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Comment by nicoburns | Hacker News Reader

The problem with the current government is they're failing at the basics. There were obvious things that could have been done but weren't that should have made everyone happy because they really aren't (party) political issues. Like mandating mask use back in February. Or allocating funds for PPE to companies that are actually capable of producing it. I heard a government minister on the radio the other day saying they hadn't anticipated the increase in demand for testing when schools went back. How did they not anticipate that!? Anybody with half a braincell could have told you that. They deserve all the hate they're getting for sheer incompetence.

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Back in February the WHO's position was that it wasn't yet a pandemic and that masks were useless. Their advice was merely to protect healthcare workers and to protect those who were most vulnerable.

Expecting Boris to have mandated mask usage in February is bizarre, not a single country or health authority anywhere was even considering doing that back then and remember - all the scientific studies said that masks were of unclear or no value in stopping the spread of flu, one of the closest analogues. So that's some pretty serious Captain Hindsight behaviour going on here.

Is there any good evidence to date that we should use masks? Reason I ask is that I was reading this:

https://archive.is/xfHiL#selection-407.27-407.105

and, although the title is pretty fierce, it does seem to be well-argued and b/c today it was revealed that the author is someone who works for Fauci at CDC!

Not that I know of, no. But there sure are a lot of people on HN who get mad if you point that out. Look at my comment history to see the long and frankly tiresome battle against COVID hysteria dating back to March (when people were claiming Italian hospitals were already turning people away en-masse and ventilators were already exhausted, although it wasn't true!)

I read your entire comment history couple of weeks ago.

Great experience! Thank you for providing level headed and well articulated responses to the widely spread mass hysteria.

I also learned a lot, special thanks for pointing Thomas Howell's books. Reading now the 'A Conflict of Visions'.

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