all 58 comments

[–]monkeymagic 15 insightful - 1 fun15 insightful - 0 fun16 insightful - 1 fun -  (5 children)

you’re entitled to be a short sighted idiot unfortunately, but if you cannot see the inherent danger in precedents such as mask mandates and whatnot, you are really fucking stupid. sorry.

[–]CreditKnifeMan 6 insightful - 2 fun6 insightful - 1 fun7 insightful - 2 fun -  (0 children)

"Richards" comments in other posts are written like a Redditor, but with a couple of racist statements tossed in to appear "right wing", or whatever.
Trying to fit in, or whatever.
Emphasis on the whatever.

It's probably a bot. They could be working on the local "right wing" bridge the gap bot formula.
Or maybe this is a budget friendly model.

There's a couple of bots that post here regularly, and they aren't particularly popular.

It might be interesting to know which accounts upvoted this cartoonish submission.

I never truly understood the anti-mask sentiment and I think I never will

Said the mask-loving bot, with racial views.
Yeah, we know.

[–][deleted]  (2 children)

[deleted]

    [–][deleted] 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

    If you buy a hat like this, you will look like less of an idiot. I have that exact hat and it's a lot less stuffy than a mask.

    [–]IndianaJones 3 insightful - 2 fun3 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 2 fun -  (0 children)

    Damn! That hat looks so gangster!

    [–]Insider 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

    Out of all the fucked up shit the government is doing, ppl draw the line at wearing masks. smfh

    Mask mandates is like the 100,000th thing you should be worried about. Not to mention, masks interfere with your overlords tracking you through camera surveillance.

    [–]NuclearBadger 11 insightful - 1 fun11 insightful - 0 fun12 insightful - 1 fun -  (8 children)

    Eh?

    Masks don't stop the spread of anything. End of story.

    I use masks to stop concrete dust at work:

    If you want to use masks properly, you have to have a face fit test, and you also can't have any hair on your face. If you touch a mask, or remove it with bare hands, you need a sterile mask to replace it. (for diseases) You need to keep any mucus membrane covered, that means your eyes, btw.

    You will also notice the only people getting sick are either vaxxed or wearing masks.

    If you think you can take a mask down to eat/drink and a virus will wait until you're done then you're an absolute retard.

    [–]Alienhunter 9 insightful - 3 fun9 insightful - 2 fun10 insightful - 3 fun -  (0 children)

    Are you saying the virus doesn't have good manners not to infect you while eating! Why that flies in the face of everything we know about virology. Follow the science!

    [–]alladd 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (4 children)

    You will also notice the only people getting sick are either vaxxed or wearing masks.

    lol i've been in construction since 2021 and the only people consistently getting it over and over are neither

    [–]NuclearBadger 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (3 children)

    I don't believe you.

    Everyone at my work that got jabs has been off for months at a time, seriously ill.

    [–]alladd 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

    yeah that has happened approximately never to anyone i've known who has gotten vaccinated and everyone who has refused has continued to get it over and over again

    [–]NuclearBadger 2 insightful - 2 fun2 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 2 fun -  (1 child)

    I'm calling you a liar and/or a shill.

    [–]alladd 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

    you're wrong lol

    [–]RichardsonDavis[S] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

    You're in construction I assume? Yeah masks are great when I am cleaning at home too.

    [–]NuclearBadger 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

    unless you're making chlorine gas, you're wasting your time. Shouldn't the missus be cleaning to give you time to diy/build?

    [–]noice 9 insightful - 1 fun9 insightful - 0 fun10 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

    Post the study that you have found with the most compelling empirical evidence for the effectiveness of masks against COVID-19

    [–]DrStrangelove 7 insightful - 2 fun7 insightful - 1 fun8 insightful - 2 fun -  (1 child)

    Masks have nothing to do with public health, their purpose is entirely psychological. For those who understand this, being forced to wear one is a humiliation ritual.

