Masks are very cheap insurance, actually for most free

[dsc]

Imagine you were owned a house and there was a 1 in 1,000,000 risk that the house would be destroyed along with every inanimate item in it. But for $3 you could buy a devise that would reduce that risk to 1 in 1,000,000,000. Even though if your house and its contents are worth less than $3,000,000 this is a bad economic deal nearly all of us would do this, since the downside is so awful. Now imagine a 2nd person came to you with a $10,000 device that eliminated the now 1 in 1,000,000,000 risk. Likely no one would buy this device since your house would have to be worth $10 trillion to make this an economically good investment. To me masks is the first device while social distancing is the 2nd.

The fact is there is some risk, almost certainly unknowable as to the exact risk, of a vaccine resistant variant developing. It is also a fact that every case that happens represents an increase in that risk. So the lower the number of cases, even asymptomatic ones, the lower the risk of the variant. That leads to the following.

Ideally I think we should have vaccine passports and a mask mandate that lasts forever for the non vaccinated. That clearly isn't going to happen. So that leaves us some less ideal options.

Pfizer's vaccine was approved 12 and above just last week. That is a 3 week between shot vaccine. So assume that it takes 2 weeks to decide to get the vaccine and make an appointment for the vaccine. That is 5 weeks, add one for good measure and you get the following.

Have a mask mandate for everyone until either 27 June or until 70% of the 12 and over population of the state is vaccinated whichever comes first.

Cheap insurance.

[Hugin]

1. KnR n/t

[Elessar Zappa]

2. I like your idea.

It may have been better to leave the mandate for a tad bit longer.

[KS Toronado]

3. Believe the CDC's new mask guidelines were premature.

Better safe than sorry. Any uptick in cases and the non-masker Qpublicans will be blaming Biden/CDC.

[HUAJIAO]

5. That may be part of their game plan.

More virus-bad Joe.
Worse economy because of more virus-bad Joe.

etc
etc

[AZSkiffyGeek]

14. Dr Fauci and the CDC are working to undermine Biden?

[HUAJIAO]

15. No, of course not ! Republicans. Please read the post I replied to again -- Republicans...

[OhioChick]

16. Agree 100% n/t

[Kahuna]

19. I'm also one of those better safe than sorry people. I don't mind that I may

need to continue to mask, if it means safety for others.

[FakeNoose]

4. Absolutely the school-age kids are going to insist on getting vaccinated

I believe the kids are going to push this, and their parents will finally see the light and get vaccinated too. Let's hope that will be the case.

[Jon King]

6. How about an exercise and healthy eating mandate?

I truly wish I understood this obsession with masks. The science worked, the vaccines work. Who the heck cares what others do or do not do. Just get vaccinated and almost all the risk is gone for you. You want to wear a mask after vaccination, whatever floats your boat. But lets stop worrying about how others do their thing.

So many Americans die of obesity related diseases, poor eating, sedentary lifestyles.

Instead of obsessing on masks we should spend multi millions trying to convince people to eat right and exercise.

[beaglelover]

9. TRUTH!!!! The majority of COVID deaths were among the very old and the obese.

[USALiberal]

28. Still trying? Nt

[CommonHumanity]

11. Variants

Yes obesity, lifestyle choices, etc. have a place in considering personal and national health challenges and indicators. However, when talking about Covid and the associated mask/unmask debate, the MOST important issue is the threat posed by VARIANTS.

As stated in the OP:

"There is some risk, almost certainly unknowable as to the exact risk, of a vaccine-resistant variant developing. It is also a fact that every case that happens represents an increase in that risk. So the lower the number of cases, even asymptomatic ones, the lower the risk of the variant."

You state "The science worked, the vaccines work."

Like you, I respect the science, but bear in mind, our knowledge of the danger posed by potential variants is founded in science as well. Yes, the vaccines defeat the current variants, but future variants may elude the vaccine. Yes, scientists may develop boosters to defeat variants, but much sickness and loss of life could occur while we wait for a booster or wait for people to receive the booster. Do we really want to risk unleashing a dangerous variant simply because we can't handle wearing a mask until GLOBAL virus cases are way down?

Why oh why in the world would we want to take this risk when masking and associated precautions can do so much to avoid it ever coming to pass? The logic eludes me. We could potentially have a vaccine-resistant variant lead to more lockdowns, sickness, economic loss, etc., etc. Likely? Maybe not, but what the hell is the point of playing with fire when the stakes are so high and the actions needed to mitigate the risk so minor in the scheme of things? I DO NOT GET IT. In fact, to me, not continuing to mask seems unimaginably foolhardy.

[Yavin4]

18. TX and FLA lifted all mask mandates and other mitigation measures back in early March.

It's been over two months, and there is no surge in hospitalizations or deaths. No surge in variants. Nothing. The trend lines for their cases, hospitalizations, and deaths mirrors that of states like CA and NY which have more stringent measures in place.

[Skittles]

24. most businesses continued to require masks

FYI

[Yavin4]

29. Like the Texas Rangers that re-opened their stadium. A business like that?

"The Texas Rangers opened Globe Life Field a month ago. There’s been no COVID spike"

The Rangers started the season as the only MLB team to open their ballpark to full capacity in the midst of a pandemic, and the Rangers and Matwick have been in the cross hairs of those still fearful that a large crowd will cause a COVID spike.

