The government told us that we didn’t need face masks when of course obviously we did. What else can I get us to believe that we don’t really need?
CDC Lies Could Be Very Useful in Other Ways
Ted Rall
Ted Rall is a syndicated political cartoonist for Andrews McMeel Syndication and WhoWhatWhy.org and Counterpoint. He is a contributor to Centerclip and co-host of "The Final Countdown" talk show on Radio Sputnik. He is a graphic novelist and author of many books of art and prose, and an occasional war correspondent. He is, recently, the author of the graphic novel "2024: Revisited."
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Depends on what one wants a face mask – type surgical mask – for, Ted. Unlike N95 – or KN95, FFP2 – masks or so-called FFPRs , the former will not filter out particles the size of viruses and thus do not protect their wearers from getting infected by such. What they do do, however, is to protect others by stopping the droplets released when the wearer of the masks coughs or spits – which we all do, to some degree, when we talk. In East Asian countries – my experience is from Japan and China – face masks are thus generally worn to prevent spreading infections to others when oneself has a cold, etc ; generally speaking, at least prior to the current crisis, such masks were not worn by people without symptoms. Now, however, in this crisis, everybody wears them and they are mandated by government decree for those who go out ; if everybody wears them, the spread of droplets and thus contagion is bound to be very much reduced. An apt comparison might be with e g, measles vaccine – if the vast majority of persons is vaccinated, a single case of measles is not going to spread like wildfire through the population….
Why not purchase and wear FFPRs then ? In the first place, these take training to wear and use effectively, and they are not particularly comfortable to wear – reistance to air flow is quite high both in inhalation and exhalation and they have to fit very snuggly to be effective – no beards, for example. My take, therefore, is that current CDC recommendations are well-considered ; i e, the general public should wear «cloth face coverings» and/or surgical masks (nota bene, to be used only once) to prevent spreading infections that wearers themselves might bear to others, while the use of FFPRs should be reserved to those who because of work which brings them into close contact with patients, e g, intubation procedures, etc, are at heightened risk of contracting the disease. For the general public, «social-distancing» and good hand hygiene are the most effective means of stopping the spread of the disease – and others ; from what I read the incidence of other infections which are transmitted via droplets have also declined after the above measures have been put into place and observed by a majority of the populations concerned….
Henri
When SARS hit back in 2003, China vehemently denied that they had an infectious disease for the better part of a year. I saw pictures, and everyone in China was wearing face masks, because they’d heard that was their only protection. They were told (not by the government) to only wear a mask once and never bring it inside your home but dispose of it outside (and wash hands and face thoroughly once inside).
Lots of places have made masks and gloves mandatory to prevent infected asymptomatic CoViD-19 Marys from infecting others. (Where I am, there’s a $300 fine for going outside your home without a mask and gloves.)
My comment above is «awaiting moderation», as I deliberately included two links ; other readers should, I think, have the opportunity to know on what I base my comment. We shall have to see if I, like the camel (rope) pass the eye of the needle – if not I’ll write again with (dot) com URLs instead….
Henri
Re: panel #3 … what prior credibility, exactly, it being invoked here?
Well, if we’re gonna talk lies, Ted’ll have to do a column on Bernie Sanders recent complete betrayal of his base by backing Joe Biden. I’m still so angry I now have to get up and take a walk. I will be immune to coronavirus though because I’m so red-faced, white-knuckled furious anything that hits my bloodstream will die on contact with my superheated plasma.
And Henri, I recently suggested a fix to Ted for the moderation hiccup. So far, it’s worked for me (but watch this post get flagged), so maybe he’ll try it with you account as well.
Joe Biden. Blech. Just feh. Pfui.
The interesting thing for me, Alex, was that when I saw that my first post above – I’d very much like to see a response from Ted – was «awaiting moderation» (which I knew would be the case, given that I had included two links), my little addendum was also flagged, which was new for me. At any rate, «moderation» came relatively quickly, so I’m happy….
As for Mr Sanders, it was obvious that he was going to support Mr Biden in the case he saw that his own path to the nomination closed. He has consistently maintained that defeating Mr Trump was his first priority, and he’s not the sort of politician to go back on his word. After all, he stumped for Ms Clinton, for whom he felt much less affinity, in 2016. But I suspect a lot of his supporters will be very disappointed, and stay at home on 3 November, and that Mr Trump will win with at least as many Electoral College votes as in 2016, and perhaps a plurality of voters (pace California !) as well. Of course, a lot may depend on how US voters react to his massive incompetence when it comes to dealing with the spread of Covid-19 in the country ; thus the even by Mr Trump’s own standards exceptional venom pouring out from the administration towards the Chinese and the WHO….
Henri