Mask in 2023 as often as you masked in 2017 | Hacker News Reader

Mask in 2023 as often as you masked in 2017

vinayprasadmdmph.substack.com

11 pointsoldschoolib4 comments

There are a whole lot of Japanese who dispute this position, and I find it reasonable to wear masks now when there’s a good chance I’ll sniffle or sneeze. The mask keeps the goo that results under better control than my hand or arm did pre covid and I don’t have to worry about exchanging a mask like shaking hands previously.

Call it politeness but I’m comfortable being polite to others. Doesn’t diminish my self worth.

I'm baffled that you've been downvoted. I've been harangued for wearing a mask as well - I don't know why it offends people, I don't make others wear one, I'm just doing me.

Also the study of surgical masks being non-inferior to N95 masks has some issues: https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/covid-19/study-masks-vs-n95-respi...

Personally, I'm trying to get comfortable taking off my mask, but I have chronic illness so covid worries me. I've still never had it.

> There are a whole lot of Japanese who dispute this position

Not just Japanese. It seems to be a generally Asian thing.

In addition, I would very much like you to be wearing a mask if you are coughing your lungs out on a transcontinental flight whether it's Covid, flu, a cold, whatever.

I have had about 1/3 of my vacations that started with an airplane trip interrupted by getting sick because I came down with something 7-10 days after somebody on a plane was hacking their guts out.

The article claims mostly that you shouldn't mask because you will get covid "many times over." This implies there is no difference made in how many times you get it, which I haven't seen any particular reason to believe. There does seem to be some chance of long-term effects with each infection, which means there is some benefit to reducing the number of infections you get.

It also doesn't account for the benefit to other people if you're asymptomatic and contagious. Sure everyone is going to get it but they don't have to get it from me.

This is again the "if you can't do everything then you should do nothing" fatalism. I understand why this is alluring on a personal individual level, I'm exhausted too and would love to just give up and accept what comes for us. I don't know what's so appealing about endorsing this position to others though.

---

Also the entire framing assumes that you were masking the correct amount in 2017 and the correct amount is zero. One thing that covid has made me realize is that a lot more people are vulnerable to "routine" infection than I thought, possibly including me. And that I should probably not have gone most of my life assuming multiple respiratory infections every year was inevitable, harmless, or something I was powerless to affect. If covid were gone tomorrow I'd still wear a mask on transit in winter, or in public when I'm sick.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com