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Mark Mayo
Mark Mayo
02:42
the Hong Kong one seems pretty settled - weirdly a lot of their elderly population is antivax, and as a result, a lot more (elderly) deaths. There's also plenty of evidence that shows masks help slow all airborne viruses, generally protecting others frmo you more than protecting yourself, but go figure.

The N95 point tho, yes, it has to be correctly fitted - my buddy is a GP and has a huge beard, had to shave his to get it fitted. He was NOT happy :)
NZ is not terribly mask compliant. People basically mostly wear it indoors if they 'have' to (ie per the rules), but get on a bus (where it's mandatory) and most aren't wearing them, even the driver(!).
JonathanReez
JonathanReez
03:01
@MarkMayo there’s evidence for masks but the evidence for mandates seems sketchy at best.
Mark Mayo
Mark Mayo
oh yes, agree re mandates
only to increase compliance, really
JonathanReez
JonathanReez
@MarkMayo yes that’s basically the problem, most people are not good at wearing masks, even if well intentioned. One guy takes of his mask for a sip of water on the bus… and that’s it, the bus is infected
Mark Mayo
Mark Mayo
ban water!
:D
JonathanReez
JonathanReez
I’m also shocked that Hong Kong wasn’t able to force their elderly population to get vaccinated. For all the talk about how they’re under an authoritarian regime, said regime seems awfully ineffective…
Mark Mayo
Mark Mayo
03:31
Can encourage all you want, but hard to forcibly inject if people don't want it. Can't threaten jobs of retirees ;)
actually, wasn't Australia 'forcing' it? Wonder how that went
Austria*** stupid finger muscle memory
 
9 hours later…
JoErNanO
JoErNanO
12:50
@JonathanReez In truth, I don't think we can ever go back to our 2019 lives. Or at least it'll take longer than we expect. Think about the social implications of home-schooling most of the children for nearly two years, or the fact that for the last few years we've reinforced a general fear of others as they may be contagious and therefore dangerous to us.
Masks are 0% of the problem.
And in truth, people will keep wearing masks regardless of what the rules say.
 
2 hours later…
Rory Alsop
Rory Alsop
14:58
@JoErNanO Yep - because my family has bought such an awesome range of quirky masks, many of my work colleagues have also asked where to get them from, so I have pointed loads at a couple of smart vendors.
I intend on wearing masks through the winter months in future anyway, as do all my doctor/nurse friends, as it dramatically reduces the incidence of all air-borne infection
And to those who keep insisting getting rid of masks is in some way "freedom" I'd say, masks are easy, convenient, and even if they had a 5% success rate at helping prevent infection of those worse off than me I'd do it so they can have freedom.
As an aside, @JonathanReez, the word freedom has been so tainted by misuse by protest groups in the US, that you using it in that way is really not helpful, accurate or good.
 
2 hours later…
JonathanReez
JonathanReez
17:26
@MarkMayo … if you’re China I guess you can? They’ve done much worse things to enforce the one child policy…
@JoErNanO masks are a reminder that there’s something to be scared of. Peoples attitudes change very quickly once mask mandates disappear, I’ve seen it with my own eyes. It feels like it’s not a big deal but psychologically it is.
I plan to wear an N95 mask on planes and public transport in winter months once the mask mandates are gone, as I used to get colds often from being in those places. Also planning to wear N95s when interacting with a large number of children as I got chickenpox once from being a school photographer.

But this would be a personal choice that I’m making, not something enforced on me by the government. That’s the definition of freedom.
@JoErNanO first day of mask mandate being gone in Seattle (last Friday) - about 50% are still wearing one. One week later only 20% are still wearing it in local supermarkets. At my gym it’s down to about 10%.
 
2 hours later…
JoErNanO
JoErNanO
19:03
@JonathanReez No for sure wearing masks has a huge psychological effect. It reinforces the notion that out there there is something from which you must protect yourself.
JonathanReez
JonathanReez
@JoErNanO yep but in reality if you’re under the age of 70 and fully vaccinated there really isn’t. I still don’t know a single person under the age of 70 in my own personal circle to suffer any serious consequences from the virus. And 75% of the people I know had the virus by now.
JoErNanO
JoErNanO
Thing is, this is true regardless of covid. But anyway, my point is that forcing masks on people in public places, for their own safety, is not a limitation of my freedom. Rather, wearing a mask, especially a standard surgical one, is a selfless act done to protect others from your germs. The fact that the government had to force people to do this only tells you that people are selfish. And not intelligent.
JonathanReez
JonathanReez
@JoErNanO people should be wearing N95 masks if they want protection. But then with an N95 you don’t care if others are wearing a mask.
Surgical masks are very flimsy protection.
My personal choice was a full face P100 respirator (prior to getting my vaccine)
I did not care for a single second who else is masked up when I donned my P100 respirator, especially since most people just wore a security theater cloth mask
Anyone who is vulnerable should do the same whenever they’re indoors with a large number of people. I fail to understand why instead we’re demanding that everyone in the room mask up instead

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