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Comment by _ugfj | Hacker News Reader

Those who are more vulnerable are watching as the world left us hanging dry.

There was no reason to end mask mandates. None. Except a few loudmouths the entire world have caved to.

We have seen how cheap DIY filter boxes are. There is no reason not to have one in every classroom and workplace. And yet.

I am desperate enough to experiment with a Cleanspace Halo, the smallest positive air pressure respirator there is to be able to go among people. If no one else is willing to provide clean air, I need to filter my own. It's bloody ridiculous but what can I do?

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It seems pretty clear that children learn a lot from seeing peoples’ facial expressions, so that’s one reason to end universal mask mandates. Our kids’ teachers strongly advised removing the school’s mask mandate when it came up for discussion, because of an uptick in speech issues and because some of their pedagogical methods relying on showing the kids the movements of their mouths.

They’re running three beefy HEPA filters at all times in one room, this isn’t politically motivated or an attempt to ignore the problem.

So then provide federal funding for HEPA filters and make exceptions in the mask mandate for those classrooms where those are present? Just a thought.

Do something instead of playing Bush on that bloody ship under the banner Mission Accomplished by declaring the pandemic over?

Counterpoint: The only thing children learn from seeing faces is how to fake a smile. By wearing masks they can observe the whole body which is much harder to control. What I said is not based on science as far as I know.

Even in countries that widely and overwhelmingly supported mask mandates pre-vaccine I don't think that support would extend to an indefinite mask mandate.

Whatever one thinks of general mask mandates, I think I'll always be baffled that we're ditching it in healthcare settings, especially places like ERs.

I don't expect to ever go into an ER or pediatrician's office without one.

It makes more sense if you view it as an extremely politically motivated decision to signal that we should stop thinking about COVID entirely.

Your theory sounds conspiratorial and lacking in evidence.

Ironic considering your comment.

What was conspirational in his comment?

The conspiracy of a conspiracy. ;)

Read any newspaper for the past year and a half that has been ceaselessly pumping out “COVID is over” think pieces while life expectancy is declining, excess deaths remain high (whereas before the pandemic they were largely static for years and years), and disability claims rise. It takes effort to ignore how much the consent is being manufactured.

Yes. It's called "acceptable losses".[1]

The idea that only deaths matter is part of this narrative.

[1] https://www.latimes.com/science/story/2022-04-01/covid-accep...

Yeah we handled the mask issue so poorly.

It very quickly stopped being about finding what is a reasonable policy to just a stupid culture war fight over all masks all the time vs any masks anytime are communist police state designed to make your child gay.

Just dumb dumb dumb.

Even in places that handled the pandemic fairly well like NZ their mask policies were kind of silly.

My peeve that I will never stop being angry about is we knew from quite early on that COVID was airborne and surgical masks were not very effective. But public health authorities refused to communicate this to the public. They did not make an effort to make people aware or to issue N95/KN95 masks and update the policies to reflect more balance about which places it’s optimal to mask vs not.

It was just left to individuals to work it out on their own.

While N95 masks actually work, most of the cloth masks do very little. But there was a huge shortage of good masks for the first year, and WHO was terrified of fights over masks if they recommended N95.

(The trick of N95 masks is that they have a charged electret layer in the middle. That will capture particles smaller than the holes in the mask. It's not like an HEPA filter, which is purely mechanical.)

If no one else is willing to provide clean air, I need to filter my own. It's bloody ridiculous but what can I do?

Right. Isn't this the situation if you wear a mask? What does this have to do with other people?

My mask protects you, your mask protects me. Three years in I still need to explain this??

Wear an N99?

You aren’t explaining it, you’re just repeating the same tired informationless phrase we were all subjected to for those ~2.75 years (after they stopped saying masks do nothing)

Sigh, really, this entire thread is supremely depressing

y'all just want us to die, right?

No, but many of us believe the worlds reaction to COVID-19 was extreme and totally unwarranted (and a bit scary too, considering how basic human freedoms went out the window in so many countries)

A million americans died and you think the reaction was extreme?? What we know worldwide is at least 18 million excess Covid deaths and at least 65 million people with Long Covid. The entire Western world has completely failed in its COVID-19 response. If you think this was extreme, you are being gaslit. Too little was done and way too late. Communication and leadership complete failed.

There is a lot of money going into making you believe what you believe. Next time maybe there won't be lockdowns because of this campaign currently being wrought and then many more millions will die. Someone will win perhaps but guess who. Hint: it ain't you.

Actually I accept that theee are risks to life. I am not being gaslit - I take freedom seriously.

Ah yes, muh freedoms!

And where is my freedom? Where is my freedom to live and not breath in your infected droplets?

https://www.bryanhealth.com/app/files/public/9a4cd902-5ffd-4...

So wear two masks.

That's not an explanation. If you wear a mask, you're protecting yourself. You can even wear a more comfortable mask with a vent, which became anathema due to your "explanation".

https://www.bryanhealth.com/app/files/public/9a4cd902-5ffd-4...

give me a break. Yes wearing a mask helps me as well but nowhere near as if you were doing it.

Don't make me link the pee meme.

Sorry not as plugged into memeworld as you so don't know WTF this is.

Us both wearing masks protects you as much as you wearing two masks. But even better, you can just wear an N99 or N100. Also you should consider P95 or Pxx because of the much nicer seal.

I don't understand why you need to get other people involved in this simple thing you can do yourself.

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