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Why Masks? Because Powerless Citizens Rarely Emerge.
Why masks? I think the answer to that is fairly simple, and fairly obvious as well.
I have just finished — much to my dismay — reading the 20th and final (not including the unfinished 21st) book in Patrick O’Brian’s amazing Aubrey/Maturin “Master and Commander” series. In a recent book, Steven Maturin discusses an old sailor who he is treating. He knows exactly what the problem is, and he treats it as best he can. But he notes that the sailor is absolutely convinced that the problem stems from the consumption of meat and alcohol. Therefore, the sailor self-prescribes total abstinence from these two things. Maturin comments that sailors are stubborn, especially with respect to their own health, and that the abstinence does no great harm, so he goes on treating the sailor as he would, and he doesn’t argue with him about the diagnosis. Later in the book, the sailor dies, as Steven knew he would.
This is partly why everyone is wearing masks. People are stubborn when it comes to things that are unknown and over which we have no power. Irreligious people are especially stubborn in this respect, and we live in a particularly irreligious time and place.
At the beginning of this pandemic, our politicians acted. Of course, they acted. They couldn’t just stand there. They acted on the best information they had, which was terrible, and they acted in the only way they could, which was clumsy, overbroad, and devastating. The more we know, the more we are learning that it is quite possible that these actions, for all their costs, were certainly ill-advised (on balance), and even without their costs, may have been almost entirely ineffective for their stated purpose.
But a terrified public went along. They were told that death waits around every corner and that the only way to beat it is to hide in their homes. They hid in their homes, obsessively refreshing their Twitter and Facebook feeds, eyes glued to the television. And deaths piled up in spite of the fact that they were all obediently cowering in their homes.
There is no way out of that.
The truth would be to say that, well, we were wrong. That is a phrase that appears in no government handbook ever printed, and in no media guide ever consulted. We were wrong. As far as we can tell, the outcomes resulting from this virus were inevitable and unavoidable — we may have mitigated them somewhat (especially by keeping people out of hospitals), and, then again, we may also have simply traded one harm for another. We’ll never know the outcome of that impossible balance between “lives saved” as a result of our actions, and “lives lost” as a result of our actions.
But there is still no way out. My local hospital lied to the public when it said that we would be overrun with COVID-19 deaths by April 8, and would be turning people away to die in their homes or in the streets. This was a noble lie because a terrified citizenry is most likely to be complacent. It wasn’t just my hospital, it was nationwide. Instant death lurks around every corner. Anyone could have it and is likely contagious. Even you. You probably have it and you don’t even know that you have it. Not only is instant death lurking around every corner, but instant death emanates from your very being.
Turns out we were wrong. This is a virus, and it is worse than some other viruses that we are used to, and it is not as bad as some other pandemics that we have experienced. It is dangerous for some, and we really do now have a pretty decent grasp on who those people are. It is either widespread and not very deadly, or it is not very widespread and pretty deadly … or, it is becoming more and more widespread, and less and less deadly. But it cannot be all of these things. Death is not lurking around every corner, and it is extremely unlikely that you have it, and even less likely that you will give it to someone else. It is even less likely that you will get it when you pass by your neighbor on the street or in a store, or when you eat at a restaurant or play in a park or go to the beach or earn money at your job or barbeque with your friends or watch your kids play baseball. It is less dangerous for children than most dangers they face on a daily basis (even at home!) and there is virtually no evidence that it spreads from children to adults, or even from children to one another.
There is still much that we don’t know. But what we do know is that we were wrong. Our CDC guidelines were wrong and continue to be wrong. Our models were unbelievably wrong, and they are only getting worse. Our politicians were wrong. Our Twitter and Facebook feeds were wrong.
And that’s why we need masks. We are not willing to admit that we were wrong. We are not prepared to accept that we were powerless and that we continue to be powerless. We are not about to crawl out from under the house simply because somebody tells us that we were mistaken to crawl down there to begin with. We cannot just stand there, knowing how little we know – we must do something! We must exercise control, and if we don’t have control, we must exercise what little control we can muster, even if it is only control over our own behavior.