More than a month after the April 5 home opener, though, cases in Tarrant County are on the decline.

“I don’t believe that I’ve seen a spike in cases based on the numbers I read in the papers every day, so that’s encouraging,” Matwick said earlier this week. “Like all of us I’m looking at great interest in the numbers to see if there’s been any type of significant increase, but also because I want to see them go down. I’m an interested observer, like so many of us, because I want to see the virus eradicated. There’s still work to be done.”

https://www.star-telegram.com/sports/mlb/texas-rangers/article251216364.html

[Skittles]

32. I didn't they ALL did

Texas *IS* red

https://www.mlb.com/news/texas-rangers-will-not-require-masks-for-fans

[Skittles]

21. "the logic eludes me"

I hear you.....too many people are behaving like the ultimate goal was to stop masking, instead of containing a pandemic

as for the CDC - well, this is not the first time they have dropped the covid ball

[Skittles]

13. who the heck cares what others do?

doctors, nurses, first responders, etc

IT'S NOT JUST ABOUT YOU

[OhioChick]

17. What about the burned out healthcare workers that have to deal with these people? n/t

[TexasBushwhacker]

22. Actually, a game changer is on the horizon for the treatment of obesity

They are in phase 3 tests of a higher dosage of the drug semaglutide (Trulicity/Ozempic).

https://www.pharmacytimes.com/view/study-anti-obesity-medication-twice-as-effective-as-most-weight-loss-drugs

I've struggled with my weight for about 25 years and part of the struggle is having to stop eating before I feel full in order to lose any significant weight and hitting plateaus where weight loss comes to a grinding halt. Semaglutide is an anoretic without being an amphetamine. It helps to control blood sugar and A1C as well.

[madville]

23. Masks have become an obsession with some folks

Some kind of virtuous symbol that they aren’t willing to let go. Get vaccinated and either wear or don’t wear one, I don’t care what anyone else does because it’s their right to decide what risks they are willing to take.

[Skittles]

26. once again

this affects doctors, nurses, first responders

it's not all about YOU

the goal is not to stop masking, it's to CONTAIN A PANDEMIC

[madville]

33. But states that have lifted mask mandates haven't seen any

Significant spikes in their numbers, some are actually doing better than states with stricter masking mandates. Don’t know why people are so focused on masks when there isn’t much indication at this point that that single policy has had a significant effect. They are more of a symbol and obsession at this point.

[Skittles]

34. so I guess the maskholes were right

[madville]

35. Masks do very little for vaccinated people

Dr. Fauci was just talking about this in defense of the new CDC guidelines. Basically stated that vaccinated people that still get Covid are almost always asymptomatic and therefore it is very unlikely they are able to spread the virus so masks don’t do anything for them or to protect others.

I trust the experts and Dr. Fauci said the science is always evolving. Im sure many vaccinated people will still feel safer with a mask as far as COVID goes, there’s nothing wrong with that if it makes them feel better.

[hlthe2b]

7. Ironically when N95s were so hard to get and my colleagues were re-wearing them beyond

any safety or likely efficacy, I went to a distributor the hospital had stopped using (in an apparent acrimonious "split," ) opened an account with my personal credit card, explained what I was trying to do, and asked them to send as many as they could, whenever they could. They seemed happy to help me send a message to the powers that be at my hospital. While I did get about a couple dozen boxes over the past year, I just now got another dozen...LOL. I told them I'd happily distribute them but to put my continuing order on hold for now. Great timing. But, still, good news (and as long as that rep works for that distributor, I've got a source)

[fescuerescue]

8. I don't think I would call them insurance

More like risk reduction.

[BobTheSubgenius]

10. The vaccination program could go on forever, although at a much reduced rate.

Every child under 12 should have vaccine available once they age across that threshold.

[rogue emissary]

12. This is a great framing for continued mask wearing.

[Yavin4]

20. If you lay in bed all day wrapping yourself up in bubble wrap, you eliminate a lot of risks as well.

Right?

[Skittles]

25. and your point is?

[dsc]

27. and that would be exceptionally high cost

the fact is masks are basically free since most everyone has reusable ones which they simply wash. Basically for another 6 weeks piece of cloth that costs them nothings. In return we make it less likely that a variant appears that forces us to shut complete down again at a cost of trillions. We have significant portions of our population who isn't vaccinated through no fault of their own. In many states the drop to 16 only happened quite recently and the drop to 12 was last week. That means a significant number of people who are vulnerable to infection and are not going to wear masks often. Those people are potential vectors for infection, and while they are likely to infect each other, that could wind up a problem if a variation occurs. I fail to see why we wouldn't wear masks for a few more weeks to avoid that.

[Yavin4]

31. Question. Why haven't we seen spikes in cases, hospitalizations, or deaths in Texas?

The Texas Rangers opened Globe Life Field a month ago. There’s been no COVID spike

More than a month after the April 5 home opener, though, cases in Tarrant County are on the decline.

“I don’t believe that I’ve seen a spike in cases based on the numbers I read in the papers every day, so that’s encouraging,” Matwick said earlier this week. “Like all of us I’m looking at great interest in the numbers to see if there’s been any type of significant increase, but also because I want to see them go down. I’m an interested observer, like so many of us, because I want to see the virus eradicated. There’s still work to be done.”

[USALiberal]

30. Silly! Nt