JAFO wrote:eltonioni wrote:...there is very little firm evidence. There are of of opinions and anecdotes about how a mask on a wearer works but that data is so unreproducible in the real world with real people doing real things in real places that the data becomes virtually worthless.
Really?
https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.06.21.20128181v1
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/340603522_Face_Masks_Against_COVID-19_An_Evidence_Review
https://www.ox.ac.uk/news/2020-07-08-oxford-covid-19-study-face-masks-and-coverings-work-act-now
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/06/200612172200.htm
Yes really. Your data i(the ones I can access) is ancient and/or lacks real day to day context. The recommendation for everyone to wear a face mask to prevent C19 is akin to preventing racism by telling everyone to wear a bag on their head. It's using a howitzer to light a birthday candle. Of course it has an effect.
As I said earlier I am not saying that masks don't have a place. I am saying that it is too late for population wide implementation and other considerations are now more important.
Not too late you say? I forget the precise numbers so forgive gross errors but ISTR that two weeks ago C19 rate was at about 1 in 2000 people. It's now around 1 in 4000 people. By the day people will be required to wear face masks in John Lewis we'll be in placebo territory if you have to hang around at the front door for hours, maybe days, to be in with a chance of meeting someone with C19.
The greater risk now is economic and social - that people don't wear a mask in John Lewis because they aren't physically going to John Lewis, they are using
http://www.johnlewis.co.uk instead. Entire supply chains and the economy and taxes that come from them are at risk for the sake of fear alone. There isn't going to be a recognisable NHS if we don't get back to work fast.
The social effects are likely to be even more pernicious. Are we really ready to wear masks until this thing goes away, and then don them again when a nasty bout of flu comes around, because well, y'know it worked last time. Are we prepared for the effect on our individual and collective psyche, or the inevitable and likely violent reaction against it which will follow as surely as night follows day? Sorry, that's not for me and I wouldn't wish it on others.
If you want to wear a face cover then just wear one, fill yer boots!
Personally I'd prefer that the elderly and vulnerable were given supplies of N95 respirator masks instead of requiring people with statistically zero risk to put a random woolly scarf over their mouth for fear of a being arrested, fined and humiliated in Curry's car park.
At the risk of seriously mangling a previous turn of phrase, we're spaffing hundreds of years of hard won civil rights, liberties and personal wealth up the wall with this thing.
Now wash your hands.
Middle East Peace Expert. Military strategist. Former economist and epidemiologist.
Not always entirely serious.
-Still learning -