All the Science the CDC Director Does Not Understand

[J!!]

They're really quite inconvenient though for daily affairs.

No, no they really aren't. As a minimum-wage 'essential' (read: expendable) worker, I've spent around 40 hours a week in a KN95 for the past 18ish months. So I can say definitively that anyone who claims to find them so horribly unbearable, is just being a massive fucking pussy. And believe me, I've met plenty of such people in that time.

[hammerofglass]

It was specifically that she gave the numbers for "everyone wearing the best masks under ideal conditions" but phrased it in a way that implied they were stull true for "only you are wearing a mask and it can be any mask" the author had a problem with. Because it could be twisted into an anti-vaxx thing by making masks alone sound too good.

Like I said I agree with it, although I acknowledge it's pedantic as all hell.

[Nealithi]

They're really quite inconvenient though for daily affairs.

No, no they really aren't. As a minimum-wage 'essential' (read: expendable) worker, I've spent around 40 hours a week in a KN95 for the past 18ish months. So I can say definitively that anyone who claims to find them so horribly unbearable, is just being a massive fucking pussy. And believe me, I've met plenty of such people in that time.

Pretty sure I dislike this argument as you are saying all people should be the same and have the exact same thresholds for everything. Followed by an insult that says anyone that does not live up to that standard is a woman.

But just so you know where I stand on this. I despise these masks. They barely cut things back to manageable levels. (I have hay fever. So cut grass puts me in sneezing fits. My mother has asthma so bad perfume chokes her. And we can clearly smell both through the masks.) But they do restrict breathing to the point that I go to the Home Depot for something I need to gasp in my car for a minute after I take off the mask so I can drive. And all that is beside the point that no one including me can fit the bloody things to not fog my glasses. Thank God I do not have to wear the thing while driving.
But if I am to be around people I wear the mask as required. You don't have to like it, you just have to do it.

[BridgeConsoleMasher]

They're really quite inconvenient though for daily affairs.

No, no they really aren't. As a minimum-wage 'essential' (read: expendable) worker, I've spent around 40 hours a week in a KN95 for the past 18ish months. So I can say definitively that anyone who claims to find them so horribly unbearable, is just being a massive fucking pussy. And believe me, I've met plenty of such people in that time.

Neat. This has nothing to do with comparing them to vaccines. Leave me alone.

[Mickey_Rat15]

I'm really at a loss here. The efficacy of masks is generally well known by means of common knowledge. They're really quite inconvenient though for daily affairs. Vaccines on the other hand are really rather effective to the tune of 90's %'ile. Contracting the virus might be something closer to 80-, but hospitalization is drastically reduced as well for that matter.

So they are matters of complementary provision. It's not really an exam performance for competitive standards on what to choose. Measuring the difference between mask and vaccine efficacy is pointless as far as I can tell.

From the article:

"If wearing a mask reduced your risk of infection by "more than 80 percent," as Walensky seems to be saying, that safeguard would be amazingly effective. Such a risk reduction would be higher than the effectiveness rates found in several real-world studies of mRNA vaccines. In six studies conducted when the delta variant was dominant, vaccination was associated with infection reductions ranging from 54 percent to 85 percent. The effectiveness rate was 80 percent or less in five of those studies, although the reductions in symptomatic cases, severe disease, and hospitalization were bigger (an important point to keep in mind when assessing the benefits of vaccination)."

[BridgeConsoleMasher]

I'm really at a loss here. The efficacy of masks is generally well known by means of common knowledge. They're really quite inconvenient though for daily affairs. Vaccines on the other hand are really rather effective to the tune of 90's %'ile. Contracting the virus might be something closer to 80-, but hospitalization is drastically reduced as well for that matter.

So they are matters of complementary provision. It's not really an exam performance for competitive standards on what to choose. Measuring the difference between mask and vaccine efficacy is pointless as far as I can tell.

From the article:

"If wearing a mask reduced your risk of infection by "more than 80 percent," as Walensky seems to be saying, that safeguard would be amazingly effective. Such a risk reduction would be higher than the effectiveness rates found in several real-world studies of mRNA vaccines. In six studies conducted when the delta variant was dominant, vaccination was associated with infection reductions ranging from 54 percent to 85 percent. The effectiveness rate was 80 percent or less in five of those studies, although the reductions in symptomatic cases, severe disease, and hospitalization were bigger (an important point to keep in mind when assessing the benefits of vaccination)."

The director [of any given department] isn’t always the most accurately representative person on detailed study results. It’s not a formal report or a detailed analytical report, it’s a standard address.

It comes down to misspeaking at a round table.

[BridgeConsoleMasher]

Mickey_Rat, the effectiveness of masks in society isn't precisely determinable. There are too many unaccountable factors to consider in society to get a precise reading except for general studies of areas with particular mask mandates, or from controlled studies that give us information we already know: namely that masks stop a lot of particles, ranging from most to all, depending on the quality of the mask. Touching it though for instance compromises health factor if it spreads from your fingers to elsewhere. This isn't really something you need a study to determine, nor can you really find out how many people are incompetently handling their mask in society. That being said, it's not a factor in determining that masks are effective, or even really how effective at the end of the day.

[Fuzzy Necromancer]

They're really quite inconvenient though for daily affairs.

No, no they really aren't. As a minimum-wage 'essential' (read: expendable) worker, I've spent around 40 hours a week in a KN95 for the past 18ish months. So I can say definitively that anyone who claims to find them so horribly unbearable, is just being a massive fucking pussy. And believe me, I've met plenty of such people in that time.

Pretty sure I dislike this argument as you are saying all people should be the same and have the exact same thresholds for everything. Followed by an insult that says anyone that does not live up to that standard is a woman.

But just so you know where I stand on this. I despise these masks. They barely cut things back to manageable levels. (I have hay fever. So cut grass puts me in sneezing fits. My mother has asthma so bad perfume chokes her. And we can clearly smell both through the masks.) But they do restrict breathing to the point that I go to the Home Depot for something I need to gasp in my car for a minute after I take off the mask so I can drive. And all that is beside the point that no one including me can fit the bloody things to not fog my glasses. Thank God I do not have to wear the thing while driving.
But if I am to be around people I wear the mask as required. You don't have to like it, you just have to do it.

Have you tried those "3D" masks? They are supposed to be better re glasses fogging. Also I've heard that breathing through your nose helps with the restriction.

[clearspira]

Masks don't work properly because most people don't use them properly. The correct way to use a mask is to DISINFECT your hands prior to picking it up, use it ONCE, and then DISCARD it either in the bin in the case of those cheap blue masks or back in the laundry in the case of the fabric ones. The amount of people who keep a grubby mask in their pocket or touch a surface before picking up their mask seems to count in my eyes to ''almost everyone.''

Incidentally, one of the main reasons I am anti-mask is that there are an estimated TWO BILLION of the things now swimming around the ocean. They are an ecological disaster. Which amuses me given that this is the week of the worldwide climate summit and all.

[TGLS]

Incidentally, one of the main reasons I am anti-mask is that there are an estimated TWO BILLION of the things now swimming around the ocean. They are an ecological disaster. Which amuses me given that this is the week of the worldwide climate summit and all.

It's the difference between:
-> Being on space station and leaving litter everywhere
-> Being on a space station and the radiators being broken so it's slowly heating up

One is more problematic than the other.