Covid

[Camron Rust]

Originally Posted by BillyMac

Would mask wearing have prevented 800,000 deaths? No it wouldn't, but even a decrease of 1,000 deaths would have made mask wearing worth it.

I would disagree....not for ~0.1% reduction. The burden being imposed upon millions (even billions) is just too great for that small impact.

That said, I believe masks are much more effective than that in stopping the ejection of potentially virus carrying droplets into the air. It really isn't that hard to understand. I still hate wearing it, but you really can't argue against the fact that they stop people from spraying stuff into the air. It is basically like covering your nose and mouth when you sneeze/cough. Anyone arguing that masks do nothing must also be arguing that no one ever needs to cover their mouth/nose when they sneeze and should be ok with someone sneezing on them.

[BillyMac]

Originally Posted by BillyMac

Would mask wearing have prevented 800,000 deaths? No it wouldn't, but even a decrease of 1,000 deaths would have made mask wearing worth it.

Originally Posted by Camron Rust

I would disagree....not for ~0.1% reduction. The burden being imposed upon millions (even billions) is just too great for that small impact.

Yeah, my numbers were faulty (I almost changed it to 10,000 in my original post).

But with 800,000 deaths and millions on ventilators, hospitalized, or just very sick, what would be the "tipping point"? 10,000 dead? 50,000 dead? 100,000 dead? For a simple, common sense, and low-cost strategy to mitigate COVID transmission, with few serious side effects?

[Camron Rust]

Originally Posted by BillyMac

Yeah, my numbers were faulty (I almost changed it to 10,000 in my original post).

But with 800,000 deaths and millions on ventilators, hospitalized, or just very sick, what would be the "tipping point"? 10,000 dead? 50,000 dead? 100,000 dead? For a simple, common sense, and low-cost strategy to mitigate COVID transmission, with few serious side effects?

I don't know the number. I'm sure it would be different for everyone.

We could have saved the equivalent of all of the deaths over the same time period by eliminating smoking and there is no redeeming element to smoking and eliminating it doesn't cause harm to anyone.

[BillyMac]

Originally Posted by Camron Rust

We could have saved the equivalent of all of the deaths over the same time period by eliminating smoking and there is no redeeming element to smoking and eliminating it doesn't cause harm to anyone.

States, and the federal government, have tried written warnings, advertising restrictions, excessive excise taxes, location restrictions (restaurants, car rentals, hotels, etc.), age restrictions, suing tobacco companies, etc., but it's a "free country".

Remember when all cars had ash trays and cigarette lighters?

I've been watching black and white Perry Mason (if one likes court shows, it's as good as Law and Order) reruns on cable lately, and everybody is smoking all of the time, everybody just lights up. Watch network television today and it would appear that nobody is a smoker.

I've always maintained that some believe that everyone is very intelligent and can make all of their own good choices in all matters (health, finances, consumerism, etc.), while others believe that everyone is really stupid and the government needs to make most choices for them, but the reality is actually somewhere in between those two extremes. But where? Aye, there's the rub.

[BillyMac]

Originally Posted by Camron Rust

... eliminating it doesn't cause harm to anyone.

My Dad would beg to differ with you. Eliminating smoking negatively affected my Dad's quality of life. Claimed he picked up the habit getting free cigarettes from the Army during WWII. For the sake of his grandchildren's health, after forty-five years of smoking, he gave it up cold turkey. But to his dying day (not lung cancer) he said he always missed the cigarette he had with his cup of coffee every night after dinner. After a hard day at the office, it was the favorite part of his day. Caffeine and nicotine. That was good living. It didn't get any better than that for him. The simple pleasures of life.

[thumpferee]

Originally Posted by BillyMac

Too strict, or not strict enough?

Some are floating the idea that after December 23, ,2021, only unvaccinated players (and officials) will have to wear masks.

I would love to know how they plan on figuring that out!

[BillyMac]

Originally Posted by thumpferee

I would love to know how they plan on figuring that out!

