01-02-2024, 11:20 AM
Honestly, if ac3r sneers at people wearing a mask, I am not in the slightest surprised. But they've lived in my head rent free too long.
But, for the record, because it's important to confront missinformation, the following is 100% factual, and not even slightly an opinion.
1. COVID is a serious disease, far FAR more so than the cold, and significantly worse than the flu. This is evidence by data, like, how many people are hospitalized and killed by it, and this is especially true for vulnerable people like elderly loved ones or immunocompromised folks.
2. COVID is more common than the flu. Most people get the flu every couple of years, COVID on the other hand, is more of a 1-10 times a year thing for a lot of people.
3. COVID causes long term disability in ways which the flu does not. If we expect to keep reinfecting the entire population, an increasing percentage of the population will be disabled by it.
4. Boosters, while effective do not last forever, and only a small fraction of the population have gotten them. And even when effective do not entirely stop you from transmitting the virus.
5. Masks ARE effective at preventing infection, and not just COVID but also cold and flu.
Here is the opinion part:
Wearing a mask is a very low bar to avoid getting a cold or the flu to say nothing of avoiding COVID. I often got sick while flying, which really makes a trip much less fun. Since flying with a mask, I've not gotten sick once. Even if COVID was eliminated, I'd still wear a mask while travelling in a crowded metal tube for an extended period of time.
If a person finds it "goofy" for me not to want to kill my parents when I visit them, well, that reflects entirely on their values, not mine, and that's not even to mention what risk factors *I* personally have.
But, for the record, because it's important to confront missinformation, the following is 100% factual, and not even slightly an opinion.
1. COVID is a serious disease, far FAR more so than the cold, and significantly worse than the flu. This is evidence by data, like, how many people are hospitalized and killed by it, and this is especially true for vulnerable people like elderly loved ones or immunocompromised folks.
2. COVID is more common than the flu. Most people get the flu every couple of years, COVID on the other hand, is more of a 1-10 times a year thing for a lot of people.
3. COVID causes long term disability in ways which the flu does not. If we expect to keep reinfecting the entire population, an increasing percentage of the population will be disabled by it.
4. Boosters, while effective do not last forever, and only a small fraction of the population have gotten them. And even when effective do not entirely stop you from transmitting the virus.
5. Masks ARE effective at preventing infection, and not just COVID but also cold and flu.
Here is the opinion part:
Wearing a mask is a very low bar to avoid getting a cold or the flu to say nothing of avoiding COVID. I often got sick while flying, which really makes a trip much less fun. Since flying with a mask, I've not gotten sick once. Even if COVID was eliminated, I'd still wear a mask while travelling in a crowded metal tube for an extended period of time.
If a person finds it "goofy" for me not to want to kill my parents when I visit them, well, that reflects entirely on their values, not mine, and that's not even to mention what risk factors *I* personally have.