> Maybe someone should have said "Hey, we don't know for sure, we've never studied it -- but they use cloth masks in Asia and they have more experience than we do
Nah.
Putting any filter between 2 people are going to reduce particle exchange. Even bad filter would do.
Isn't this just physics regardless of whether it's classical or quantum?
Asian countries don't have greater insight. It's common sense. Someone coughs at us. We put anything on our face to reduce the particles reaching us. Somehow you tried to argue that this was a recent scientific discovery.
We can agree to disagree.
The fact remains. Fauci could have easily recommended bandana or any type of face covering. He didn't. He even admitted he lied for the greater good. He didn't even think of bandana. And this is the best person we have in US...
> Putting any filter between 2 people are going to reduce particle exchange. Even bad filter would do.
That's really not true though.
Early speculation included aerosol transmission, which is not effectively stopped by cloth.
Anyone strongly endorsing cloth for aerosol containment would have been wrong, and blamed for misleading the public, and lost their job, probably.
Current estimates put cloth masks at a ~15% reduction in transmission by droplet. This is significant and important and makes them worth wearing! But if it had been aerosols, they would be <1% effective. And if people believed them to be effective, more people would have been infected.
We will disagree on whether Fauci lied. I believe that he did not lie, although I do believe he was duty-bound to speak when no one had perfect information, and that some of the things he said were misinterpreted.
I never read anything from him that communicated "masks do not work". I did read "masks are not perfect, most people don't know how to use them correctly (N95), they are awkward and uncomfortable to use properly, they are essential for health care workers, they are in short supply, and having a false sense of security is dangerous". This is the message I took from him last spring. Although I was definitely aware of the dishonest noise in the air, it was not coming from Fauci.
I wish he had been in possession of perfect information, and had been able to communicate it with perfect clarity, and without interference from batshit-crazy alternaquacks. No one else was better though. Many were far worse.
> We will disagree on whether Fauci lied. I believe that he did not lie, although I do believe he was duty-bound to speak when no one had perfect information, and that some of the things he said were misinterpreted.
Two points that are worth repeating;
1. The precautionary principle. We should be more cautious. This is crisis management 101. It was way more likely that masks would help than not.
2. Fauci admitted he lied as in he didn't regret anything because of the PPE shortage. Not because he thought masks didn't work. This implied he believed masks worked but didn't want to say it out loud.
> But if it had been aerosols, they would be <1% effective.
If it was aerosol, many many more people would be infected. It would have been 10x. This was already unlikely back them.
Again, with the lack of data, we should have been more cautious. Not less cautious.
Even aerosol was true, wearing masks would still be better.
"False sense of security" is mostly a myth. It's a pandemic. We could have done both social distancing and wearing masks.
Not sure why you assume wearing masks and other activities are mutually exclusive.
Just because I wear a firefighter suit doesn't mean I will run toward every fire I see. Be real.
Nah.
Putting any filter between 2 people are going to reduce particle exchange. Even bad filter would do.
Isn't this just physics regardless of whether it's classical or quantum?
Asian countries don't have greater insight. It's common sense. Someone coughs at us. We put anything on our face to reduce the particles reaching us. Somehow you tried to argue that this was a recent scientific discovery.
We can agree to disagree.
The fact remains. Fauci could have easily recommended bandana or any type of face covering. He didn't. He even admitted he lied for the greater good. He didn't even think of bandana. And this is the best person we have in US...