Dear people of earth (right wingers and left wingers alike)....

I could see your logic if 1. It were just Dr Fauci who was advising wearing a mask and not teams of doctors from all around the world who are studying the virus, and 2. There was something significant you were putting at risk in trusting the doctors advice to wear a mask

However that is not the case, there really is nothing to lose in wearing a mask. Putting your trust in the medical experts who have studied the virus and wearing a mask is the logical thing to do when you consider the risk of wearing a mask vs not wearing a mask. If you wear a mask and the doctors are wrong, then you still don't have anything to lose in that situation. However, if you do not wear a mask, and it turns out the doctors are correct, you are putting everything at risk, not just for yourself but the people around you as well.

Besides that, we put our trust in doctors all the time, whether its an injury, or a serious illness, we go to the hospital and undergo treatment from medical experts. It's not an irrational thing to put your trust in medical experts on matters related to health

 

There is something to lose, the right to make that personal decision for yourself. All these little mandates, declarations rather than law, will be hard to get rid of and harder to deny the next time the government decides to ban an activity. If your DR tells you to eat less salt because of your BP not many people are 100% faithful to that order. This order has the authority of the media support that scares the hell out of people and people react predictably.

 

So you don't care if your restaurant server washes their hands? If the double-pinky swear that they aren't sick, there's no harm from them touching your food. Almost everyone survives food poisoning. I think it's a personal choice. The government should not be in the business of enforcing best practice protocols to keep people from getting sick.

 

So the government telling these workers to wash their hands insures that they are more diligent than they were before the order?

Does your curiosity not extend to whether or not we are being conditioned to accept bureaucratic edicts as law?

 

I'm into facts. We have hundreds of years experience in learning about disease. We keep learning, and always will, but some things, like wearing a mask, is accepted science and has been for at least 100 years.

Feel free to eat raw chicken, but science tells us that it's a really, REALLY bad idea. Since you hate science, though, go for it! You rock that raw chicken like a boss.

 

Where do you get these analogies? We aren't talking about chicken, raw or fried and we aren't just talking about masks either. They tell you you can't go to a bar for a beer so you don't go to a bar for a beer. They tell you to wear a mask and you wear one. They tell you you can get a haircut and so you do but if they say don't do that then you get shaggy.

Strange that they don't tell you not to 'protest' though. Jim Jordan tried to get him to say those gatherings specifically were dangerous and he talked all around it but stayed politically correct. He's a scientist and he knows whether or not that behavior is specifically dangerous but he won't say that. He will tell you specifically that a bar is dangerous though. Boisterous 'protesting' is sanctioned.

If we are being conditioned to obey, what are we being prepared to obey?

 

Beat me to it. There are many users on this forum that are okay with a authoritative nation. Turning it into a manic hypochondriac. Just look at their posts. A few easily come to mind.

These people can’t even admit that Sweden was right in allowing citizens to think for themselves and make their own decisions.

 

Trust quickly erodes when doctors say one thing, then make statements that are close to, if not contradictory to each other. Fauci hasn’t been smart in making public statements , then backtracking with statements that potentially contradict what was said previously. Study the virus, make a concrete statement, and let it be.

Wearing a mask is not the issue here. I’ve explained this countless times, and some people here still don’t get it. It’s about a government trying to control the private lives of citizens. The solution is simple, and it’s not that much of a compromise. You want to wear a mask in public? Fine. Don’t force me to just because you want to. Your decision is not mine. Allow me to get my groceries and be on my way.

 

I watched a video last night about the Spanish flu. Some of the same arguments being made here were being made 100 years ago. Responses across the country were varied as were death counts. In the end, it took 2 years and 4 waves of the virus before it ended. We're still in the middle of this one so no telling how it will end.

Anyway, a good video. Well worth the 32 minutes it takes to watch it.

 

Regardless of whether your locality mandates masks or not, you should wear a mask because it is the rational thing to do. There is no rational argument against wearing a mask

Look, I do not agree with seat belt laws, but I still wear a seat belt because it's the practical thing to do, whether I'm driving in a state that mandates them or not, I'm going to wear a seat belt. It's the same principle for wearing a mask, also the thing about not wearing a mask is you aren't just putting yourself at risk, but the people around you as well (not to mention far more people are dying from COVID than from car accidents), the same cannot be said for seat belts, so I would say wearing a mask is a bigger necessity than wearing a seat belt right now.

As for mandated masks, that's a separate discussion to whether or not you should wear one. I can't say I agree with mandating masks, but I will say in times of crisis it is not uncommon for such policies to be implemented for a temporary period of time. When my grandparents lived on the west coast during WWII, they were mandated to have all their lights out in their house during evening time, over concerns that coastal neighborhoods would be a target for Japanese bombers.

 

I wear seatbelts because they save lives, I wear a mask where it is required because it is mandated/required. I believe in seatbelts but I do not believe in masks. Let's say you're right and they are effective in preventing infection, why can't we wear them while we work? Why not open businesses up and let people work toward recovery? Groc. stores have remained open throughout and of the 4 big box stores here there has been one reported case of an employee getting infected and that proved to have been a hoax.

I might add that I was in my 60's when I started wearing seat belts.

 

I love hubris. I especially love self-described geniuses who were crushed in an election they couldn't lose by an outsider who was dumb as a box of rocks. I love when they refuse to accept their loss after conspiring with Putin then tell us to fear their opponent because he will conspire with Putin and won't accept the result if they lose. Do you own a mirror? Forget it.

