<html><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body dir="auto"><div dir="ltr"><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><div dir="ltr"><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><div dir="ltr"><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><div dir="ltr"><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><div dir="ltr"><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><div dir="ltr"><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><div dir="ltr"><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><div dir="ltr"><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><div dir="ltr">I’m with Dave Sill on this one. Burden is minuscule, potential benefits huge. I don’t think it’s all or nothing with mask effectiveness. It’s a matter of degree. A mask that has some gap may not be as effective as a sealed, fitted N95, but it’s better than nothing—depending on other factors like proximity, ventilation/air exchange. </div><div dir="ltr"><br></div><div dir="ltr">Here’s a new study </div><div dir="ltr"><a href="https://www.medpagetoday.com/infectiousdisease/covid19/90765">https://www.medpagetoday.com/infectiousdisease/covid19/90765 </a></div><div dir="ltr"><br></div><div dir="ltr"><a href="https://www.thelancet.com/journals/landig/article/PIIS2589-7500(20)30293-4/fulltext">https://www.thelancet.com/journals/landig/article/PIIS2589-7500(20)30293-4/fulltext</a></div><div dir="ltr"><br></div><div dir="ltr">And a Commentary from The Lancet </div><div dir="ltr"><h1 class="article-header__title" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 1.5rem; margin: 0px 0px 15px; font-weight: 300; line-height: 2rem; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Source Sans Pro", sans-serif; -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;"><span style="font-size: 1.5rem;">Face masks help control transmission of COVID-19</span></h1></div><div dir="ltr"><a href="https://www.thelancet.com/journals/landig/article/PIIS2589-7500(21)00003-0/fulltext">https://www.thelancet.com/journals/landig/article/PIIS2589-7500(21)00003-0/fulltext</a></div><div dir="ltr"><br></div><div dir="ltr">Six studies are referenced. </div><div dir="ltr"><br></div><div dir="ltr">More support: </div><div dir="ltr"><a href="https://hms.harvard.edu/news/mask-slow-down-sars-cov-2-0">https://hms.harvard.edu/news/mask-slow-down-sars-cov-2-0</a></div><div dir="ltr"><br></div><div dir="ltr">Has anyone seen these and their variants?</div><div dir="ltr"><br></div><div dir="ltr"><img src="cid:10C1A635-7ABE-4D6C-B70E-8B692EEE5C1B-L0-001"></div><div dir="ltr"><br></div><div dir="ltr"><img src="cid:DB8713FF-0880-4231-95C3-695839C84093-L0-001"><br></div><div dir="ltr"><br></div><div dir="ltr">I think they have some face validity (no pun intended), dare I say show common sense? Again, I’m thinking probabilities here. Would you take your chances in a small room for 15 mins with someone who was covid + if you and them were unmasked if you had the option of one or both of you in a mask? Masks may not be that great, but I’d take the option of one or both of us in a mask because I know a physical barrier intercepting droplets has to stop some of the potential contaminants even if some get around it. But that could still equate to reduced risk of infection relative to if there was no barrier. That plus good physical distance could make the difference between getting infected and not. Maybe using covid in that example is inadequate. Too many people are not really scared of covid. What if it was smallpox which has a 30% fatality rate? Would you go unmasked saying your odds of were the same as if you were both masked since masks are useless?</div><div dir="ltr"><br></div><div dir="ltr">I read that Singapore as a society learned from SARS and H1N1 to mask early in the covid-19 spread and was spared significantly. They also has adequate supplies on hand: On <span style="caret-color: rgb(26, 26, 26); color: rgb(26, 26, 26); font-family: BreveText, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; letter-spacing: 0.1080000028014183px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">January 20, Taiwan’s equivalent of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced that it had “44 million surgical masks, 1.9 million N95 masks, and 1,100 negative pressure isolation rooms” ready to go, according to an </span><a class="external-link" data-event-click="{"element":"ExternalLink","outgoingURL":"https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2762689"}" href="https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2762689" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; cursor: pointer; color: rgb(26, 26, 26); transition: color 200ms ease; line-height: inherit; caret-color: rgb(26, 26, 26); font-family: BreveText, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; letter-spacing: 0.1080000028014183px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;">article</a><span style="caret-color: rgb(26, 26, 26); color: rgb(26, 26, 26); font-family: BreveText, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; letter-spacing: 0.1080000028014183px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> in the </span><em style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: inherit; caret-color: rgb(26, 26, 26); color: rgb(26, 26, 26); font-family: BreveText, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; letter-spacing: 0.1080000028014183px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;">Journal of the American Medical Association</em><span style="caret-color: rgb(26, 26, 26); color: rgb(26, 26, 26); font-family: BreveText, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; letter-spacing: 0.1080000028014183px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">. Masks became National mandate there on April 14 “when stepping out of the house with some exceptions.” They delivered masks to all their citizens prior to the announcement. Singapore doesn’t mess around when it comes to enforcement of laws:</span></div><div dir="ltr"><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 25px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: Merriweather, serif; font-size: 0.875rem; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.7857142857; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;"><span style="font-size: 0.875rem;">“Individuals who are caught refusing to wear a mask will be fined S$300 on their first offence, while those who flout the rule a second time will be fined S$1,000. Egregious cases will be prosecuted in court... </span><span style="font-size: 0.875rem;">Foreign residents caught breaching these rules might have their work passes or permanent resident status revoked.”