The Coronavirus

[Warren Dew]

(04-28-2020, 04:19 AM)Eric the Green Wrote: It is not that the US is resisting masks, exactly; but that we are being asked to wear them, and yet they are not even being made available. A competent government and society would have had them available in every store and public building for free all over the country. Instead it has been 2 months, and masks are not only not free but not even made available at any store or on amazon, and people are somehow getting masks by making their own in some mysterious way.

Obviously, it is exactly the shutdowns which were employed on the west pacific rim which allowed them to control the virus, while the USA, UK and Italy that resisted shutdowns for too long suffered ongoing and deepening sickness.

Socially, I get a lot of pushback when I mention masks, from both the right and the left; it really seems like people on both sides of the political spectrum are sufficiently racist against east Asians to want to avoid doing things that they are doing successfully.

This also applies to shutdowns; in fact, no Pacific Rim nation has shut down.  Yet, people - including yourself - assume that they have, because they've been brainwashed into thinking shutdowns are the solution, rather than masks.

I do agree that lack of mask availability is also an issue.  Masks are available online, including on Amazon, but the delivery times are long.  Reusable masks are available on Etsy.  People are making them if they know how to sew - not all that mysterious.  But you're right; if the government had been pushing masks from day 1, the economy would have responded, and they'd be broadly available now.  And I also agree they should have been available in the first place; people should probably be wearing them for flu season even if there were no Covid-19.

(04-28-2020, 03:48 AM)Eric the Green Wrote: The problem is that social distancing is just too tough when people shop, work out, get groomed, get a tattoo, go to a bar or restaurant, etc. It would be nice if we can open up, but it needs to be done carefully.

I agree that being careful is a good idea.  That's why I advocate adding masks when opening up.  There's actually evidence that, unlike lockdowns, masks work.

(04-28-2020, 03:39 AM)Bob Butler 54 Wrote:

(04-27-2020, 11:45 PM)Warren Dew Wrote: It's a false dichotomy.  We don't have to look for middle ground.  The statistics say that shutdowns don't do anything.

Sure, if your let your ideology trump the statistics.  The difference between California and the east is prompt shutdown.

Washington State never shut down.  No, prompt shutdown is not the difference.  There is in fact no more evidence that shutdowns help than that they hurt.  All there is is speculation.  But the speculation can go both ways.  For example, preventing people from getting out makes vitamin D deficiency more likely, which would reduce immune resistance to Covid-19.  It prevents people from getting exercise, which hurts cardiovascular health and makes people more likely to die if they do get Covid-19.

Let's face it:  shutdowns were a political play so politicians could look like they were doing something about the problem, without having to go to the trouble of first figuring out what things would actually be useful if done.