    For the true believers it's a placebo and security blanket. For the un-critical, indifferent majority it's a mild anoyance but "when in Rome..." For the insecure & self-conscious, it's a way to hide in public. For petty tyrants and insufffurable moral busyboddies, it's the perfect opportunuty to exert illigitimate authority, self rightous condemnation, and discriminatory segregation upon thier fellow man.

    Masks are a wearable flag, a pledge of allegiance to the narrative, an in-group/out-group signifier, and a holy religious garment. They are a means of de-personalization, a symbol of submission, a subtle, subconscious AND literally in-your-face visual cue to remain afraid, and most of all a marketting gimmick for a diablical global genetic engineering experiment.

    [–]RichardsonDavis[S] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

    I belong to the uncritical indifferent majority. Am I on the wrong side of history? I must find a way to be in the right side. Acceptance really is all that matters to me. Acceptance by what I perceive is the right side and that side is the anti-maskers.

    [–]Inspector_Monkfish 6 insightful - 1 fun6 insightful - 0 fun7 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

    For me it’s almost entirely a question of efficacy. However the social costs shouldn’t be dismissed.

    There is so much propaganda flying around these days on both sides of any point that it actually takes effort to work out where to plant your flag. And most of us don’t have the time, even if we had the inclination. And so we drown in a sea of bull shit.

    Check this article about face masks from 2015. Likely to be more impartial than anything more recent.

    https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4480558/

    On a more abstract level, I find that I just don’t trust our decision makers these days. There seem to be very few out there today that will draw their own conclusions rather than be safe and tow the party line (that generally seems to be based on what is most safe to say or most popular, facts be damned).

    Oh and the word expert has been so devalued by the media that it should be redefined as “here is an opinion from someone else who agrees with me”

    Look up the “Replication crisis” in science to get a sense of the calibre of our experts. Wiki link: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Replication_crisis

    [–]Feldheld 5 insightful - 1 fun5 insightful - 0 fun6 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

    A government who mandates some shit needs to provide compelling evidence that there is clear benefit and the benefits clearly outweigh the costs. And even if the benefits outweigh the costs but the costs can be massive for some individuals a mandate should not be possible.

    Masks provide basically NO benefit.

    The costs however are massive. Especially for the children who are tossed around by spoiled entitled and selfish assholes like you as if they were farm animals. The masks obstruct the breathing leading to low O2 and high CO2 concentrations in the blood. This is one of the reasons for the dramatic increase in cancer cases besides the vaccination poisoning. Of course masks have a lot of other detrimental side effects. People need to see each others faces. Micro plastics collect in the lungs. Germs find great thriving conditions in the damp and warm masks. Etc etc

    [–]RichardsonDavis[S] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

    Woah, why me? I'm just not getting the anti-mask sentiment and yeah, I do believe mandates were not all bad but Jesus Christ.

    [–][deleted] 4 insightful - 3 fun4 insightful - 2 fun5 insightful - 3 fun -  (0 children)

    Warriors do not fear death. The weak and fearful better move out of the way for the warriors are coming through. Go hide in a cave or monastery and hide from life realities of thou art that damn fearful you whining wimpy weenie.

    [–]jet199 4 insightful - 2 fun4 insightful - 1 fun5 insightful - 2 fun -  (1 child)

    To my knowledge, that sentiment stems from distrust of authority and an abhorrence to coercion. I don't think coercion is the right term here.

    The fact that WHO originally said masks were a waste of time and only changed their view after political pressure passed you by then. Every piece of research coming out know is showing masks do nothing to prevent covid spreading, much the same as the research before the pandemic did. The virus is small enough to pass straight through most masks.

    If you're not vaxxed or wearing a mask then you're not allowed in those places is reasonable in my eyes.

    The fact that the vaccine doesn't stop you from catching the virus and passing it on also passed you by it seems.

    Masks might stop you spreading droplets face to face (most infections are from airborne transmission not droplets anyway) but increase your breath going out to the sides. This means in places where people sit side by side like the theatre, most offices or public transport they are much worse than not wearing a mask.

    Maybe I will never truly understand it and maybe I should accept that. I just don't like not understanding. It makes me feel unprepared.