</span></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 25px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: Merriweather, serif; font-size: 0.875rem; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.7857142857; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(26, 26, 26); color: rgb(26, 26, 26); font-family: BreveText, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; letter-spacing: 0.1080000028014183px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">They also locked down much of society and promoted distancing, with enforcement: “</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-size: 0.875rem;">According to the Ministry of Health, nearly 3,000 enforcement officers and ambassadors from more than 30 agencies have been deployed daily to public spaces in HDB estates across the island, to ensure that safe distancing measures are kept to.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 25px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: Merriweather, serif; font-size: 0.875rem; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.7857142857; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(26, 26, 26); color: rgb(26, 26, 26); font-family: BreveText, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; letter-spacing: 0.1080000028014183px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">They contained it pretty well going by this </span></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 25px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: Merriweather, serif; font-size: 0.875rem; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.7857142857; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(26, 26, 26); color: rgb(26, 26, 26); font-family: BreveText, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; letter-spacing: 0.1080000028014183px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><img src="cid:2EFCBEF7-42CE-482A-87E6-CF26C91D4498-L0-001"><br></span></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 25px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: Merriweather, serif; font-size: 0.875rem; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.7857142857; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(26, 26, 26); color: rgb(26, 26, 26); font-family: BreveText, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; letter-spacing: 0.1080000028014183px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Not perfect but enviable compared to the US. How much of that can be attributed to masks? I don’t know of course. But the cost of not masking is high if masks can make a difference, so why chance it.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 25px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: Merriweather, serif; font-size: 0.875rem; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.7857142857; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(26, 26, 26); color: rgb(26, 26, 26); font-family: BreveText, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; letter-spacing: 0.1080000028014183px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">-Henry </span></p></div><div dir="ltr"><blockquote type="cite">On Jan 22, 2021, at 3:21 PM, spike jones via extropy-chat <extropy-chat@lists.extropy.org> wrote:<br><br></blockquote></div><blockquote type="cite"><div dir="ltr"><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 15 (filtered medium)"><style><!--
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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--><div class="WordSection1"><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p><div style="border:none;border-top:solid #E1E1E1 1.0pt;padding:3.0pt 0in 0in 0in"><p class="MsoNormal"><b>…</b>> <b>On Behalf Of </b>William Flynn Wallace via extropy-chat<br><b>Subject:</b> Re: [ExI] the science might be wrong<o:p></o:p></p></div><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p><div><div><p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">>>…<span style="color:#222222"> I am a machine life form- spike </span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">>…<span style="color:#222222">- </span></span><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Comic Sans MS";color:#222222">and a rare one too - Made In America bill </span><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Comic Sans MS"">w<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Comic Sans MS"">Ah yes, a kindhearted comment by a fellow driver of American made cars. We both think highly of our American-made products.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Comic Sans MS"">But there is more. I still think I might have caught an early case of covid. I have not been tested for antibodies and refuse to go to the hospital to find out: too dangerous. So I will assign it about a 30% possibility, but whatever was that condition which kept me sick for nearly two months was unlike anything I have ever had before.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Comic Sans MS"">There were long term effects such as change of personality. I used to be such a turd bird. It is the opposite of what happened to Alice Cooper: now it’s more Mister Nice Guy. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Comic Sans MS""><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KN6ngThqMEs">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KN6ngThqMEs</a><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Comic Sans MS"">I open doors for little old ladies, unlike Cooper who started out doing that and stopped when he suffered abuse which caused him cynicism, as described in the song. With me, it’s more Mister Clean, my dog stopped biting me, the cat stopped clawing my eyes, the works. I fear it is a lasting impact of that virus: a personality change caused all this.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Comic Sans MS"">I will grant that the little old ladies I help don’t look nearly as old to me as they once did. But I digress. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Comic Sans MS""><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Comic Sans MS"">spike<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Comic Sans MS""><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Comic Sans MS""><o:p> </o:p></span></p></div></div></div><span>_______________________________________________</span><br><span>extropy-chat mailing list</span><br><span>extropy-chat@lists.extropy.org</span><br><span>http://lists.extropy.org/mailman/listinfo.cgi/extropy-chat</span><br></div></blockquote></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></body></html>