Why face masks became political in the US

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Peeps said:
Many of us who HAVE spent our careers studying and making our living in health care are very skeptical of “the latest scientific discovery.”

I’ve worked in the hospital lab since 1980, with the exception of six years that I was at home with my daughters when they were babies/young.

Here’s just one example–in the 1980s, the medical profession was telling adults that they needed to stop eating so much protein. I had a poster up in my kitchen with a beautiful, thin young lady surrounded by…I’m laughing as I type this–pasta, rice, and bread.

That’s right– we were told that our diet should consist of 70% carbohydrates, 20 percent protein, and 10% fat.

And that’s why over 50% of Americans are overweight, obese, and morbidly obese today–because DOCTORS and SCIENTISTS told us this!
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Who told you that is the reason for obesity? I’m surprised that you, a member of the medical community, would spread this misformation. As a matter of fact, the recommendation of having no more than 20% protein is still the recommendation today from health professionals:
https://wa.kaiserpermanente.org/hea...llness/conditions/diabetes/foodBalancing.html

Dietary guidelines and caloric percentages - Harvard Health

I really appreciate the dietary guidelines that you publish from time to time, but my wife and I find it hard to do the math in a busy supermarket. Can you give us targets that are easier to use th...
www.health.harvard.edu www.health.harvard.edu

Even this article on losing weight by eating more protein cites a comparison of 10% vs 30%:

https://www.atkins.com/how-it-works...it-easier-to-shed-fat-while-preserving-muscle

So 10% is too little. And 20% was not one of the options in this study, so there is no basis from this study to say that 30% is better than 20%.
 
Because masks don’t do that much to retard the spread of something that gets passed easily via touch. We’ve been treated for months to the spectacle of Covid numbers still increasing in the face of masks, social distancing and business shutdowns. We touch everything then we touch our masks to adjust them. I just have to laugh when I see people constantly touching their masks to adjust them for comfort or easy breathing. What I tell people: wash your dang hands and never touch your face in public!

About credibility: governments and their opponents have lied to the people from time immemorial to right now. They did so long, long, long, long before Covid-19 and will in all likelihood keep doing it long after Covid-19 has done the exit stage left thing. They don’t lie all the time, but they do lie often enough to bring their credibility to the fore.

When the Spanish Flu hit, most western media held to the various countries’ governments line that there was nothing going on, everything was copacetic. It got called the Spanish Flu because the Spanish media were the only ones to report on it publicly.

I’m not convinced the government (and its captive press) have improved that much. The difference is we have the internet now. Where everything flies because a lot of people do not trust government that much.
 
Peeps said:
Fogged-up glasses are not just annoying to me, they’re dangerous.
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Glasses fogging up may be an indication that a lot of the exhaled breath is venting through the top of the mask. I think this is more likely to happen with a mask that wraps around the chin or one that does not fit as well around the nose. If you do happen to want to try a mask again, then it may be worth trying one that only covers the mouth and nose, but not the chin, or to use a clear face shield that, while not the same as a mask, still limits the ability to directly exhale moisture droplets on someone.
 
Look at the portion sizes now at restaurants and fast food places compared to even 20 years ago.

When I was small we’d go to McDonalds Only occasionally. I remember specifically, the last day of school we would eat lunch at McDonald’s. My aunt and mom and the cousins.

I’d get a plain hamburger. And share a small fries with another cousin.

The reason why we are overweight as an American society is that we aren’t that active and we don’t eat well. We eat too much processed foods, we drink too many of our calories in sodas and other beverages.

My parents were from Italy. Sometimes dinner was escarole, boiled eggs, cheese and bread.

Imagine serving that now?

Yet that’s one of my favorite meals of the past.
 
Zzyzx_Road said:
Because masks don’t do that much to retard the spread of something that gets passed easily via touch.
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If it’s not a big deal, riddle me why the CDC says to wash hands …
 
Zzyzx_Road said:
If it’s not a big deal, riddle me why the CDC says to wash hands …
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It’s ALWAYS a good idea to wash hands.

And not being the main source of infection doesn’t mean the chance is zero. There is probably a non-zero chance that, in some cases, one could pick up fresh droplets, place them on one’s face, and the virus enters through the nose or eyes.
 
Portion sizes have gotten larger, yes. Food is cheaper in general, I think, and therefore we eat more of it.
 
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So if I have it, and have no symptoms…
I am not coughing.
I am not sneezing.
And I am socially distant to the tune of 6 feet away.

What droplet from casual speech is going the full six feet to another person?

