[ExI] the science might be wrong

[Ben Zaiboc]

On 22/01/2021 19:20, bill w wrote:
>
> https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/more/masking-science-sars-cov2.html
>
> So then, tell me what's wrong with these data?   bill w
>
> On Fri, Jan 22, 2021 at 12:26 PM Ben Zaiboc via extropy-chat 
> <extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org 
> <mailto:extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org>> wrote:
>
>     On 22/01/2021 00:31, Spike wrote:
>     > With masks in particular, data accumulates showing they don't
>     really do much, if anything.  We are seeing plenty of evidence in
>     Florida, comparing counties which require masks with those which
>     do not.  It isn't at all clear they help slow infection rates.
>
>     Well, there's masks and there's masks. The word includes
>     everything from
>     a closely-fitted medical mask with a filter that is probably pretty
>     effective, to a flimsy piece of cloth or paper with no seal at all
>     with
>     the wearer's skin, which is completely ineffective. Not to mention
>     that
>     if people have to be told to wear their masks around their noses
>     as well
>     as their mouths, or "Don't wear your mask on your chin", you can be
>     pretty sure that a lot of them might as well not be wearing any
>     mask at
>     all. I've stopped noticing the people wearing masks with big gaps
>     between their cheeks and the mask, but I'd say that probably most
>     people
>     who wear them might as well not be.
>
>     Just as with statistics about deaths, statistics about masks are
>     pretty
>     useless. At least as useless as the masks themselves, probably more.
>

Absolutely nothing, as it stands.

The problem is, it's talking about a situation that doesn't exist. A 
hypothetical situation in which people are all wearing double-layered 
cloth masks (far from the truth, certainly where I live), properly (also 
far from the truth), and consistently following proper sterile technique 
(laughably far from the truth).

So while there's nothing wrong with the article in theory, theoretical 
is exactly what it is, and it's theory breaks down instantly in the real 
world, because it's assumptions are wrong.

-- 
Ben Zaiboc

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