The rationale for that behavior is itself filled with contradictions. If the virus is so contagious that masks will help prevent its spread, then we are too late to start wearing masks, and if it truly is that contagious, then “running its course” is the best and only thing we should be doing. If it is not so contagious that masks will help prevent its spread, then we are wearing the masks just for fun. Same thing is true if asymptomatic aerosolized spread is not a meaningfully important mode of transmission, even if such a thing is scientifically possible in some circumstances.
Even the best case for masks seems to be a pretty silly one. There is a small percentage of people infected; there is a smaller percentage asymptomatic; there is a smaller percentage asymptomatic and contagious; and there is a possibility that the subgroup within that subgroup may possibly sneeze, which is about the only thing cloth masks are designed to mitigate, and even then, they mitigate only slightly, so that at the end of the day, what masks accomplish is the slight reduction of contagion that could possibly come from the small percentage of asymptomatic contagious within the small percentage of asymptomatic within the small percentage of infected. But to be absolutely safe, we need to make laws that cover everyone. No, it’s not just like using a chain-link fence to catch mosquitoes, it’s like using TNT to catch a minnow when the minnow really wasn’t your problem to begin with. But, we’re not really concerned with the minnow. We are concerned with human nature.
Masks are the placebo that allows us to feel like we are still in control of a situation where all of the evidence tells us that we have never been in control. If you are the CDC or a politician and saying “sorry, I was wrong” is simply out of the question, it is essential that you have a plan (for, as we know, all smart people have plans, so if you want to be smart, you must first have a plan). If there is one thing a patient most dreads — and which most patients simply will not accept — it is to walk away from the doctor empty-handed, without a plan. Virtually all doctors know and understand this. Doctors in the 18th century understood this very well, especially where sailors were concerned.
I have heard and read interviews with doctors … fear is debilitating. It is not all of these doctors who have stoked and built and endlessly perpetuated that fear. But they do understand that fear is debilitating, and they have not lost the wisdom of Steven Maturin.
Should I wear a mask?
Sure, why not. If it will make you feel better.
Published in General
This is BS. I’m not doing this. If the virus kills me, I’ll be dead. I’m headed that way anyway. We’re supposed to wear hazmat suits the rest of our lives?
That’s what I meant when I said it was a lie. Some people go ahead and call it a lie when the perpetrator is of such character that they won’t think of what they said as a commitment, at least to the extent of stepping forward later to admit that they were wrong and now give the straight story. Millions of Americans have foregone medical needs until today and some still. That’s already ten weeks. We don’t know what that means in numbers but it is probable significant.
My employer has made mask-wearing in the factory mandatory, whenever you are away from your individual desk that is six feet away from anyone else’s desk. Since everyone around me has either been laid off or works from home, my desk is alone in a sea of (former) cubicles. They are citing CDC guidelines as the reason. Since it’s pretty certain that the CDC guidelines have no endpoint, I expect that this mandate will continue for the foreseeable future. Our company has had exactly two employees contract the virus, and I believe both of them were laid off last month.
Does anyone expect the CDC to decide, at some point in the future, that it is no longer necessary to wear a mask or not get within six feet of any other non-family member? Will all Americans be OK with this mandate? Since businesses who wish to stay open, and cannot do that with only 50% of their former customers, may simply close, what does this do to the American economy going forward?
I do not intend to comply to the letter with the new mandate. I do expect to spend a lot more time at my desk. I already eat lunch at my desk, but if I bring leftovers that need to be heated, I have to walk across the entire building to get to the cafeteria. I guess I will not bring leftovers, and just make something that doesn’t require heating up. For some reason, retirement is looking better and better to me. But I said I’d stay until the end of August, and I still plan to.
I’m not sure the nursing home data is helpful to your case. First, a lot of people do have temporary stays in nursing homes, usually to undergo physical or occupational therapy.