While HIPAA only prohibits healthcare providers and healthcare businesses from disclosing protected information to anyone other than a patient without their consent, school systems are not covered by the law, but are covered by ordinary, common sense, privacy laws concerning minors.

School systems can require, by state law, proof of various vaccinations (Diphtheria, Tetanus, & Pertussis, Polio, Chickenpox, Measles, Mumps, & Rubella, Hepatitis B, and Hepatitis A) for attendance, with all allowing medical exemptions, and some allowing religious exemptions.

It wouldn't be too much of a stretch to make COVID vaccinations or masks required for interscholastic sports. Connecticut interscholastic sports already require proof of a recent physical exam in order to participate.

However, for various reasons, I'm fairly certain that this idea won't fly. Maybe voluntary mask wearing, or everybody wearing masks, but nothing beyond that.

Originally Posted by BillyMac

Private businesses are free to do whatever they want to do in terms of "mask discrimination", but schools are government controlled public places, no need to put a "label" on a minor that says "not vaccinated". Adolescents have enough to deal with, even without COVID, no need for unneeded additional stress.

[BillyMac]

Originally Posted by BillyMac

Connecticut interscholastic sports already require proof of a recent physical exam in order to participate.

At the middle school that I taught at, such a mandatory physical exam discovered a previously undetected major heart problem in one of my students who was trying out for cheerleading. Parents told me that it saved her life.

[SNIPERBBB]

NIH is not a credible institution. Name a state or country that has reduced covid by instituting a mask mandate. I read your rediculous study and it's not surprising in its rediculousness if you read it critically. Especially going back and looking at charts of cases that exploded again after that initial reduction claimed by the study

I can show enough charts from the WHO to fill a stadium that shows that there is no corresponding reduction of cases from from the institution. Especially when conparing their results to neighboring states that did not institute mask mandates

Best thing to do for covid is do the normal things to boost your ommuse system, find a doctor that actually treats for covid(not one that tells you to wait till you have to go to the ER and go on a ventilator).

[BillyMac]

Originally Posted by SNIPERBBB

I can show enough charts from the WHO to fill a stadium ...

Big WHO fan, OK, let's hear from WHO:

On June 5, 2020, the WHO released new interim guidance concerning the use of masks amid the COVID-19 pandemic ... For the general public, the use of cloth masks in public settings, such as grocery stores and places of worship, especially in regions with known or suspected widespread transmission, or in situations where physical distancing is not possible, has been encouraged by the WHO and many policy makers.

[BillyMac]

Originally Posted by SNIPERBBB

Best thing to do for covid is do the normal things to boost your immune system ...

... like getting vaccinated.

[thumpferee]

Originally Posted by BillyMac

... like getting vaccinated.

...like getting the virus.

[BillyMac]

Originally Posted by SNIPERBBB

Name a state or country that has reduced covid by instituting a mask mandate.

I can't, but the American Journal of Preventive Medicine can:

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2021-...on-covid-.html

Twenty-seven countries with face mask policies and 17 countries without face mask policies, covering a combined population of nearly one billion people, were included in the study ... The top 50 countries according to the United Nations Development Programme Human Development Index, which measures life expectancy, education, and standard of living, were targeted because of comparability and reduced chance of selection bias. Four countries in the Southern Hemisphere (New Zealand, Australia, Chile, and Argentina) were excluded to avoid potential seasonality characteristics. The United States and Canada were excluded because their public health policies are made at the state/province level and a unified national policy does not exist in those nations. Data from the remaining 44 countries were used to model COVID-19 mortality ... A study of the impact of national face mask laws on COVID-19 mortality in 44 countries with a combined population of nearly one billion people found that over time, the increase in COVID-19 related deaths was significantly slower in countries that imposed mask laws compared to countries that did not. The study, appearing in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, published by Elsevier, shows that masks provide a supplementary layer of protection that could prevent unnecessary COVID-19 deaths.