To Mask or not to two - Mask Megathread cont.

I started to understand you after reading your first post, chip

Like the guy who goes out surfing when weather warnings are in place and puts the voluntary lifeboat people in danger having to rescue them, it happens

No law against it but hey those kind of gloamers should think of others some time.

But Lookit , that would never happen to you as you’re more than capable…

Its a tough station for sure… we’ll sled on.

The point is that the people who took those risks and had to be rescued or worse - were beyond rescue, all thought exactly the same as you did. It is the obviously the attitude that is being compared not the exact physical circumstance, unless you are determined to misunderstand the comparison.

If you'd asked them why they were going out when there were warnings, they would have answered:

I don't want anybody telling me what to do. I am more than capable of assessing risk and making my own choices in life.

The reason why the government stepped in with masks (and other measures) is because them getting the assessment wrong was impacting too many other people.

The excuses in their head were...

It's not my fault if others get sick.

It's not covid it's just X.

I won't be in the shops \ close to anyone on the bus long enough to infect someone even if I do have it.

Which would explain the mass hysteria, covid certificates, 2km limits, police checks, masking children, closing schools, and most reasonable of all, letting people die alone.

Its obvious it was not a literal physical comparison - absurd to even suggest it. And this is a deflection tactic to avoid engaging with the core point about people getting risk assesments wrong.

Apparently you dont care a jot if hospitals are overwhelmed and millions die.

But those tasked with responsibility for public health and hospitals cant just shrug their shoulders and let huge numbers of citizens die.

They didnt act like that for threat on the scale of spanish flu or for covid.

Hence why every major health authority in the world responded as they did with measures such as masks when faced with a new highly infectious and severe enough to overwhelm hospitals as it did in Wuhan and Italy.

Even then millions died.

If you think nobody got the assessment wrong then you think governments shouldnt have implemented any restrictions whatsoever. Luckiky the people on charge decided otherwise. And acted with responsibility.

I really don’t understand : I should wear a mask because, if I am infected, I could potentially pass it to somebody else when I cough/sneeze/open my mouth. Ok fair enough: I am not infected, I am not coughing/sneezing on other people’s face, I still should wear one because if not I am selfish. I am selfish because I could pass something I don’t have to somebody vulnerable that is wearing a mask (because if he isn’t then he is selfish according to the above rule of self-assessment) and probably on his/ 5th dose of the vaccine that is supposed to protect him/her from the infection, we have already established that the rest of the population is either unaffected or only in a irrelevant way. But this was working only in certain venues and in certain situations, you could sit at the table and talk freely to anybody around, but not if you stand up and walk to the toilets, you could board a packed airplane and remove your mask while eating and drinking, an hanging panel of plexiglass in certain situation is like wearing a hazmat suit: I mean are we still talking about mandating mask wearing to protect the general population from respiratory virus or just the vulnerable? What kind of mask? Do they need to be used 24/7 or only in certain settings/situations? How often do they need to be changed? Have they considered the damaged caused by breathing your own dirt for a prolonged time?

I’ll gladly do my own risk assessment and don’t wear a mask, if you are part of those categories that could be affected by a respiratory virus, please do the same and wear 1, 2, 3 mask, safety glasses, gloves, hazmat suit, don’t leave the house, but don’t think, even for 1 second, that I should do the same to protect you.

It's not even about protecting people, it's about making them feel safe.

One thing Covid showed is that feelings outweighed facts on almost every issue - masks included. A combination of media-induced hysteria and a cowardly government, desperate to demonstrate they were doing 'something' lead to all the covid-theatre nonsense we have seen over the last few years.

Genuinely thought mask mandates were coming back with all the pressure on the govt that was applied in the last few weeks. I think if they can resist up until now they can resist any calls in the future

What this thread really proves is there is a strong cohort out there who adopt the stance of ‘Im not going to be told what to do by anyone”.

There seems to be an inherent built in attitude to not accept advice from those eminently qualified but put forward their own unsubstantiated conspiracy type arguments as to why they won’t comply.

What is the big deal in wearing a mask in certain situations one has to ask?

Most sensible folk look at the evidence, look at the qualifications of those giving the guidance, look a what other similar jurisdictions have adopted and make their considered decisions.

There will be always outliers who rear up with some misguided, un researched, unqualified rubbish as instanced by this thread.

Luckily it would appear most normal folk seem to have a bit of sense.

Not upsetting at all, not in the slightest.

Its the mindset of those who try to ignore the advice from qualified practitioners to do a simple proven task has me puzzled.

Lookit, I suppose every State has its problems… we are where we are.

There is abundant evidence on the thread - from case studies of masked wearers not getting infected to lab studies on masks reducing droplets to comparitive studies of schools in US, Bangladeshi villages and Australian cities.

To state there is no evidence at this stage is completely without merit or foundation.