 

I wear a mask when I go into stores. I love wearing gloves even when the store sanitizes the cart. For all the time wasted on COVID stuff, wearing gloves slices the time to open produce bags by a factor of 4. I don't think they do much for viruses and many people constantly touch their masks, so I don't feel protected, but I do it anyway. When I get my groceries home I wipe them down with lysol wipes before bringing them in and leave the plastic grocery bags in the garage for a few days before putting them in my stash.

I'm having too much fun to take chances.

 

Not sure what you mean, here. I lose every election day. 2016 was nothing new to me. I lost in 2012, 2008, 2004, 2000, 1996 .... and so it goes.

Believing in masks is not a democrat thing. It's a science thing.

 

I don't know where you heard that there have been 0 grocery store workers who have been infected, but the number of grocery store workers who have caught the virus is actually in the thousands, and yes that includes "big box" stores. There are multiple incidences of said big stores having to temporarily close certain locations after having an employee test positive (example)

Also, reopening our economy is exactly why we need to wear masks, it isn't feasible or practical to remain on lock down until the virus has been eradicated, but at the same time we need to take some necessary precautions to make opening back up safer. Wearing a mask doesn't mean you can't catch the virus, but studies have shown you are 5 times more likely to catch the virus in a situation where no one wears a mask vs everyone wearing one. That is why employees at every major grocery store wear masks. Heck, I don't work at a grocery store, but my work requires me and all my coworkers to wear a mask at all times when we are around one another.

 

Or maybe it's just a propaganda thing, what else does the government have to offer? Wash your hands (don't hear that one much anymore) wear a mask and gloves (don't hear much about gloves either) and now the biggie is wear a mask. Oh, and don't touch nobody. Actually I believe that 6' rule is the only thing that really works.

Used to have a cd with a song "Ants On a Log" that pretty much describes the current state of humankind.

 

After all these months, you still don't think washing your hands is a good idea? Yikes.

Washing your hands to keep them clean has been the scientific guidance for at least 5-6 years, now. (Or at least a few hundred.)

 

I wasn't disputing the value of soap and water, merely mentioning that it is no longer preached the way it was in the early days of the pandemic. If you actually read what I posted I think it's clear to see that. The big push now is masks.

 

I mean.. doctors have been wearing masks for literally hundreds of years as a means of protecting themselves from harmful viruses, and still do wear masks to this day for that same purpose. They've been wearing masks all these years because masks work, but lets say you are correct, and the doctors from all around the world are all wrong, and that this is all just a government conspiracy. What is the risk you are taking in wearing a mask?

Even if the doctors are wrong, and you wear a mask, you are not putting anything at risk. If the doctors are right however, and you do not wear a mask, you are not only putting yourself at risk, but everyone around you. Simply put, there is no rational arguments for not wearing a mask. All arguments for not wearing a mask seem to be politically based rather than being medically or scientifically based.

Forget the politicians for a minute, look into what the doctors are saying

Further research on COVID-19 has found that while the virus can spread through surfaces, the spreading of the virus is mostly airborne. That is why it is important to wear a mask

 

Buy a box of masks and read the box. Masks will stop a sneeze from getting in your nose or mouth but it will not stop a virus, any virus. Doctors wear masks in hospital settings, more to protect their patients than themselves. I never saw my family doctor wear one for my visits till now. I should wear a mask because, well, just because?

I keep my distance, wash my hands and where it's required I wear a mask. Here is how the WHO says it's transmitted:

Current evidence suggests that COVID-19 spreads between people through direct, indirect (through contaminated objects or surfaces), or close contact with infected people via mouth and nose secretions. These include saliva, respiratory secretions or secretion droplets. These are released from the mouth or nose when an infected person coughs, sneezes, speaks or sings, for example. People who are in close contact (within 1 metre) with an infected person can catch COVID-19 when those infectious droplets get into their mouth, nose or eyes.

To avoid contact with these droplets, it is important to stay at least 1 metre away from others, clean hands frequently, and cover the mouth with a tissue or bent elbow when sneezing or coughing. When physical distancing (standing one metre or more away) is not possible, wearing a fabric mask is an important measure to protect others. Cleaning hands frequently is also critical.

Remember during cold and flu cycles seeing people out and about coughing and sneezing? It occurs to me that we aren't seeing that today, at least I'm not. People are staying home if they are sick and social distancing if they go out. If wearing a mask adds to your sense of security then by all means wear one. Especially if you are going to Church but if you are going out to 'demonstrate' you'll be fine either way (watch out for the cameras)

 

Well, gosh, I hope the masses have figured out that hand washing is a smart thing to do, so government doesn't need to constantly remind people about the basics of hygiene. OTOH, too many people don't understand why we've been using masks to prevent germs from spreading for 100 years, so it needs to be explained to them, slowly, over and over and over and over again.

 

That may be so but you don't seem to be up to the job.

 

Agreed. I have a very time communicating with people who believe their 10-minute Google degree is better than the collective knowledge of the world's leading epidemiology experts.

 

When opinions are this varied some look at all the recommended procedures and make up their own minds. How did you feel about that lady Doctor that recommended hydroxychloroquine?

 

And no two agree on what to do. The Japanese have always worn a mask when they are ill and have to go out in public. The healthy ones go commando.