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Comment by devy | Hacker News Reader

Yes, face masks are common sense measure to prevent respiratory illness from spreading. Yet, U.S. CDC kept saying don't wear masks even till this date, kept giving Americans the lies of "false security" of wearing mask. I get the intention of preventing a run on precious N95/surgical masks that hurt healthcare workers - but come on, we should have use Defense Production Act to compel factories to make masks and increase productions as wells as impose strict purchase limits and regulate the market on the masks instead of telling people masks are unnecessary. This is to me the 2nd biggest failure of CDC leadership after screwing up with the COVID-19 testing kits.

By the way, we learned that a century ago during the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic - wearing masks help, even with non-N95 masks. Influenza could also caused by corona viruses, also transmitted via droplets primarily, just like the SARS-CoV-2

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The only thing the Defense Production Act is going to help, is placing the federal government at the front of the queue. You can’t spin up a factory that makes X into one that makes Y without months or years of retooling.

By the time more mask factories are up, the capacity will no longer be needed. Same goes for ventilators. Too little too late; shouldn’t have outsourced manufacturing to China a generation ago.

If we had that manufacturing capacity here we would face similar issues since those factories would ideally be shut. If not shuttered, their labor forces would be suffering along with productivity as everyone gets infected.

The better solution is diversification of global supply chains which benefits all countries long-term.

It's OK using same mask every day. It still helps the virus stay local. CDC should tell everyone to wear masks right now.

If we just tell (or force with fine) everyone to wear a mask and have their mouth covered whenever in close proximity with some other person, we can go back to usual life. What's so hard about this?

Like I said, the mask doesnt need to be perfect. A cut up tshirt, bedsheet, or scarf is fine. The point it to keep people from touching their faces and to serve as a barrier for a majority of the large particles exiting your mouth when you open it.

If we had prepared this response is fine.

However we didnt, so stop promoting ordinary people wearing masks.

[1] Masks protect other people from you spreading the disease if _you_ are sick. This is true, unless you spend your day around covid-19 infected individuals all day long for your job. [2] Doctors and nurses need that mask. They are the ones who spend their day, risking their lives and their families health to treat these people.

Even now the risk of contracting the virus, if you are following isolation protocols, is extremely low.

> However we didnt, so stop promoting ordinary people wearing masks.

Masks reduce risk.

> [2] Doctors and nurses need that mask.

Here's the reason, right here.

Seems like we didn't prepare. There should be enough masks for healthcare professionals and ordinary citizens.

Nobody is debating that, but if it’s between healthcare professionals and everybody else, it’s obvious who should receive priority.

Self-isolation reduces the risk by the largest factor, maybe up to the 99-99.5% level. Guess who cant self-isolate? Doctors.

Wearing a mask, if the entire population is infected, provides a benefit because you are surrounded by infection. Guess which person spends 8 hours a day in a highly infected population? Doctors, especially in the intensive care unit.

If you were worth as much to humanity as a doctor, as an ordinary person, your logic would save fewer lives. However it would increase your chance of being saved.

so stop promoting ordinary people wearing masks.

Stop lying to people that masks aren't effective. Not only does that put people in immediate danger, it makes it more difficult to walk back that advice in a few months, when we're definitely going to want everyone to wear masks when in public.

Doctors and nurses need that mask

So make your own. Even half of a t-shirt is much better than nothing.

The CDC and WHO leadership is a joke. They've failed to take a divisive stand for public safety and have caved to the demands of politicians.

I don't think they'll earn back respect for at least a generation. People won't forget this.

It's not a joke, what WHO did was clearly on purpuse, there's enough evidence now. ,,joke'' would mean incompetency, but what's happening is much worse, and closer to cold war.

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