, but I looked it up and it’s about the same (based on the first thing I read)
So to me there’s two conclusions: Covid, which infects people at a much higher rate and for which the vaccine is not really that effective, is a bigger problem since it will end up giving a larger number of people long Covid. The flu is not infecting people twice a year (or more), and it’s possible to go years without catching the flu, even without masks
Or, what I think is the correct conclusion, we should be taking flu more seriously. We saw how little flu there was during the years of the highest mask compliance. Very weird to say “oh we’ve always had post-viral illness, let’s just have even more.” How about we actually take public health seriously for once?
As someone who wound up with chronic fatigue syndrome after getting covid, thank you for this. This piece of shit virus is worse than most people want to admit.
I think you need to look up the definition of false equivalency, it is not an apple to orange kind of thing to say all viruses can kill. I’m not denying some kill more than others, but they all kill. If you can’t understand this fact, I don’t know what to tell you.
I think you need to look up the definition of false equivalency
You’re stating that all viruses kill (which may have some holes in it already) therefore all viruses are technically the same, which ignores the differences in damage they do to people.
If you can’t understand this fact, I don’t know what to tell you.
If you had any actual point to make with your pedantic bullshit, I didn’t see it. You’re just textually masturbating as far as I can tell.
That’s not what I’m saying at all, does saying all people die mean all people are the same? Does saying all murders kill mean they are all the same? No, there are obviously differences.
which ignores the differences in damage they do to people.
The fact I said isn’t about differences in damage, facts don’t have to say everything to be facts. My fact also isn’t saying or implying that they do the same damage.
If you had any actual point to make with your pedantic bullshit, I didn’t see it. You’re just textually masturbating as far as I can tell.
Look at the context of who I was responding to. They were basically saying that if it kills we should wear a mask, I pointed out that All viruses kill and we don’t wear masks because of those, so just the fact that it kills isn’t enough.
Look at the context of who I was responding to. They were basically saying that if it kills we should wear a mask, I pointed out that All viruses kill and we don’t wear masks because of those, so just the fact that it kills isn’t enough.
And there’s the false equivalency that you’re trying to banish with sophistry magic.
They said “it kills” in a non-precise pedantically-incorrect way about something that is dangerous and you’re doing victory laps congratulating yourself on a reddit-logo tier “technically correct” masturbatory moment.
Again, I think you need to look up the definition of false equivalency, what I am saying isn’t that.
Define dangerous, because I wouldn’t call current strains of covid dangerous. The hospitalized death rate isn’t that far off the flu at this point. It used to be more deadly, but it’s just not anymore.
But hey, at least we can agree I’m technically correct.
You’re being dense on purpose because it’s that important for you to congratulate yourself on a silly pedantic thing that none one else cared about, not the person you were being smug to in the first place, and not to me.
But hey, at least we can agree I’m technically correct.
Your self-congratulatory narcissism is noted. congratulations
It’s important to note that every state I’m aware of has long ended their testing and reporting, literally doing the Trump thing. So we actually have no idea what the numbers are.
The numbers I’ve seen are from hospitalized patients, which should still be tracked, and tracked in a similar way to the flu. It doesn’t give us the full story for sure, but it gives us something to compare.
Viruses tend to mutate to be more contagious and less lethal, it’s just how natural selection/evolution works. The strains most likely to survive will be the ones that don’t kill their hosts before they can do so.
Unfortunately, the myth that virii become weaker over time is a long standing misconception, and the anti-vax people pushed it because it fit their narrative.
These articles discuss it with immunologists & doctors & geneticists, though, so it seems that it’s a known truth and so, like gravity, isn’t extensively studied. Instead, they’re focusing on actual prevention via better vaccines and personal behavior/responsibility.
To summarize the NPR one, and correct me if I am wrong, but they are confirming that the current variants are weaker, but that we shouldn’t take that to mean the next variants will follow the same trend?
Kind of. It’s not that it’s weaker, it’s that it’s route into cells is less damaging, and so it’s less “severe” , though the article contradicts itself on that particular word.
