While the effectiveness of masks at schools indoors is questionable, is there any evidence at all for using, let alone mandating masks outside? I would have thought that the sheer volume and circulation of fresh air should dilute viral particles below the infectious concentration. What are they protecting against: direct sneezing into someone else's face?
You'd be surprised how often this happens at an elementary school!
What are they protecting against: direct sneezing into someone else's face?
I don't use them often, just in high risk situations - but they pass the glasses fog test among other things, and I can't tell I'm wearing it after about 15 minutes. All other masks annoy me.
YMMV but it really surprised me as I hate the "surgical style" 3M N95's, these "duckbill" design masks are quite comfortable and breathable in comparison.
I'm triple-vaccinated and absolutely sick of wearing a mask. I agreed with it for the first 18+ months of this but by now I'm just no longer in favor. I no longer believe covid will eventually "go away" and am certainly not in favor of wearing masks for years to come in the hopes that it does.
Those that remain unvaccinated by choice I don't care about. Those who have vulnerable immune systems I have sympathy for but ultimately I don't feel all of society can wear masks forever on basis of their existence. Especially now that it's such a widespread virus that it's basically unavoidable without being a hermit.
Because of this, I don't think the "fuck the unvaccinated, I am sick of masks" mantra works; people can still get pretty sick even after being responsible and getting vaccinated, and I think as a result the mask mandates might need to stay. I don't like them either, but I like people getting sick even less.
NOTE:
Just to be 100% clear: I am very very very much not anti-vax. Please get vaccinated.
Even without the above factored in, this is sort of like saying that not using your turn signals in traffic on the 100th turn nullifies their utility for the previous 99 (not a perfect analogy).
And Omicron has made it so the risk profile is effectively the same as when this pandemic started; you will get it, you will be contagious for a time, and you will infect others.
By looking at that risk and accepting it, you're throwing away the work you've previously put in to avoid being a bad person.
Total nonsense. Anyone's chance of dying is massively diminished with the vaccine.
Luckily, nothing else has reached that level. Yet.
Omicron's risk profile doesn't seem to be the same, looking at the numbers available on the Google chart I look at. We're seeing a lot fewer deaths per cases. That's not to say everyone should throw caution to the wind and do whatever they want, but it's disingenuous to say the math hasn't changed at all.
COVID cases are acting like a marketplace. People take different actions when the numbers/unknowns change, and that's not surprising. I know I'm doing a lot more outside of the home than I was when COVID first started, and that I'm not unique in that respect _at all_.
Not prescribing any course of action, just tossing out what I've been seeing.
Is it wrong to be selfish? That seems be an implicit assumption in your argument.
1. Should people have the expectation that they can inconvenience others, even if only in minor ways? This is taken as given, but it's not always the case. For instance, reducing speed limits everywhere would only slightly inconvenience everyone but save thousands of lives.
2. Is it a minor inconvenience? Certainly not to some people with breathing difficulties.
3. Does it really mitigate the risk to the degree you imply? The case is frankly not as solid as you suggest.
There are even more, but frankly the case is flimsy enough as it is.
_The Unmask is not designed or intended to prevent, mitigate, treat, diagnose or cure any disease or health condition, including COVID-19/Coronavirus. Unmasks are intended for general public use only. They are non-sterile and are not intended for use in any clinical or surgical setting or where exposure to bodily or hazardous fluids may be expected, where the risk of exposure through inhalation is high, or near intense heat or flammable gas. Unmasks are not surgical masks, personal protective equipment, or filtering respirators (such as N95 masks)._
Basically, it seems like a soft, breathable mask.....but they make no claims that they will significantly reduce your chances of catching Covid from someone nearby. That said, if the only goal is to meet masking requirements in public places, then it "works".
https://fakemaskworldwide.com/the-offensively-fake-fake-mask...
The makers of this mask deliberately choose to make a product that does not improve collective safety, and that malicious attitude deserves to be jailed, not rewarded.
> The Unmask is not designed or intended to prevent, mitigate, treat, diagnose or cure any disease or health condition, including COVID-19/Coronavirus.
That goes beyond the "this isn't an n95 mask" - this is actually saying this mask is purely performative. Which is the accusation anti-maskers make. So they become what they accuse others of doing.
Great business.
Now, TSA PreCheck allows you to bypass some of the stuff, like shoe removal and taking laptops out of your bag, but it's coupled with a background check.
The government brought in the TSA to take over checkpoints and relieve the air transport industry for liability for failures of and abuses at the checkpoints as part of the post-9/11 air transport industry bailout; the checkpoints had existed for a long time.
https://www.epa.gov/radtown/radiation-and-airport-security-s...
Disclaimer
The Unmask is not designed or intended to prevent, mitigate, treat, diagnose or cure any disease or health condition, including COVID-19/Coronavirus. Unmasks are intended for general public use only. They are non-sterile and are not intended for use in any clinical or surgical setting or where exposure to bodily or hazardous fluids may be expected, where the risk of exposure through inhalation is high, or near intense heat or flammable gas. Unmasks are not surgical masks, personal protective equipment, or filtering respirators (such as N95 masks).
So yes, I do have breathing and anxiety issues, but my breathing issues are because I've crappy lungs, and I'd prefer to _not_ be around those who consider my life less worthy than their own.
It isn’t societies job to cater to fully vaccinated individuals who remain terrified of Covid. Such an expectation is what is truly selfish.
But it's not the same as what you have to deal with, genuinely fearing for your life.
As a non-American considering going through the Green Card process and with an American-born daughter, stuff like this dampens my enthusiasm for living here long term. I guess the USA is just a place with an enormous spectrum of opinions...
It's quite dry and cold where I am currently, due to winter. Wearing a cloth mask increases the temperature and humidity of the air I breathe when working hard, and makes it less likely that asthma will be triggered.
It's a significant enough effect that I will sometimes wear a cloth mask specifically for this effect when doing something strenuous outdoors.
But I saw Denmark has just dropped all covid measures including masks so hopefully we're all getting there