    Maybe try to understand by looking at the facts rather than holding onto something useless because it makes you feel safe.

    [–]RichardsonDavis[S] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

    Not really a pro mask person. Just really curious to be on the right side of history. Helps me disregard anything else.

    If being anti mask is correct, then embodying that ideal by any means is just for me.

    I already had an idea that masks nor the vaccines were useless. I have my own sentiments but what I'd like is to truly understand the sentiment of distrust. If masks weren't mandated, I wouldn't wear them but they are where I'm from.

    [–]Alienhunter 4 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 0 fun5 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

    I think generally the mask thing is just policy makers desperate to do something, anything that seems to be helping so they don't look woefully incompetent and powerless. Do they have any affect? Well I guess if you are in a crowded bus or something they might stop people from spraying you with their snot when they sneeze a bit better, but then again so will a good tissue or handkerchief, will they keep you from getting sick? Eh doubtful.

    I think Americans have by and large been unable to choose their battles around this sort of thing, I hate wearing a mask but I'm not going to waste time and effort fighting everyone over it. If a shop wants me to wear one I'll wear one in the shop. If the FAA requires me to wear one on the plane I'll do it without a fight but that doesn't mean I think it's a good idea but if wearing masks is the kind of security theater we need to keep random dumbasses from freaking out and shutting down flights entirely, it's the lesser of two evils.

    I think the very strong anti-mask sentiment you see in viral videos is a very uniquely American response to authority. You saw something similar when the TSA brought in the backscatter X-ray scanners and patdowns and people started stripping to protest. Americans really really don't like being told what to do and will fight you for it. They just aren't so good at picking and choosing which battles are worth fighting.

    Like most things in American society now though it quickly became very politicized. Rather than simply ignoring the guy that is not wearing a mask, American feel the need to virtue signal and "confront evil when they see it" which of course just makes more people annoyed by it and less likely to wear the mask and it becomes an identity and a movement. The opposite also reigns true, if like now most people don't wear the mask, you'll get people confronting the odd person who does. It used to happen to Asians sometimes pre-covid visiting the west and getting confronted about it. I don't think it was America but in the UK some old lady called the cops on a bunch of students from China for terrorism when they were just wearing masks in the store. Wouldn't be surprised at all if similar things happened in the states.

    Asia is an interesting case with this as the masks have been highly normalized for a while. There were some anti-mask type protests I saw footage from in Tokyo but unlike America nobody seemed to want their tick tock moment and just ignored them so they didn't get much traction. In that same vein though Asians believe the masks work but they are so culturally normalized now nobody uses them in a manner that would even approach effectiveness. I think their main benefit is that you can get away without doing your makeup and nobody will notice, which pre-covid was why most people wearing them were women.

    [–]NuclearBadger 8 insightful - 1 fun8 insightful - 0 fun9 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

    The masks are there as a visual reminder to be scared. That's it.

    If nobody wore a mask over the last 2 years I would not have been able to tell there was a problem, considering the population of the uk went up in both years, and the death rate was no different than flu in previous years.

    [–]JasonCarswell 3 insightful - 2 fun3 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 2 fun -  (2 children)

    Why would you even trust "authority" in the first place?

    [–]RichardsonDavis[S] 2 insightful - 2 fun2 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 2 fun -  (1 child)

    Asian. Simple as.

    [–]JasonCarswell 1 insightful - 2 fun1 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 2 fun -  (0 children)

    You mean you are Asian and/or Asian cultures are dominated by compliance and obedience (beaten into you from birth)?

    Or do you think Asian "authority" is worth trusting?

    Or...?

    [–]at_finn 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

    Why do you care? You are free to wear 5 masks and get 10 booster vaxxes. The idea of forcing other people to, reveals a true authoritarian/fascist streak. Mask were forced to make everyone compliant, which goes against everything the U.S.A. stand for.

    [–]SMCAB 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

    For me it's about exerting control to the physical level. That's all.