Beside that point, the fact that the disease was particularly widespread in places like nursing homes, prisons, aircraft carriers, etc…suggests (not saying proves, just suggests) that the distancing, voluntary or mandatory, probably did slow the spread considerably, and probably saved a lot of lives. So far at least. Those places where distancing was especially difficult got hit the hardest. I don’t say this to argue for endless lockdowns, but I do think the cautious reopening is wise.
It doesn’t really matter that one is communicable and the other is not. Heart disease is just as preventable. And it isn’t self-limiting, like viruses are.
No
That is impossible to tell, because I do not favor masks, and I am staunchly opposed to mandates. But there may be other things I might wish to impose on others, and if so, I would bear the burden of proof.
The cost is much bigger than the mask itself. See all my other comments on the matter.
Wouldn’t Type II Diabetes be right up there?
If we were told a year ago that a pandemic was coming, and that political lines would be drawn over the issue of the strictness of government mandated or encouraged countermeasures, I don’t think any of us could have predicted which side of the issue conservatives and liberals would take. You can imagine either side making either argument, based on their ideological principles. Just a few months ago, Fauci and the liberals who run NY city were downplaying the threat. Tucker Carlson was practically a voice in the wilderness ringing the alarm bell. Now he openly mocks those who express common sense concern over public swimming pools filled with hundreds of people. But that reversal need not have happened, and if it hadn’t, I doubt many who man the ideological barricades on this issue would have considered the possibility that there was an alternate universe where they were on the other side. Watching Tucker recently, I’m just amazed at the level of disingenuousness he radiates, on this and other issues. It’s a shame, because I really like the way he thinks on a lot of issues. I just refuse the temptation to make this issue an ideological one. Whether you should wear a mask is just the wrong hill to die on.
Open up spectator sports to spectators.
One of my primary objections to masks is psychological. Kind of like my opposition to burkhas.
What would you say to a black man or a Muslim refugee who complained of masks as oppression? If it’s evenly applied, it’s not oppression? My psychological revulsion of masks is a visceral one, and it has little to do with physical comfort.
Reentering your teen years? Rebellion for the sake of rebellion is not thinking…
Of course it matters. The proof that it matters is the reaction you have seen worldwide. With a communicable disease, it is much more difficult to control your own risk and to control the risk you pose to others. This is especially true with a disease that can be spread by people who have no idea they have it.
I don’t believe that temporary stays are in any way common.
Also- that’s certainly a theory. But unless you believe that we should continue these measures indefinitely – and that they worked – you should replace “saved a lot of lives” with “delayed a lot of deaths.” Or worse,” caused a second wave. My hope is that these measures were ineffective, because the virus will run its course in spite of what we do.
You demonstrated none of that- masks need not be used perfectly to be effective that is opinion masquerading as fact. No such study had been done. Additionally, wearing a mask isn’t a highly technical achievement-if it exceeds ones intellectual capacity you have much bigger concerns than pandemics. Some have worried that masks will give a false sense of security but that is OPINION, not fact. A poorly worn mask will not be worse than no mask UNLESS you feel empowered to do foolish things while wearing it. A mask won’t fix stupid. Touching your mask isn’t riskier than touching your face when you aren’t wearing a mask(anyone claiming otherwise is a fraud- medical personnel are taught a sequence to taking off exposed PPE-“donning and doffing”-but it isn’t riskier to wrongly remove PPE than be exposed w/o it). Masks slow transmission of respiratory viruses, are cheap, and are safe-and you can’t say that about any other piece of equipment we have. Masks cause less economic harm than social distancing or banning large gathering and are most likely additive to those precautions.
Except you can’t pass heart disease to other people
About two weeks ago, my little town went from “do you think we should wear masks?” to “masks recommended” to “mask shaming” in 72 hours. I am not exaggerating. I got called out on FB for not wearing one while taking my daily walk.
