Had an interesting experience the other day. Had to go through a covid testing facility thing with someone. They don't have covid, but they need to go see a doctor for an unrelated issue, therefore they must be tested.
.
The nurses and testing people were all wearing thin blue masks - the kind you see in doctor's offices. The kind they've been giving out to people for a few weeks now. That, and some protective piece of tissue paper shaped like a giant shirt. A few of them had full face shields, but by and large they did not.
.
None of the people they tested were wearing masks. Not one. And these testers would stand less than 3 inches away from these people for extended periods of time
Since this started people have been absolutely shrieking at me about how the masks are useless to the person wearing them. If you're wearing a mask you may as well go French kiss someone with covid for how little protection they offer.
.
This includes news outlets as well.
.
Everyone has pushed the narrative that the masks only work to protect other people from YOU. Therefore YOU wearing a mask is not for your own benefit at all - go shoot yourself in the face if you think it will help you, you murderous scum.
.
I''ve said a couple of times how little sense that makes to me, and promptly been shrieked into oblivion about it. No, this is not an exaggeration of most of the "conversations" I've had about masks.
With that in mind, you would think the testing facilities - arguably the places MOST LIKELY to encounter a case of covid - would be demanding all people coming to be tested have their faces sewn shut until the exact moment of testing.
.
But they don't.
.
So now I'm curious to see which narrative the government etc are going to push:
.
-either the face masks are powerful enough to offer protection to the person wearing them, in which case forcing OTHER people to wear them for YOUR safety becomes an even weaker arguement to make.
.
OR
.
-the masks do NOT offer protection to the one wearing them, In which case we have opened contagion hotspots all across the world, and we have decided healthcare workers should be the first to be sacrificed.
*Edit: we did not have to go through a "glass covid testing facility." It was just a testing facility. My phone decided to throw the word glass in there just to spice things up I guess
(For the record I didn’t DV you.) Perhaps I can help shed some light. “The government” by and large aren’t medical professionals or scientists. Out President has said on record that windmill noise causes cancer, and we have senators and others who have said things like they believe you can catch homosexuality. Given the benefit of the doubt for complete ignorance- even intelligent but non technical people don’t always nail the details or nuances.
That said- masks aren’t a very effective self protection method, and can be between highly and barely effective at protecting others depending upon details. They are however much better in general than nothing. Pretty much every country that has gotten some measure of control over covid has used masks and isolation (isolation being FAR more effective than anything else we have that is achievable to the average person at scale.)
So I mean- watching politicians fumble words and concepts that weren’t covered in their “communications” “business” or law classes can be entertaining- but just to be clear, what comes out of their mouths isn’t necessarily a reflection of reality. Masks work. If they didn’t- those thin paper masks wouldn’t be worn by surgeons and doctors for almost a century. Before those, and in countries with less resources- cloth masks filled the role. Cloth masks are less effective in general- but still are better than nothing.
Oh the downvotes are entirely expected by now. And irrelevant. Anytime anyone says anything that isn't "EVERYONE SUPERGLUE A MASK TO YOUR FACE" people get their panties all knotted up. It's standard procedure. People take it all very personally
.
As for the rest:
First - I don't have a president. And I wasn't talking about one specific country. Other testing facilities seem to be set up the exact same way regardless of location.
.
Second: you essentially just agreed that the narrative of "masks don't protect YOU from others" is a lie. I'm not sure if that was your intent.
.
Third: the masks these people were wearing are the thin blue medical masks they've been handing out at Tim Hortons.
... and other places in Canada.
.
There were gaps at the sides of these masks around their faces.
.
So basically I've now come to the conclusion that both of my assessments were correct at the same time:
.
These masks DO offer protection to the person wearing them (shockandawe).... But these testing facilities also seem to simultaneously be set up to breed this virus. Not INTENTIONALLY, but that looks like it will be the result if this is the way things are being done.
▼
deleted
· 3 years ago
Uhm.. even Trump is wearing one right now. Just saying...
1. What I'm talking about has nothing to do with Trump. Or at least no more to do with him than any other person in a position of remote power or authority
.
2. Based on the way everything's gone so far, that is actually likely an argument AGAINST wearing masks.
.
One of the most ridiculous things I've seen in this entire pandemic is that: if Trump does or says ANYTHING, it is automatically wrong because HE is the one who said or did it. So if I follow their absolute lunacy, I have no choice but to conclude that wearing masks is about to be announced as the number one way to infect everyone else in the vicinity.
.
I detest Trump, but I have no patience or energy for the absolute disgusting sociopaths who are doing nothing but spreading more fear and more hate because they dislike the man.
.
Said it before and I'll say it again: one of the most dangerous things about this virus is that it happened during an American election year.
I was just pointing to Trump as a pretty universally known example of a politician who often comes off as a moron, masks and Trump are only casually related through circumstance. But to your other statement about lies- no. I do not admit it. I admit that you prove my point right there, and prove why the narrative has to be so “DO IT DO IT DO IT!”
Which is- you can’t really give most children nuanced instructions. It must be simple, actionable, and not open to debate. Because... they lack the ability to understand nuance, and the subject matter expertise to speak informed on something like why they aren’t allowed to use the stove. “Jimmy’s parents let Jimmy and Jimmy is fine!” “I used the stove once and nothing f bad happened so you’re wrong!” Well... no. That’s not how it works.
But when I say go you “Masks work. Cloth masks work. Hospitals have been using them, and still do in some places, for almost a century. Improvised cloth masks can be very effective when correctly applied. Purpose made ones are better. Better than that are surgical masks. Better than that are N95. Better than that are full respirators. Better than that are a hazmat suit...”