    It's all about context and how you see the world. It's no secret that globalism/communism/whateverthefuck has been trying to subvert our republic and other democracies for decades. They literally tell you to your face.

    I never wore a mask, I'm not jabbed, and I've never had Covid, and if I did I certainly didn't know about it.

    It's a numbers game, when you remove the pay to play system, and the false deaths, and the reclassification of deaths during Covid, it is my contention that the same amount of people that died in 2018 from upper respitory infection due to the common cold, flu, and pneumonia is the same.

    It's all in your face now, it's no longer a conspiracy.

    Plus, at the end of the day you can wear a space helmet everywhere you go, nobody really cares.

    [–][deleted] 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

    Here's some reasoning for you:

    Studies show that masks are ineffective at preventing the transmission of Covid. This is because the virus can be transmitted by aerosol, and those masks cannot filter viral particles from aerosol (they can filter bacteria which are much larger, which is why surgeons use them, or even water droplets containing the virus, but not aerosol).

    Also, even if the masks WERE effective, then YOU would be protected if YOU chose to wear one. This negates any argument about a public health need to force ME to wear a mask.

    It is purely unjustifiable from a public health standpoint, so any attempt to force me to comply for no reason other than to make a public show of compliance is purely an act of tyranny

    I view any attempt to make me wear a mask despite the evidence of it's ineffectiveness to be a personal attack on my bodily autonomy and liberty. I take it very very seriously, and will not shop anywhere that requires me to wear one.

    Masks don't make you safer, but they make people FEEL safer, which may end up increasing your potential exposure to the virus as the feeling of safety leads to riskier behavior

    [–]RichardsonDavis[S] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

    I view any attempt to make me wear a mask despite the evidence of it's ineffectiveness to be a personal attack on my bodily autonomy and liberty. I take it very very seriously, and will not shop anywhere that requires me to wear one.

    This basically is what I find difficult to fully realize. Like I get the concept but it's not a concept I'm willing to die for.

    I've been wearing them masks before the mandates even began. By then, I got used to it but it gets very stuffy.

    I don't mind the mandates, not at all. Stems from being in an Asian society. I take it, you'd be the odd one out in a Japanese societal setting.

    I agree with the riskier behavior part. It will embolden some to go out and probably would be the cause of more infections. Explains why in my country, the COVID thing is still low.

    [–][deleted] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

    This basically is what I find difficult to fully realize. Like I get the concept but it's not a concept I'm willing to die for.

    Admittedly its more about the principle than the mask for me.

    I don't mind the mandates, not at all. Stems from being in an Asian society. I take it, you'd be the odd one out in a Japanese societal setting.

    Japan also said not to shame people or discriminate against people that didn't get vaccinated (unlike our gov), they sent back the Moderna vaccines when they were shown to have questionable safety (unlike our gov), allowed the therapeutic use of ivermectin unlike the US, and has almost nobody with a booster shot unlike the US which continued to push them. I'd be far more inclined to follow the suggestions of the Japanese government than my own

    You might be surprised that I took 4 years of Japanese in High School, have been to Japan, and have a great deal of respect for their culture. If I lived there, I think I'd feel differently about the masks. You have a different social contract and expectations concerning autonomy, individualism and your obligations to the group. Maybe Japan expects me to conform to the norm rather than be an individual, but look at the lack of homeless people compared to the US, the level of expected obligation to your neighbors higher, and people are taken care of better. There is much more of a sense of 'we' than 'I' in many asian cultures compared to the US. Thats clearly not the arrangement we have here.

    [–][deleted] 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

    They fog up my glasses and I have had problems breathing in them.

    [–]RichardsonDavis[S] 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

    Same. Extremely same. Even in air conditioned places. Shit is wack. Thankfully, my workplace lets me remove them when we're on our own.

    No one really wears the mask seriously anymore where I am. They wear it and treat it like a necklace now or something.

    [–][deleted] 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

    It is a test, I suppose. How far they can take their ruling grip into people's heads and everday-behavior.

