BMD, I’m confused about masks. I’ve seen studies that adamantly say they are worthless, and then people like Dr. Drew and a fellow doctor pede here say that the masks do help. I’m mostly against them being mandatory from a civil liberties perspective, but what do you think as a doc? It seems like we’ve forgotten about the age old etiquette of simply covering your mouth when you cough or sneeze, or staying home when you’re sick. Esp since we are essentially talking about someone having a cold or flu.
Thank you, BMD. I appreciate being able to talk with you about this. I totally understand health care workers wearing them, and you are used to that, but everyday people doing everyday things— I’m having a huge problem agreeing to comply. See what you think about this...
So to me, there are these factors:
Protection of self vs. protection of others (I’m not coughing or sneezing at all... not sick... and it seems we should be able to decide for ourselves the amount of risk we’d like to take for our own protection)
Type of mask- surgical vs. cloth vs. N95 (N95 the only thing that seems to truly make a difference and that’s only if fitted properly... and studies below show that cloth in particular is harmful to the wearer, and breathing CO2 also harmful)
Whether asymptomatic people are spreading the virus (debatable and being found to be less likely)
Perceived severity of being infected (seems the % death rate is extremely low and getting lower with increased testing, meaning this is more like getting a cold or flu unless you are obese or immune compromised)
Personal choice, rights, and freedoms
It seems to me that given all of the above, our traditional etiquette of covering your cough or sneeze and staying away from others when sick would be just as effective as these masks.
I also love that, prior to the recent reinstatement of mask requirements, some stores here in Texas, like Target, were reserving early morning hours for elderly and high risk shoppers to shop. Better idea than requiring measures for everyone else!
Here are some of the articles I’ve been collecting:
I was looking into buying one of these just to be that extreme when I walk into target. Holy shit these masks are like $200!
If you just want to look ridiculous you can get a gas mask from an army surplus store for much less.
$20 = https://armysurpluswarehouse.com/adults-gas-mask-model-gp-5/
I want to get a clown mask and wig. Going full honk.
Kill two birds. I like it.
BMD, I’m confused about masks. I’ve seen studies that adamantly say they are worthless, and then people like Dr. Drew and a fellow doctor pede here say that the masks do help. I’m mostly against them being mandatory from a civil liberties perspective, but what do you think as a doc? It seems like we’ve forgotten about the age old etiquette of simply covering your mouth when you cough or sneeze, or staying home when you’re sick. Esp since we are essentially talking about someone having a cold or flu.
Thank you, BMD. I appreciate being able to talk with you about this. I totally understand health care workers wearing them, and you are used to that, but everyday people doing everyday things— I’m having a huge problem agreeing to comply. See what you think about this...
So to me, there are these factors:
It seems to me that given all of the above, our traditional etiquette of covering your cough or sneeze and staying away from others when sick would be just as effective as these masks.
I also love that, prior to the recent reinstatement of mask requirements, some stores here in Texas, like Target, were reserving early morning hours for elderly and high risk shoppers to shop. Better idea than requiring measures for everyone else!
Here are some of the articles I’ve been collecting:
https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp2006372?query=TOC
https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/26/5/19-0994_article
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4420971/?fbclid=IwAR3biztkXcYbzGp92up8dtfor2K5sNQNAGp_6YwYxvRUlgSlZfDmoGZS75M
https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/news-perspective/2020/04/commentary-masks-all-covid-19-not-based-sound-data
Thank you, BMD fren! I tremendously appreciate your perspective. I enjoy your comments always.
It’s real. Young die. The scam is the manipulation of data and intentional poor data integrity.