What you hear, what you parrot back to me in question form is: “HA! See?! You said a cloth mask isn’t as good as a hazmat suit- so you admit it is WORTHLESS!!!” Nooooo. That isn’t what I said. I said that a cloth mask isn’t the BEST thing for the job- but they need N95 and higher for the most at risk people. So a cloth mask is the best thing most people can easily and cheaply make with little special knowledge or skill, that can reduce the risks to everyone- just not as much as other masks that are more specialized and engineered.
If I tell you that it’s ok to drive your car to the grocery store this week even though you need an oil change, it isn’t great for the car but should t hurt it- and you hear: “An engineer told me I don’t need to change my oil- it’s all a scam! Not changing oil WONT hurt your car!” Well... no. No. That’s... that’s not what was said. Nuance, context.... important things. And most politicians either lack the brain power to give them- or withhold them because then people will... well, this.
What a round-about way of saying "I don't agree with my own point because that's uncomfortable for me."
.
Also the nutshell of your comment summarized:
"People wearing masks are too stupid to understand that not all masks are created equal and adjust their behaviour accordingly, therefore we should lie to the public about this, and then implement laws that prop up those lies."
.
And guess what - those blue masks the covid people were wearing? 200x thinner than most cloth masks I've seen. All they've got is a tiny bit of cotton in them.
.
So we once again end back at:
Either the masks don't work, and the medical staff are going to be sacrificed first - but we want to make sure they can infect as many of the vulnerable as they can along the way. Or the masks DO protect the wearers, and therefore it doesn't matter if everyone is wearing a mask, assuming we provide people who want masks with the right kind. Which apparently are tiny blue pieces of cotton.
Side note: I'm not letting you derail this into a debate about the mask laws. I don't care how badly you may wish to do so.
.
My original two points had nothing to do with the laws themselves.
.
.
Also my specific mention of trump by name was in response to the other commenter who mentioned trump by name.
No need to derail. The world isn’t made of absolutes. We can spend hours, days, weeks, years educating and discussing and exploring, then diving up the finer nuances of every scenario and every example. Or if we speak in short sentences which are comprehensible and suit the attention span of most people we can be somewhat imprecise but still convey the necessary information that is relevant to most people: “wear a mask to help stop Covid spreading.”
.
The nurses and testing people were all wearing thin blue masks - the kind you see in doctor's offices. The kind they've been giving out to people for a few weeks now. That, and some protective piece of tissue paper shaped like a giant shirt. A few of them had full face shields, but by and large they did not.
.
None of the people they tested were wearing masks. Not one. And these testers would stand less than 3 inches away from these people for extended periods of time
.
This includes news outlets as well.
.
Everyone has pushed the narrative that the masks only work to protect other people from YOU. Therefore YOU wearing a mask is not for your own benefit at all - go shoot yourself in the face if you think it will help you, you murderous scum.
.
I''ve said a couple of times how little sense that makes to me, and promptly been shrieked into oblivion about it. No, this is not an exaggeration of most of the "conversations" I've had about masks.
.
But they don't.
.
So now I'm curious to see which narrative the government etc are going to push:
.
-either the face masks are powerful enough to offer protection to the person wearing them, in which case forcing OTHER people to wear them for YOUR safety becomes an even weaker arguement to make.
.
OR
.
-the masks do NOT offer protection to the one wearing them, In which case we have opened contagion hotspots all across the world, and we have decided healthcare workers should be the first to be sacrificed.
.
As for the rest:
First - I don't have a president. And I wasn't talking about one specific country. Other testing facilities seem to be set up the exact same way regardless of location.
.
Second: you essentially just agreed that the narrative of "masks don't protect YOU from others" is a lie. I'm not sure if that was your intent.
.
Third: the masks these people were wearing are the thin blue medical masks they've been handing out at Tim Hortons.
.
There were gaps at the sides of these masks around their faces.
.
So basically I've now come to the conclusion that both of my assessments were correct at the same time:
.
These masks DO offer protection to the person wearing them (shockandawe).... But these testing facilities also seem to simultaneously be set up to breed this virus. Not INTENTIONALLY, but that looks like it will be the result if this is the way things are being done.
.
2. Based on the way everything's gone so far, that is actually likely an argument AGAINST wearing masks.
.
One of the most ridiculous things I've seen in this entire pandemic is that: if Trump does or says ANYTHING, it is automatically wrong because HE is the one who said or did it. So if I follow their absolute lunacy, I have no choice but to conclude that wearing masks is about to be announced as the number one way to infect everyone else in the vicinity.
.
I detest Trump, but I have no patience or energy for the absolute disgusting sociopaths who are doing nothing but spreading more fear and more hate because they dislike the man.
.
Said it before and I'll say it again: one of the most dangerous things about this virus is that it happened during an American election year.
.
Also the nutshell of your comment summarized:
"People wearing masks are too stupid to understand that not all masks are created equal and adjust their behaviour accordingly, therefore we should lie to the public about this, and then implement laws that prop up those lies."
.
And guess what - those blue masks the covid people were wearing? 200x thinner than most cloth masks I've seen. All they've got is a tiny bit of cotton in them.
.
So we once again end back at:
Either the masks don't work, and the medical staff are going to be sacrificed first - but we want to make sure they can infect as many of the vulnerable as they can along the way. Or the masks DO protect the wearers, and therefore it doesn't matter if everyone is wearing a mask, assuming we provide people who want masks with the right kind. Which apparently are tiny blue pieces of cotton.
.
My original two points had nothing to do with the laws themselves.
.
.
Also my specific mention of trump by name was in response to the other commenter who mentioned trump by name.
BAAHHHHAHHHHH