    WEF and their fucked up mishpoke want to test how far they can take their control of inter-human contact, probably. Because the virus itself was never a "problem" to begin with.

    And of course, it is a -more or less- constructed pseudo-reason(ing) to get their hands on people's geo- and health-data. To better exploit them either as data-mines (training their algorithms' for categorization of people) or as "workers".

    Maybe they even plan to undermine insurgencies with these mass-surveillance-tactics before they can reach critical mass. So that these less possibly could endanger their fierce, controlling grip on our "western"-inspired societies.

    Which is just another label-fraud for defining abundant consumerism 24/7 as the "hipsterest" pseudo-religion.

    Last but not least: All this "woke" shit going on with some sheeple groups is them believing the illusion that "security" is more important than free-speech.

    They want to "rule" us all by dividing us.

    "Divide et impera".

    Woke shitheads even divide themselves voluntarily, if they feel "offended" or for other bs "reasons". They cancel each other, achieving nothing but their own isolation in their chosen echo-chambers. To nicely play their "Kumbaya"-simulation in.

    [–]RichardsonDavis[S] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

    This has been a mish mash of buzzwords. Like, I understand it but damn.

    [–]StillLessons 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (3 children)

    Ask yourself this:

    If masks work, why stop at coronavirus?

    These are not a barrier against this virus. They are a barrier against everything that is outside your lungs getting into your lungs. Think of it! Miracle! No more viral diseases! Bacteria are larger. We're sure as hell done with bacterial disease!

    The people promoting mask use seemingly have no concept of the thousands of viruses and bacteria with which we come in contact every day. This has been true as long as life itself. It's what having an immune system means. Our body is miraculously skilled at figuring out good bugs from bad. It comes in contact with both all the time. Literally all the time. A physical barrier between "us" and "the outside biome" is an absurdity.

    Either we live in harmony with our environment or we don't live.

    That's personally what pisses me off. People subconsciously are working with this model that a mask "stops covid", like it can tell "covid" from "non-covid". This is pure human ignorance. The purest.

    [–]Insider 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

    If masks work, why stop at coronavirus?

    Because the r0 of other viruses/bacteria aren't as high. The incubation time and asymptomatic symptoms also play a large factor in COVID-19's spread.

    Well-organized Asian countries with compliant populations saw a dip in other respiratory infections during their COVID-19 protocols.

    People subconsciously are working with this model that a mask "stops covid", like it can tell "covid" from "non-covid".

    That's not the point. Point is reduction in transmission rate. Masks won't stop COVID-19 from spreading through aerosols and improper use renders it useless. Normal masks prevent your water droplets from spreading to others. That's it. They don't need to tell apart COVID from non-COVID, that's not their function. If a dude with COVID is spraying it, a mask would help prevent his water droplets from going all over the place. End of story.

    [–]StillLessons 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

    I understand the mechanisms you're talking about, and I will not argue that masks don't prevent some droplet-associated virus from traveling in the environment. For the first few months of mask use, in fact, although I already was uncomfortable with the concept, I gave the mask promoters the benefit of the doubt. I thought, "well, this is a new virus, maybe there's something in the way this particular virus travels and behaves that is conducive to mask effectiveness." I kept my mouth shut. Then, watching the data from the parts of the world where masks were the religion and other parts of the world where they took a more hands-off approach, it became clear that masks in the "laboratory of real life" make ZERO difference in disease transmission, which is their only function. If the disease is still spreading and infecting people identically in a statistical sense in masked and non-masked areas, that's all masks can do. The whole argument of "Well, people get less sick" was horseshit from the beginning. It was clear as soon as the comparisons started coming online that masks make fuck all difference.

    But my point is beyond that. It's how people perceive them. My point is about Scientism the religion. The people wearing masks have this religious faith in the process that "masks stop covid". There is a rational block on the actual mechanism of what masks are doing. It's such a fucking simple story: masks filter out all particles above a certain size. That brute "hammer" approach is thoroughly inelegant. Masks are not about covid. They are about all particles above a certain size. Forget the fact that the aerosols themselves are significantly smaller than that size (I know, I know, water droplets carrying, blah, blah, blah), most people can't seem to absorb that such a brute force approach is a radically simplistic approach to a hyper complex interaction between the human body and the biome with which we have been in contact for thousands of years.

