Quote:
Originally Posted by someone123
I think if Donald Trump had kept up a message like "everybody wear masks, they'll stop the virus dead in its tracks, it's gonna be great!" in the spring of 2020 opinions wouldn't have flipped (since there is so much wiggle room since the data is poor) so much and focusing on limitations of masks like the efficacy of cloth mask in preventing aerosol transmission would feel more reasonable to more people. To most people this is mostly sentiment based, with the covid interventions they do or don't like being like picking a sports team (and it's social/tribal in the same way you might want to follow the local sports team).
Like I said I do think the masks have some effect and it depends on the person. So maybe if you are older and worried you should wear an N95 (cloth not being good enough) while if you're low risk and vaccinated cloth is okay (just to satisfy the mandate, but it's probably not doing much).
I agree as usual the end goal is not really clear. Just as most people pick their preferred regime based on sentiment, politicians monitor public sentiment to decide what to do, and there is not necessarily much rhyme or reason to how it will evolve. Some people seem to want indefinite mask wearing, others argue it should be done while we are in crisis mode and we seem to be in perpetual crisis. Not sure what the cutoff should be here but I don't think it makes sense to wait for 0 covid because there is no clear path to 0 covid and it may never happen.
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People learn things. If you go back and read what was being published about covid in early 2020, it's amazing how much we've learned. I think it's wrong to blame the Trump Administration for what has turned out to be misinformation about masks. I keep referring to it because it's terribly informative but former FDA Director Scott Gottlieb's book makes it clear the CDC was the source of much of the misinformation, then and now, and the Trump Administration, like the Biden Administration, was parroting mainly what they were being told by these supposed "experts".
But we have since learned:
1. SARS-CoV-2 is spread mostly by aerosol and/or exhaled droplet transmission. Surfaces are NOT a major factor, unlike with flu.
2. Cloth masks significantly prevent exhalation of droplets. Less so for aerosols but still possibly some benefit. Multiple layer cloth masks work significantly better than single layer ones (like the bandanas the "cool people" seem to love), especially for aerosols.
3. While multiple layer cloth masks may work nearly as well as N95s to prevent exhalation of transmissible particles, thus preventing others from being infected, N95s work best for self-protection. Therefore, if the goal were simply minimizing the virus in the air, multiple layer cloth masks like most people wear these days would be adequate but if you want to protect yourself maximally, wear an N95 or (my preference) a KN95 (I find popping them on and off as I do easiest with the ear loops rather than around-the head straps of the N95).
4. The "cut-off" has been defined in CA as being in the CDC's "moderate" transmission category which means from 10 to 50 new cases per 100,000 people in the last seven days. The state lifts mask mandates at that level or below. Other states differ but basing mandates on the level of viral transmission makes sense to me. People wishing to protect themselves can continue to wear an N95/KN95 when and where they choose (and I'll repeat that personally I find popping a KN95 on my face when entering a store and taking it off when leaving almost no burden at all so at least for now I intend to keep doing it).
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