Just think what kind of "herd immunity" we could build up if everyone just wore a mask for one year.

[joetheman]

What annual infections would we be killing off? How much healthier would we all be? How much would production increase and lower costs and expenses for time off for illness? What other infections might we kill off in addition to COVID-19?

We don't like big Pharma for their price gouging but how much would they be harmed if we all were much healthier? We could force them to lower prices or go out of business with our healthiness.

We could clean up some of pollution of our waterways with less use of drugs and prescriptions for infections.
Maybe no need for more vaccines for childhood diseases that anti-vaxxers hate?

But what would the toll be on our economy if Pharma and physicians lost all that revenue from a healthier society?

Just thinking in texting.

[Fiendish Thingy]

1. Mask wearing doesn't create "herd immunity" it only reduces infections

There are only two ways to achieve true herd immunity- through the vaccination of a substantial majority (80-90%) of the population, or via actual infection of the same amount of people.

Wearing masks alone would not create herd immunity as, once the masks came off, people would be susceptible to infection once again. Certain viruses might “die off” due to reduced infection rates, but the population would not be “immune” should those viruses re-emerge.

[Wounded Bear]

2. This. Mask wearing merely slows down the rate of spread...

which is an important goal, of course, but real herd immunity requires either high levels of vaccination or allowing it to spread so far that everybody likely to die from it does.

[joetheman]

3. Yes, i know. But what about "herd inopportunity?" No place for infections to live and reproduce.

Denial of breeding quarters?

[Fiendish Thingy]

7. As I stated, denial of opportunity reduces infection rates, but does not create immunity. Nt

[prodigitalson]

4. That would do the opposite. nt

[RegularJam]

5. Do you have herd immunity in quotation marks because you don't actually mean heard immunity...

Or anything even close to the definition of herd immunity? I'm not sure I understand what role it would have with respect to your op.

[FakeNoose]

6. Is there such a thing as herd immunity for colds & flu?

I don't think so, but I don't really know. Most winters I've usually gotten 2, maybe 3 colds, especially when I was working in an office. I'm retired now, and I stayed home all year because of Covid. Didn't we all? It was rare when I went out last year/winter but I always wore a mask when I did go out.

The result was no colds, no flu, no Covid! Now that I'm vaccinated I hope to never get Covid, but I do believe the winter colds are still a possibility. Time will tell, I guess.

[beaglelover]

8. We already have been wearing a mask for 1 year.

The time has come to stop wearing masks if one is fully vaccinated. There is no need to.