Right now I’m in Germany and the curve here looks like this: https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/germany/

Here there were strict quarantine measures around mid March as the amount of cases was increasing uncontrollably. After the quarantine started, the virus continued increasing at the same rate for maybe around 2 weeks before hitting the peak. Shortly after reaching the peak, the quarantine measures were removed (gradually), but some things remained like wearing masks in closed spaces such as shops and public transport, and limiting the amount of people in closed spaces.

It has been already several weeks since the relaxing of the measures, and what we now see in the graph is that the amount of cases has kept around the 7000 mark. If all measures had been removed, we would have seen the curve rise dramatically instead. If the quarantine measures had been kept, the current amount of cases would probably have gotten close to zero (however such alternative is not feasible since we all need to continue with our lives).

What the graph is showing is that the masks are not completely effective (therefore the number stays hovering around 7000), however they help to prevent the uncontrolled outbreak that was seen before (although do note that this is not just about mask wearing but all recommendations in general such as hand washing, keeping distance between people in public places, or doing home office when the possibility exists).

In the end I think the key lesson is to take things in moderation. The whole situation is not black and white. This virus is not the doomsday event that some people in the media are promoting, but this is also not an irrelevant virus.

Right now I’m in Germany and the curve here looks like this: https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/germany/

Here there were strict quarantine measures around mid March as the amount of cases was increasing uncontrollably. After the quarantine started, the virus continued increasing at the same rate for maybe around 2 weeks, and then finally hit the peak and the number of cases started to drop. Shortly after, the quarantine measures were removed gradually, but some things remained like wearing masks in closed spaces such as shops and public transport, and limiting the amount of people in closed spaces.

It has been already several weeks since the relaxing of the measures, and what we now see in the graph is that the amount of cases has kept around the 7000 mark. If all measures had been removed, we would have seen the curve rise dramatically instead. If the quarantine measures had been kept, the current amount of cases would probably have gotten close to zero (however such alternative is not feasible since we all need to continue with our lives).

What the graph is showing is that the masks are not completely effective (therefore the number stays hovering around 7000), however they help to prevent the uncontrolled outbreak that was seen before (although do note that this is not just about mask wearing but all recommendations in general such as hand washing, keeping distance between people in public places, or doing home office when the possibility exists).

In the end I think the key lesson is to take things in moderation. The whole situation is not black and white. This virus is not the doomsday event that some people in the media are promoting, but this is also not an irrelevant virus.