FTA: “ this alternative entryway likely causes less damage inside the lungs”
“Omicron may be a small step back in severity. But it’s probably more severe on its own than the original version of the virus,”
Before omicron came along, SARS-CoV-2 was actually evolving to be more severe, says Bhattacharyya, of Harvard Medical School. “We’re looking at a virus that’s gotten progressively more severe over time,” he says.
Due to a history of smoking and multiple bouts of pneumonia I was already fairly sure that my “dying of old age” (which noone truly does) would consist of drowning on fluids from my own damaged lungs one day. Then the drowning on fluids from your own damaged lungs plague came and people decided they’d rather other people die by drowning on fluids from their own damaged lungs than follow simple enhanced hygiene practices for a bit.
Mostly I try to just block that out but it’s come back into sharp focus today…
If you put about 15 minutes between an action and it’s consequences there’s a strong subset of our population that will just completely lose the connection between the two. That, to me, was the primary problem. Well, that and the fact that it’s impossible to measure how many times you didn’t get COVID due to masking or vaxxing
Hey, let’s again make sure we don’t listen to the scientists that come armed with facts and data. 7 million dead the last time? Probably a made-up statistic just to spread fear and panic…right?
I keep wearing N95s. Haven’t gotten COVID yet and not feeling like playing the Long COVID roulette. I don’t work 9-5 in an office so I don’t even have to wear a mask for very long periods of time. Buses, stores require it, but there’s plenty to do outside anyway. Patios are fine. Need to take a leak? Put the mask on. No one from my circle has caught it yet. Honestly this protocol isn’t that bad.
Everyone in my immediate circles either masks up like I do or hasn’t seen me in a few years lol. I didn’t quarantine and mask all this time to get COVID now goddammit I refuse. Funny thing is my life hasn’t been any worse without those people now that I think about it… Huh.
I’ve been doing this and still somehow managed to catch it about a year ago. One of the few people at that event that was wearing a mask and somehow I’m the one that gets it…
Don’t know if I’m ever going to stop wearing a mask.
It happens. Since the beginning of the pandemic I’ve caught something exactly once, a couple of months ago. I did a PCR test however while symptomatic and it came out negative. So did my wife when she got it a couple of days later. My point is that something got through the defense protocol and could easily have been SARS-CoV-2. I only know it wasn’t because I tested for it.
It’s like once “their guy” gave them the ok, everyone started licking doorknobs again. Why couldn’t we keep this “social distancing” thing going? I liked my personal space.
In a way he saved us from fascism. In the very first months of the pandemic there were several instances of police overstepping and enforcing isolation rules like it was martial law. I know it wasn’t a good response, but we could have been under martial law for years instead.
Who do you think I’m talking about? Trump was all around terrible. He wanted the virus to spread while he and his party thought it was killing black people more then white people.
My original comment was about my Biden friends who all flocked back to theaters then he signaled the “end” to the pandemic.
And by then, it was too late to their voters behavior. Hell, Trump didn’t really change his public stance either. Him and his voters made anti-masking a point of pride. Whenever the press asked him about vaccines, he never out rite said that they should get vaccines for the health and safety of the county they supposed love. It’s so simple. Love the county? Love the economy? Get vaccinated and stay up to date. Trust the American™ researchers.
Just remember to try not to touch anything after handling your mask until you’ve had a chance to wash or sanitise your hands again. It’s designed to gather up any Covid you’d breath in or out so ironically is one of the worst things you can touch in terms of risk of spreading infection. (Personally, since I work at home, I tend to just leave my mask on fulltime when I’m out, unless I actively need to take it off for food or water or something, just so I don’t have to mess around with the administration of keeping my hands clean while taking it on and off and making sure it’s properly seated after I put it back on. Wearing a mask for hours on end isn’t my favourite thing but I don’t find it too unpleasant, so I can see why people who really hate it would want to deal with faffing around putting it on and off.)
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