18 thoughts on “Mask Mandates”

  1. But boss I see it, it’s coming. There it is: “The Strain!! The Strain!!”

    “Hey boss, can I \have some more money for amplification of function research?”

    — Some of Tatoo’s more memorable lines from Fantasy Pandemic.

  2. There is no science behind it. Nor is there any science in a 3′, 6′, 10′ or 5280′ separation.

    They both rest on an unproven assumption that people will be coughing and spitting all over. I’d rather identify those without basic hygiene skills and offer correction to them than demand all of society be altered.

    1. Flight-ER-Doc,

      Do you believe SARS-CoV-2 is not transmitted by aerosols emitted from normal breathing, let along from people talking, shouting, and singing (even though there is as much evidence for aerosol transmission occurring as there is for transmission via larger droplets which follow a more ballistic trajectory)?

      Do you believe that masks in common use do not significantly filter aerosols (even though this is easily shown to be true)?

      1. “Do you believe that masks in common use do not significantly filter aerosols (even though this is easily shown to be true)?”

        Did you read the article? From your question, it isn’t apparent that you did.

        My wife and I are both fully immunized, with the Pfizer vaccine. We have a vanishingly small probability of being infected with SARS-CoV-2, and a vanishingly small probability on top of that of transmitting it to anyone. Yet we are still required to wear masks, which expose us to substantial health risks. In particular, we are forced to wear masks on airplanes, the one and only “mass transit” mode of travel where masks are absolutely useless (cabin air is constantly replenished, giving airborne pathogens zero residence time). I have obstructive sleep apnea. If I fall asleep on an airplane (at 8,000 feet equivalent altitude) while wearing a mask, it might well be for the last time – and if I survive, it will be with a further damaged heart. My wife can’t breath while wearing a mask under the best of circumstances. Consequently, we won’t travel by air, even if required for business.

        Finally, there is the point I keep making, falling on universally deaf ears. Those who insist on following “CDC guidelines” for mask wearing also insist on ignoring one, and only one, of those guidelines,viz; Do not put a mask on anyone who has difficulty breathing. That’s the one thing that irritates me the most about this mask nonsense – it is brazenly hypocritical to demand obeisance to “CDC guidelines”, but not all of CDC guidelines. Just the ones that don’t do any good. The harmful ones, you must obey, period.

        Well, that protocol didn’t help my Mom, who died of COVID-19 in a nursing home, despite hospital-level controls on mask-wearing, hand-washing, and personnel restricted to staff (and only staff whose temperature was normal).

        I really, really hate this mask Nazi-ism.

        1. When I see someone without a mask, it doesn’t bother me. I don’t know why they aren’t wearing one and the reason doesn’t matter. So few people don’t wear masks that it is a non factor.

          Masks aren’t a silver bullet. They are a low cost and low effort way to mitigate risk but even though they are low effort, most people don’t wear them correctly, rendering them useless. And it can get in through your eyes, how many people wear goggles?

          All that aside, I will wear a mask until the people who sell me groceries and change my oil get vaccinated. The only reason I felt compelled to wear a mask in the first place was because they were forced to wear them all day. I wont ask them to do anything I wont myself.

          I feel the risks are overblown but they are serious for certain demographics. However, everyone needs to suck it up for a couple months. We are almost through this.

          Following the same line of thinking, I won’t cut in line to get the vaccine either. There are still a lot of old people who don’t have it but there are a lot of young faces waiting in line.

          Pitchforks come out if they keep this Crap up after everyone who wants vaccinated gets their shots.

          1. The people I want to pitchfork are those who wear a mask to enter a shop then tuck it under their chins while leaving the earloops on. They should either take a stand or stop looking like they ate paint chips for lunch.

          2. Obviously the magority of people don’t think the plague is really a big deal or they would treat it like one. The mask karens have to attack the randoms individuals who don’t wear a mask because going after people who don’t use them correctly is too large of a group and likely includes the mask Karens.

      2. What is the percentage of people who wear masks correctly and why did everyone wearing masks have so little impact?

  3. It’s never been about the science. As with elections you can do it honestly, or you can do it to get the results you want.

  4. The Big Thing is that Trump-voting men won’t take the vaccine.

    The thing about the vaccine, just try getting it right now that the eligibility pool in Wisconsin has been expanded to just about the entire adult population for being overweight (BMI >22 or there about?).

    Does anyone here recall are is able to look up Churchill’s quote about current scarcity, pending sufficiency and in a future time, more than you need? I think he was talking about WW-II and the challenges England was facing, but I think this applies to the vaccine.

    You heard if from me here first, the vaccine will eventually become plentiful. Maybe by waiting, one can choose which type one wants? Maybe there will be more information about rare side effects?

    Maybe Mask Fascism will be replaced by Vaccine Fascism?

    1. I’m a Trump-voting deplorable and I got vaccinated. Stop the BS. We already have vaccine fascism.

    2. We went from testing a couple thousand a day to over 2 million a day in a few months. The same will be true for the vaccines.

      The Trump admin did the impossible. Where would we be now without what they did with testing and project warp speed?

      1. Wodun, there is no Trump Administration.

        Don’t you think I know that? There was, but not anymore! They called me, they begged me for help. All 74 million of them. I couldn’t! I couldn’t!.

    3. I got my first shot last week and will get the next one in the middle of April. The masks would be nothing more than hygiene theater if they weren’t actually harmful in some cases.

      1. Does anyone know the spell to register online for the vaccine from Walgreens?

        I get an appointment for Dose 1, and the next screen “throws up its hands” and tells me they have no appointments for Dose 2 and then kicks me out.

        This is a known thing to the Chicago-area TV stations, and they are saying Deerfield, IL-based Walgreens HQ isn’t talking to them.

  5. There is plenty of evidence that the quarantine measures reduce the spread of the virus. Including the masks. Are they 100% perfect? No.

  6. Wodun, there is no Trump Administration.

    Don’t you think I know that? There was, but not anymore! They called me, they begged me for help. All 74 million of them. I couldn’t! I couldn’t!.

Comments are closed.