I’m not seeing a mask helping much in the situation.
But I do see a mask providing me with the confidence to sneeze or cough and do nothing to capture it.
 
The first problem I see is their method of testing.

From the article…
The droplets were analyzed in a frame-by-frame “movie,” to arrive at a per-second number of the airborne droplets: loud speech on average released about 2,600 small droplets per second.
And
(The phrase was chosen partly because the “th” sound was “found to be an efficient generator of oral fluid speech droplets.”)

So what exactly is “loud speech”?
And why did they limit the phrasing to specifically use phonetic sounds that would amplify their results?

What if they tested a normal speech pattern at a normal volume? Why not test under normal circumstances? Are we concerned that the conclusion will not be as dramatic?
 
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vz71 said:
What if they tested a normal speech pattern at a normal volume?
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vz71 , just wear a mask.

It’s the law in many states to wear a mask indoors in stores. Are all the states wrong, and you alone are right?
 
PaulinVA said:
just wear a mask.

It’s the law in many states to wear a mask indoors in stores. Are all the states wrong, and you alone are right?
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That’s the wrong answer.

The question here is why people would disbelieve masks to be effective. Why not do some real world testing under real world conditions to prove the efficacy?

Whenever I see a study that purports that and then comes up short, I am more firmly convinced the opposite to be true.

Honest research followed by honest reporting of it. Anything less, and sorry…you are convincing no one.

Consider the study you listed…what do you suppose the conversation sounded like when they were deciding what to say to maximize the spew? Do you think for a moment that they realized they were skewing the results to show what they wanted?
 
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In many jurisdictions, it’s not a law, it’s a regulation.

Regarding touch, consider close quarters with commonly shared restrooms. Consider further that we know Covid-19 survives in the gut and gets expelled with feces. That has been borne out by sewage samples for months now. That smelly smell of rich farts? The virus can hang out there and settle on surfaces. That’s how the bartender who doesn’t wash his hands following a restroom trip can pass it to everyone at the bar even though everyone is masked up.

When it is humid enough, it is not hard for virus particles to drop out of the air as the water droplets they’re attached to coalesce to where they are heavy enough to fall on surfaces. Which you and I then touch. Indoors, this is a bad thing; outdoors, not as much due to dispersion in fresh air plus heat. This is how this virus continues to spread even though it is obviously not flu season.

Washing hands doesn’t get the play and the publicity that masking up does. That is not a good thing. But to discuss hand washing might be to have to discuss the lack of a hand washing culture here in the US. Along with having to discuss hygienic practices of the lower income classes. Which is apparently a taboo discussion to have. There’s a reason I won’t eat at fast food shops anymore and have not since long before Covid.
 
vz71 said:
Consider the study you listed…what do you suppose the conversation sounded like when they were deciding what to say to maximize the spew? Do you think for a moment that they realized they were skewing the results to show what they wanted?
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Frankly, on the subject of masks, you can find contradicting studies.

In this field, when there is not a definitive answer, one should err on the side of caution, and wear a mask.

I don’t understand why someone would be reluctant to do something that could save themselves and other people.
 
Down the street where I live is a retirement home for priests. of the 31 residents, 29 got the COVID, eight were hospitalized and five with underlying conditions died. Remember these are elderly priests.

Everybody is going to get this. It’s like trying to stop the common cold. You don’t know how effective the masks are. Many are homemade and might not meet recommendations.
 
qui_est_ce said:
Down the street where I live is a retirement home for priests. of the 31 residents, 29 got the COVID, eight were hospitalized and five with underlying conditions died. Remember these are elderly priests.
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Long term care facilities are very difficult environments to keep clean enough for both residents and staff. That a significant percentage of residents will have continence issues and that this virus can be passed through feces makes it doubly difficult. Masks are nowhere near sufficient in this environment.
 
PaulinVA said:
In this field, when there is not a definitive answer, one should err on the side of caution, and wear a mask.
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I understand that. But I am not convinced that the side of caution involves a mask.

Like I said before, a mask encourages people to act like they have protection. If the mask is not effective, this behavior could easily do a great deal of harm.
 
vz71 said:
Like I said before, a mask encourages people to act like they have protection. If the mask is not effective, this behavior could easily do a great deal of harm.
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Only making necessary trips, washing hands frequently, wearing a mask, staying as far away from others, not going out if sick, etc.

Masks aren’t the only thing to do, I agree. They are one thing among many that should be done to get through this.
 
PaulinVA said:
Masks aren’t the only thing to do, I agree. They are one thing among many that should be done to get through this.
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I see too many people doing only masks.

Odd counter point…I see a lot going without masks but doing everything else.
 
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