I have been to the grocery store exactly once since and as God is my witness I will not be returning. Between the masks (not being able to read expressions), the extreme grumpiness of the checkers, the stupid lines marking off six feet, the One Way arrows on all the aisles and the ridiculous shuffling forward in line, it was an all together miserable experience.
My mother was in a nursing home and 20% of the rooms were reserved for temporary stays. It was next door to a hospital, so possibly more popular than normal for that use.
Also, relating to another comment, I was told that the average long term stay was two years.
You are absolutely correct- a significant percentage of nursing homes stays are short- that is one of the reasons for cancelling elective surgery during the lockdown. Intelligent physicians saw the gruesome event in Washington state where the virus got into the nursing home early in the epidemic and caused many deaths-and no one wanted their postoperative patients being sent for a short nursing home stay (or rehab unit-often the same places) and contracting COVID and dying. Unfortunately, Gov Cuomo didn’t get the memo.
This is a great statement for what the casual masks being worn by nearly everyone in public places is trying to accomplish–that is, reducing, not eliminating the viral load. Eliminating it is accomplished with the really sophisticated masks, gowns, gloves, and shields that hospital staff member wear. The best we can hope for out here in the grocery store is simply a reduced viral load.
In other words, we are trying to avoid nursing-home-level contact by people wearing a casual mask whose purpose is as clear to me as asking people to cough into their sleeve or to simply cover their mouth with their hand when they cough or sneeze.
It can help reduce the spread of all upper-respiratory diseases for people to cough into their sleeve.
The cough with this particular virus is a very dry cough, and it sneaks up on people. They cough before they get a signal from their brain to tell them to quickly cover their mouth.
I’d rather we didn’t do the mandate thing and just run a public awareness program, the way we do with coughing into the elbow.
I suppose if this truly is the superbug that is not self-limiting like pretty much all other viruses, and if it will follow an exponential curve, killing more than 650,000 people each year in perpetuity, then it really does matter. But I thought we cared about life. Mandating dietary restrictions and exercise could save hundreds of thousands, and not just during the course of a pandemic, but every year! That is a huge number of human lives!
Valiuth linked to the study and I quoted it directly.
Yes, MiMac, I hope thousands more will die. Hundreds of thousands, if possible. You got me, there.
If you don’t think legally mandating that people cover their faces, or risk fines or imprisonment, is actually harmful, I think you need some lessons in history, and hopefully you won’t get those lessons in the present.
Think about the implications of what you just said. Evidence is shaky at best, but it’s not nearly as bad as these other horrible things… And the justifications given will never not be there.
You, my friend, are in no position to be accusing me of lacking perspective.
Yes-and the article SUPPORTS mask wearing and selectively quoting it doesn’t change its conclusions. Nowhere does it say everyone must wear a mask nor wear it correctly to be helpful- it states that it is PART of a program to reduce transmission- it doesn’t say that masks won’t work w/o hand hygiene- it states that hand hygiene is a cornerstone of infection control and it may be difficult to institute in the community. It never states that using a mask improperly is worse than no mask. The article does point out that the compliance rate was high and that offmasking activities were associated with an INCREASE in COVID inflection cluster- again supporting mask use. The authors point out that in a case controlled study mask wearing was associated with a 70% reduction in SARS transmission in 2003 (A closely related respiratory virus). They also point out that at the time, half the cases in So Korea came from an event where masks were NOT worn. So Korea, Taiwan, and Singapore have been among the most successful nations containing the virus- and all have high rates of public mask use. As I said- masks are the only weapon we currently have to fight the virus that has data supporting it, that is cheap, safe & won’t hurt our economy.
No, I mean hope. I hope that these measures did not work, because if they did, that will mean an inevitable “second wave,” which would justify even more of the awful damage we’ve already self-inflicted.
I hope that our stupidity came too late, and that the virus has already come very close to running its course.
And then I hope that conservatives will once again learn to pick up history books and stop with this foolish mindset that we can be protected from risk.
Safety is the promise of every dictator.
It is a muzzle.