Comment by TheProbes | Hacker News Reader

Comment by TheProbes | Hacker News Reader

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Yeah, this is an example of what I'm talking about. I'll get on the train this morning and ride to work and probably see 100,000 people, none of whom are unmasked or wearing "chin masks". I'll work all day and not see a single one of my co-workers faces. Same thing on the way home. Then, because it's Friday, I'll go out for drinks with my wife or maybe the same friends I usually see because we aren't in lockdown, and spend a couple of hours in a bar unmasked. Maybe I'll post a photo of myself having a beer?

Yet you have some friends on Instagram who post when they're out, and have seen some news reports (probably of the variety of "Japan's COVID mystery, why are their numbers so low?") where they hunt out some drongos in some dodgy tachinomya who aren't wearing masks for their story about how Japanese people aren't wearing masks either, and because it fits into your worldview, you'll glom onto that and post some non-peer reviewed rubbish that confirms your fervent wish that you shouldn't be in any way inconvenienced.

Oh look at that, I just saw the morning news. 115 new cases of COVID today in a country of 120 million during the Delta wave. It's a mystery I tell you. A complete mystery.

Don't listen to this guy, wear a mask, get vaccinated.

> Don't listen to this guy, wear a mask, get vaccinated.

What are you talking about? Did I say anything about vaccines? Check your biases.

> I'll get on the train this morning and ride to work and probably see 100,000 people

Oh stop. You don't see 100,000 people a day. You could stand in the middle of Shinagawa station all day long, and I doubt you'd see that many people pass by you. And you certainly aren't confirming if they're wearing masks.

> I'll work all day and not see a single one of my co-workers faces. Same thing on the way home. Then, because it's Friday, I'll go out for drinks with my wife or maybe the same friends I usually see because we aren't in lockdown, and spend a couple of hours in a bar unmasked. Maybe I'll post a photo of myself having a beer?

Well, yes. This is exactly the behavior I am describing. You're doing it, too. You think the virus somehow knows that you're out for a drink and stops being infectious?

Your contention is that masks don't work, and Japanese people don't wear them? I travel the loop line to and from work during rush hour each day, and yeah, while I don't canvas every single person, to my mind, I don't see anyone not masked up and wearing it correctly.

On my way today actually, remembering your goofy statements, I kept a special eye out, just for you. Carriages stuffed full of people, lines and lines on the platforms, train doors opening and waves of people pouring out to change trains, little groups of elementary schoolkids walking together to school....I didn't see a single person today (bar a couple of dudes with their masks down while they smoked outside Lawsons) not masked. You just don't see people not fully masked up. Day in, day out. Sorry if I don't keep a little tally counter on me.

"You're doing it too." What does this even mean? I drink within a closed circle of friends or family in a bar with separated tables and screens up. The staff all wear masks. Life goes on, but because of the masks and distancing measures, the transmission rates remain low.

You have an incoherent world-view and grasp of logic. Are you incapable of understanding that there is a sliding scale of masking behaviour? With Japan at one end, and the dolts screaming about mandates in street protests at the other?

Again, I say, don't listen to this guy. Wear a mask (properly). Get vaccinated. (Is that punctuation more to your liking?)

> Your contention is that masks don't work, and Japanese people don't wear them?

No. My evidence-backed argument is that masks don't have much of an effect, and secondarily, my personal observation is that Japanese people don't wear them as much as you claim, particularly inside, while eating and drinking and socializing. They definitely wear them outside, where it doesn't matter much at all.

Arguing that you rode a train today and saw lots of people wearing masks on your commute is unsurprising. Completely consistent with what I'm saying.

> I drink within a closed circle of friends or family in a bar with separated tables and screens up. The staff all wear masks. Life goes on, but because of the masks and distancing measures, the transmission rates remain low.

Right. So you've now twice admitted that you do exactly what I am describing: you go out to eat and drink and socialize and take off your mask, inside, with groups of other people who are also not wearing masks. But it doesn't count when you do it, because reasons. Shields. Treating the staff as Others who have to wear masks around you, in a room full of unmasked people. It's all the same performative logic: you're OK because you're a person who wears a mask (except when you don't).

Invent all the rationalizations you like; I don't particularly care. I am not a member of the church. I'm just stating what I see, and you're...well, you're agreeing with me.

I live in Tokyo, Japan. Nearly Everybody wears masks here (correctly). Several people even wear 2. Don't listen to him, he claimed there were spikes in Japan this winter when somebody pointed out the mask wearing ... Fundamental anti-masker :) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29294849

Yeah, he's on some kind of messed up head trip, that's for sure. Osaka here.

> 115 new cases of COVID today in a country of 120 million during the Delta wave. It's a mystery I tell you. A complete mystery.

In case anyone is curious, Japan has done far fewer Covid tests per capita than somewhere like Namibia, a country with one-tenth the GDP per capita.

See also https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/29/world/asia/japan-elderly-... https://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/14382671

(Of note: some sources like https://items.ssrc.org/covid-19-and-the-social-sciences/covi... claim Japan's intentional testing restrictions causally decreases the number of cases, by avoiding nosocomial infections.)

This article was from almost two years ago when the pandemic wasn't even going properly.

The data I mentioned about testing per capita is through today. In concrete numbers, Japan has performed ~25 million tests and has a population of ~125 million.

There are THREE articles, and I chose them so that they spanned the past two years. The second article is from June 28, 2021 and the headline is "Testing at elderly care facilities expands, but at a snail’s pace".

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