readywhenyouare

Why did we have to shut down for several months if wearing a bandanna was all that was needed? Please explain that to the people who lost their businesses and jobs. Herd immunity is the only way we are going to get through this. I have no faith in acquiring a vaccine. Coronaviruses have been around for a very long time. And people far more prominent than me believe the same. There won't be a vaccine. Therefore you will never get rid of that mask mandate. Even if we lost 10 million people the economy wouldn't even hiccup. It would likely even strengthen the workforce and bring in new talent. We can have this over with quickly if we all just resume our normal lives. No one is stopping you from wearing a mask that is designed to protect you. But please stop imposing your will on others.

No_Name

It's simple--wear the mask. The number of people that actually have medical issues preventing them from wearing masks is small. We are in the middle of a pandemic and we all need to do our part to slow the spread so that the medical system is not overwhelmed.

It is frustrating that mask wearing has been made into a personal liberty issue--it's basic politeness. People who are using a fake medical issue to avoid wearing a mask are just bad humans. It's just like the fake-ESA issue--people using a legitimate accommodation for personal benefit.

Having friends who have lost their jobs (and suffered long term financial impact) and one (so far) die I find it frustrating reading these discussions (and the supposed lawyer claiming victory over major companies). I apologize if I offended anyone.

Global Adventurer

You can still buy 3M certified N95s on eBay from reputable sellers. It's not that people can't find them, it's because people would rather pay $1.00 for a cheap piece of cloth instead of paying $30.00 for something that would save their life. But, those same people would pay $30.00 to order UberEats on some junk food. Their priorities are completely screwed up.

xliioper

I didn't see it as a argument over personal liberty, but rather ending the pandemic as soon as possible. This will be through either herd immunity or a vaccine. Containment might work, but it requires much more than just wearing a mask in public. It also requires much vigilance, mask wearing, and social distancing in private gatherings as well. Some cultures are more adept at this than others. Unfortunately, it's very difficult to change a culture via government regulation. I'm not averse to wearing a mask, I just think we are overly focused on wearing masks in certain situations (like walking around a big box store where the risk of transmission is quite low) and missing the places where most of the transmission is occurring right now.

Global Adventurer

If everyone pays attention to folks wearing masks and respirators, you would notice in most cases they ALL touch the front and insides of their masks when taking it off or pulling it below their nose. For those people, it doesn't even matter if they wear a mask or not because they've just contaminated their hands and inside the masks. That's how the virus is spreading. Dirty filthy contaminated masks that are worn over and over. Coronavirus stays on masks for 10 days in case nobody knows. The mask/respirator is the weakest link. I wear a new non- contaminated N95 each day along with goggles that are disinfected, and take it off by the elastic straps and never touch the inside. And wash my hands after placing it in a zip lock to store it a week while the virus becomes inactive. Most people handle a mask like an ink pen, no care in the world. And people still don't wash their hands. The crap is going to hit the fan starting in October when Flu season begins, in epic proportions.

Silver Fox

So I am to place my utter and blind faith into scientists who took this long to finally say that masks may help? The credibility of the world's scientific community has been pretty much blown apart during this crisis with their inability and unwillingness to work together on this, and to give coherent, joined-up, advice.

N95? Don't be selfish, I don't want to see these because, if we are following scientists (I assume the CDC counts):
"Do NOT use a facemask meant for a healthcare worker. Currently, surgical masks and N95 respirators are critical supplies that should be reserved for healthcare workers and other first responders."

Global Adventurer

If the hospitals thought it was so important for their personnel to have the proper medical supplies to do their job they would have purchased them. I purchased a box in February. They had boatloads at all home depot stored, Amazon and everywhere else in the world. Not only are the so called scientist worthless, the hospital administrators are too. Can you imagine if a nuclear war started? The US and just about every other country would be doomed. The only people that would have a chance would be the preppers that everybody laughed at, many of those who laughed died, not having any protective equipment at all. What police officer would go to a gunfight without a gun? That's what the medical workers have done. Crazy. If they all had walked out I can guarantee you N95s and everything else would have magically appeared.

lowfareair

I'm just gonna bold those two statements. We need to stay open even if 10 million people die, but it's wrong for people 'imposing their will on others' by requiring masks.

Cognitive dissonance, meet readywhenyouare. Readywhenyouare, cognitive dissonance. Glad you are introduced.

xliioper

None of this is binary. You can save many lives by protecting and shielding those most at risk without shutting everything down. The reality is the hard shutdown's create their own excess deaths from delaying medical care for existing conditions, to suicide, alcoholism, etc., etc. Obviously these can't be counted to a high degree of accuracy, but that doesn't mean they should just be ignored. The shutdown's don't make it go away completely. It's what you do after the cases go down and you start opening back up that ultimately matters. If you don't get that right, you will just end up going through endless cycles that really doesn't create any benefit.

kyushuman

100% support DL. Glad that those who think "all of the scientists are wrong" ALSO know more than the scientists. Yeah I'll stick with science, thanks.

justforfun

No it hasn't.

HDQDD

This. Sad, but not surprising, to see that we have "science deniers" in our midst. It never ceases to amaze me how many Americans are willing to put politics over science (or even over basic common sense). Many of those against wearing masks are right wingers who fail to realize (the obvious) that without wearing masks, we risk shutting down some large regions again. That will not only kill whatever small chance Trump has of getting re-elected, but it will also likely lead to a "blue wave" in other races.

Science > Politics. Wear a mask.

Article on face masks from the WSJ (a right of center publication):
https://apple.news/AQTKvFSlNRwKmW9qOISq7oA

cmd320

IBTL.

Enigma368

Ultimately, airlines have brought in a new safety rule whether you agree with it or not - to wear masks.

You don't get to pick and choose which safety regulations you follow when flying - you can't say to the TSA "oh I read some stuff online and I don't believe in metal detectors so I'm just gonna bypass this screening thanks", or to a FA "a friend told me that wearing seatbelts on takeoff is unhealthy so I'm just not gonna do it".

If you don't want to follow the rules that have been judged to be sensible for everyone's safety, then just don't fly. That is the freedom of choice you have.

trm2

Well, I know a guy and can have you meet. You would certainly want to wear a mask to the meeting though