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| Model: Universal Mask-Wearing Would Do More To Reduce Infection Than Indefinite Lockdowns Would |
| 2020-05-10 |
| HotAir via Instapundit One of the weirdest quirks of coronavirus politics is that the group that’s most adamantly opposed to continuing lockdowns is also the group that’s grouchiest about wearing masks. There’s a certain dopey consistency to both positions: Lockdowns are an intrusion on the liberty of business owners and consumers, mask mandates (whether public or private) are an intrusion on the liberty of the individual. It's sad when ideology suppresses common sense. But refusing to take basic minimal precautions against infection is exactly the sort of thing that makes lockdown supporters wary of opening back up. If we can’t have ubiquitous testing, and we can’t have a bureaucracy to conduct contact tracing, the least we can do to raise the comfort level of Americans who are reluctant to risk their health by crowding into retail spaces is wear masks to protect each other. But we know that coronavirus crisis is a hoax by Bill Gates & Neil Ferguson. In many cases I don’t think the libertarian argument against masks is even being made in good faith. What’s driving the opposition isn’t fear of "social control" or denialism about the threat from the disease but a certain whiny rejectionism about the new normal created by the pandemic. I don’t like this reality and I resent being inconvenienced in any way by it and I want it to end *right now.* But refusing to take basic minimal precautions against infection is exactly the sort of thing that makes lockdown supporters wary of opening back up. If we can’t have ubiquitous testing, and we can’t have a bureaucracy to conduct contact tracing, the least we can do to raise the comfort level of Americans who are reluctant to risk their health by crowding into retail spaces is wear masks to protect each other. Masks can substitute for herd immunity until a vaccine comes along. Ooops, forgot, vaccine is a plot by [fill in your pet peeve] to take over the world and convert all [fill in] to [fill in]. |
| Posted by:g(r)omgoru |
| #5 (a) AC they were afraid there wouldn't be enough (special masks) for med personnel - yea, I know. (b) Figure it out yourself. If you breath through fabric, would - at least - some aerosol viruses stick and not get through? |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2020-05-10 14:41 |
| #4 They were telling us all Winter and into spring that masks didn't work well enough to be worth the effort. Now I'm supposed to take the magic numbers of some geek as gospel? I don't think so. They're required in stores here so I'll put up with it but it's not gonna be willingly. |
| Posted by: AlanC 2020-05-10 14:30 |
| #3 whiny rejectionism about the new normal created by the pandemic I definitely reject the idea that this pandemic has created a new normal, whiny rejectionist that I am. Both the Asian flu (157-58) and Hong Kong flu (1968) killed over a million, worldwide. Neither created "a new normal". Talk to me about a new normal when the death toll tops a million. Or the 30-40 million from AIDS. |
| Posted by: Bobby 2020-05-10 12:00 |
| #2 I've noticed that mask wearing has picked up locally. Apparently a bunch of people have noticed friends a relatives kicking the bucket. Now if they could only figure out that leaving your nose outside your mask is not a good idea. |
| Posted by: Thaith Elmeresing6163 2020-05-10 10:30 |
| #1 Look - another model! By all means - let's do every single thing it suggests until the end of time! |
| Posted by: Raj 2020-05-10 08:29 |