Japan didn't send covid patients into nursing homes. Japan didn't delay action by impeaching their prime minister. Japan didn't hoard ventilators in warehouses, selling them out the back door while claiming to need thousands more.
Masks are nice. So is green tea and citrus fruit consumption. But let's not kid ourselves about what happened in the USA and NYC in particular.
Even if you remove the nursing homes from the equation our death rate and rate of spread are way higher than Japan, s korea, Taiwan. Countries in Europe and canada had lower death rates than the US but higher than japan etc... And the reason masks work is apparent, as I've mentioned they reduce viral load in the air by blocking moisture droplets. You see the countries in europe with the highest death rates are ones where people kiss each other all the time.
Mask wearing is a simple and effective mitigating method and its increasingly clear to all, the reasons to oppose it are kind of trivial, it makes people look foolish. No one is saying wear a mask at all times, but when you go to a store, on a train, this is how you reopen the economy and protect people who work in stores etc...
Even if you remove the nursing homes from the equation our death rate and rate of spread are way higher than Japan
It's not possible for you to have a legitimate source for this statement. Even, for the sake of argument, say you're right, Japan doesn't pay hospitals more per covid death. Japan doesn't classifiy gunshots deaths as covid deaths. Japan isn't playing politics with the disease. There are myriad reasons why the US numbers are so different from those of Japan.
Mask wearing is a simple and effective mitigating method
Masks are fine. So are seat belts. You should wear one if you have symptoms, just like you should wear a seat belt when driving. That doesn't mean you can drive drunk just because you wore your seat belt.
If you want numbers like Japan, you won't get them simply by donning a mask.
There is speculation that japan downplays their numbers for a variety of reasons- the Olympics, pride, economic stability... none the less we see they are not overwhelmed and the same goes for South Korea and Taiwan. Tokyo is like 3 times the size of NYC and many people take the train, not every case in New York was in nursing home, they got hit hard because there is a lot of travel there, it is densely populated with many taking trains and they dont wear masks. It is crazy to think it's not a good and practical idea for subway riders in NYC to wear masks at this point, the reasons about transmission I wrote in other comments about water droplets make that clear.
If you have symptoms of covid you should get tested and if positive quarantine. That 30%, possibly much more, cases of covid are asymptomatic are the reason that everyone should wear a mask.
That people in japan are responsible and conscientious are why they have lower infection rates.
The facts are that Tokyo is no longer under a state of emergency, and that the cases and deaths are not there. There are not an extra 50000 dead people lying around needing cremation. It didn't happen there. What you're describing is not speculation, it's conspiracy theory.
It is crazy to think it's not a good and practical idea for subway riders in NYC to wear masks at this point
What's crazy is that you think a simple mask is going to help when the difference in cleanliness of NYC subways and Japanese trains are so radically different. It's like fantasy female bikini armor. Nobody thinks that is actually going to work. It's absurd to even suggest it would in that environment. Before masks can help there, you need clean trains. You don't have that in NYC subways.
Japan didn't send covid patients into nursing homes. Japan didn't delay action by impeaching their prime minister. Japan didn't hoard ventilators in warehouses, selling them out the back door while claiming to need thousands more.
Masks are nice. So is green tea and citrus fruit consumption. But let's not kid ourselves about what happened in the USA and NYC in particular.
Even if you remove the nursing homes from the equation our death rate and rate of spread are way higher than Japan, s korea, Taiwan. Countries in Europe and canada had lower death rates than the US but higher than japan etc... And the reason masks work is apparent, as I've mentioned they reduce viral load in the air by blocking moisture droplets. You see the countries in europe with the highest death rates are ones where people kiss each other all the time.
Mask wearing is a simple and effective mitigating method and its increasingly clear to all, the reasons to oppose it are kind of trivial, it makes people look foolish. No one is saying wear a mask at all times, but when you go to a store, on a train, this is how you reopen the economy and protect people who work in stores etc...
It's not possible for you to have a legitimate source for this statement. Even, for the sake of argument, say you're right, Japan doesn't pay hospitals more per covid death. Japan doesn't classifiy gunshots deaths as covid deaths. Japan isn't playing politics with the disease. There are myriad reasons why the US numbers are so different from those of Japan.
Masks are fine. So are seat belts. You should wear one if you have symptoms, just like you should wear a seat belt when driving. That doesn't mean you can drive drunk just because you wore your seat belt.
If you want numbers like Japan, you won't get them simply by donning a mask.
There is speculation that japan downplays their numbers for a variety of reasons- the Olympics, pride, economic stability... none the less we see they are not overwhelmed and the same goes for South Korea and Taiwan. Tokyo is like 3 times the size of NYC and many people take the train, not every case in New York was in nursing home, they got hit hard because there is a lot of travel there, it is densely populated with many taking trains and they dont wear masks. It is crazy to think it's not a good and practical idea for subway riders in NYC to wear masks at this point, the reasons about transmission I wrote in other comments about water droplets make that clear.
If you have symptoms of covid you should get tested and if positive quarantine. That 30%, possibly much more, cases of covid are asymptomatic are the reason that everyone should wear a mask.
That people in japan are responsible and conscientious are why they have lower infection rates.
The facts are that Tokyo is no longer under a state of emergency, and that the cases and deaths are not there. There are not an extra 50000 dead people lying around needing cremation. It didn't happen there. What you're describing is not speculation, it's conspiracy theory.
What's crazy is that you think a simple mask is going to help when the difference in cleanliness of NYC subways and Japanese trains are so radically different. It's like fantasy female bikini armor. Nobody thinks that is actually going to work. It's absurd to even suggest it would in that environment. Before masks can help there, you need clean trains. You don't have that in NYC subways.