    The human body WILL be in contact with a practical infinity of viral and bacterial populations. It's what it means to have a biological existence. This idea that we can "stop" that process must be discarded before we can have a serious discussion on how to help the body in its natural ability to maintain its balance within the biological matrix in which we live. Funny how there has been zero messaging about immune system health outside of forcing the immune system with a shock exposure to a toxic protein. There are a lot of strategies to gently aid the immune system in its natural tension with pathogenic bacteria and viruses that surround us. Instead, all we got was the mRNA shots which rather than strengthening the general immune response appear to damage it long term.

    We ARE inherently engaged in a dance with that natural world around us. We need to stop this mentality of we can "keep it out". It represents super simplistic spitting in the wind.

    [–]RichardsonDavis[S] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

    Sounds like something I'd find at a Tumblr screenshot post on Pinterest. The kind where it's a thread discussing what masks are and why they're useless. I have not seen one, unfortunately. Maybe it's there but not very around.

    As far as human ignorance is concerned, I'm not sure how to address that.

    [–]JoeyJoeJoe 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

    When your job is threatened over jab status, that is coercion. Also this "vaccine" doesn't meet the criteria for the (pre 2019) definition of the word.

    I can understand that some people don't have the time or inclination to apply critical thinking to authoritarian mandates, and blindly trust whatever "official" advice is parroted in the MSM.

    Those kinds of people made very obedient nazis.

    [–]RichardsonDavis[S] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

    Seems like the, "If you don't fight back now, you'll never fight back" way of thinking.

    [–]SoCo 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (9 children)

    It baffles me as well. Of course they work and have been proven to by many studies over decades. Using them properly is very difficult though, but any cheap and drop dead simple solution like that shouldn't be ignored, especially out of lack of totality. They really were the least bad way to handle Covid possible.

    I was banned from Reddit's Illinois Coronavirus sub for such endorsement of masks. Their moderators went full on nutjob and started calling supporting of masks anti-vaccine and banned me for it. (related) They were really just another hyper-partisan political sub when it came down to it, like the rest of Reddit.

    [–]noice 1 insightful - 2 fun1 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 2 fun -  (8 children)

    Post the studies that you find most compelling

    [–]SoCo 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (3 children)

    I read hundreds of studies a month; I don't keep the links or a list. All the compelling, newer, studies about that came out like 2 years ago.

    [–]noice 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

    I'm sure if you searched again you could find the studies that you recognized as compelling, and then post the links to this thread.

    [–]SoCo 3 insightful - 3 fun3 insightful - 2 fun4 insightful - 3 fun -  (1 child)

    And relive the terrible trauma I got from Reddit, no thanks.

    [–]noice 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

    OK well if you ever feel up to it, just ping me with those studies, would be glad to dig in

    [–]Insider 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (3 children)

    Here's a review of numerous types of studies up to the end of 2020, including pre-pandemic studies:

    https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2014564118

    Improper usage and non-compliance can affect the usefulness of masks. So naturally, it would be pretty much useless among a population of idiots like in this thread. Proper usage includes hand hygiene since a lot of ppl tend to touch their face and masks. Without this combination, it may decrease its usefulness.

    Numerous epidemiological, ecological and observational studies have found mask usage to be effective. One telling study in that review were COVID-19 cases clustering in recreational "mask-off" settings compared to "mask-on" settings.

    There's a lack of evidence in terms of a direct RCT that doesn't involve other preventative methods (social distancing, hand hygiene), but RCT's have shown that the combination of masks + other mandates are effective.

    Studies on measuring infectious particles with/without a mask also shows it's highly effective in reducing spread, it's just not 100%.

    [–]noice 2 insightful - 2 fun2 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 2 fun -  (2 children)

    Thanks for posting that. Seems like a pretty well thought out review. At the same time, I know how the sausage is made in academia, so critical thinking and a discerning eye are crucial to ingesting these things.

    An aside, calling people in this thread idiots for having different opinions is unnecessary. If anything, we are all idiots including yourself and myself, because we are humans that are invariably flawed.

    If COVID19 does not spread by fomites (which we now know it does not), then touching of face & mask, or improper hand hygiene should have very minimal effect. You've probably noticed that most of the review's evidence purporting a positive effect combines mask wearing with hand hygiene in an influenza context. In contrast to COVID, influenza does actually spread by fomites. So this information doesn't help much with the thing we want to know: do masks themselves have a positive effect at reducing spread of COVID. We seem to have both picked out the study that looked at comparing spread during "mask on" vs "mask off" times as a potentially critical study for answering this question. I will look into this tomorrow with a critical eye to make a determination on that piece of evidence. Are there others that you find compelling? I may investigate those as well.

    I did look into the McIntyre review toward the start of the pandemic (this review echoes their statements & recommendations), and found the evidence behind their conclusions to be laughably flimsy. This review appears to be more intellectually honest, but I am left still looking for evidence that is compelling.

    [–]Insider 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

    An aside, calling people in this thread idiots for having different opinions is unnecessary. If anything, we are all idiots including yourself and myself, because we are humans that are invariably flawed.

    True, we're all idiots, some more idiotic than others, like the racists in this site constantly harping on blacks and Jews. Some here could be government agents purposefully spreading idiocy. You seem like you actually read and logically dissect content, which is different from most users.

    If COVID19 does not spread by fomites (which we now know it does not)

    From what I've read, it's possible for COVID to spread through fomites, just less likely and not the main way it spreads.

    The CDC have a lot of links: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/more/science-and-research/surface-transmission.html

    https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-00251-4

    We also have to consider whether the risk of influenza transmission through surface or hand-fomites is large as well. This study seems to indicate that the direct route is more significant for influenza transmission than the hand-fomite route:

    https://bmcinfectdis.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12879-018-3425-x

    Are there others that you find compelling? I may investigate those as well.

    I skimmed through the research pretty quickly. Some studies were based on influenza, some on COVID.

    Imo, there are a few main points that need to be determined atm, which is whether mask-wearing lowers the risk of spread through water droplets (which it likely does). Then you need to determine whether this even matters based on transmission rate through aerosols. If aerosol transmission is too high and masks don't help at all in this department, then masks may be useless.

    There are a ton of relevant studies on this, but there are too many factors that play in. Different levels of ventilation, social proximity, participant compliance, proper mask wearing, type/material of mask used, fit of the mask, etc.

    This simulation is pretty interesting as well, it shows that all masks are somewhat effective, even in preventing transmission of aerosols, but none of the masks were 100% fullproof:

    https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33087517/

    full article: https://sci-hub.st/downloads/2020-10-22/c4/10.1128@mSphere.00637-20.pdf

    [–]proc0 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

    It's simple, I like to breathe easily. The risks don't outweigh the benefit of higher oxygen intake.

    [–][deleted] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

    Lord "the science" Fauci decreed that masks are useless but a sinister Halloween costume wearing syndicate replaced him with a clone that said the opposite. It was either that or the Democrats would not have enough funds to swap the orange man for the senile man.

    [–]alladd 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

    i think if you seriously are bothered by being asked to wear a mask for other people's safety then you must have no other pressing concerns in your life. i mean really, you must be incredibly comfortable because it's such a minor inconvenience, so if it bothers you then you must not have anything else to stress out about.

    [–]RichardsonDavis[S] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

    My ears kinda hurt and it gets stuffy. Aside from that, masks don't do much. Pro or anti.

    [–]PopsicleToes 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

    Sounds reasonable to me. Those who bleat about "coercion" are studiously ignoring that this virus is transmitted through the air. Medically, it's that simple.

    [–]RichardsonDavis[S] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

    The virus is said to be microscopic that the masks don't work. It's not small enough to contain the virus.