Basically, wanted to know where people are at with mask wearing (as it relates to containing covid and all), I know it’s been a while since it started. And I’ve seen people who say covid can still be threatening, like through long covid and such, even if the initial impact doesn’t tend to be as bad. Being in the US, it’s especially hard to tell what makes sense because the gov sorta gave up on containment a while back and only ever half-assed pushing mask wearing. And wearing a mask alone was a controversial thing in some places, even in the very beginning. Then there’s vaccines, which of course help, but seems to be a thing like the flu where you have to get boosters to be fully covered for variant strains.

So in general, I’m wondering stuff like:

  1. Do you still wear a mask or not and why? And do you have distinctions like large crowds or anything like that?

  2. How does mask wearing compare by country, from what you know? For example, I’m sure China has a more pro-mask-wearing culture and policy overall, but I’m not clear on where they’re at this late into it.

Partly asking cause I want to re-assess my own position on it, see if it makes sense to change it at all by now. I’ve still been doing it, in part out of inertia, but the US management of it is such a mess, in gov and culture, it’s hard to tell when it makes sense to stop vs. just caving to peer pressure of people who were never acting responsibly to begin with.

  • IHave69XiBucks@lemmygrad.ml
    16·
    3 months ago

    I want to preface what im about to say by saying i do wear a mask, and think everyone should.

    I think that the focus on masking was a misdirect similar to how the powerful will push personal responsibility about the climate to combat systemic issues. While yes masking is effective and important it means we are relying on the lowest common denominator of dumbasses to do the right thing. Which never works out well.

    I think that a much better solution would be to have buildings like stores where large crowds gather indoors with air filtration systems, and UV overhead sanitation lighting. Especially at entrances and exits. Its been proven such measures make a big difference. You could easily incorporate UV lighting into normal light fixtures and effectively sanitize every surface in a building constantly. Air filtration is already in most buildings AC systems and could be retrofitted to filter for viral bodies. Most people would not even notice these things happening. People should still be encouraged to mask especially when they are sick, but solutions that do not rely on an individual doing the proper thing are much more reliable.

    The reason they don’t get pushed is that they cost money, and companies and governments do not want to do them. But when Biden was going to campaign events they brought portable air filters to keep the air in the buildings he was in clean so they are clearly aware of these solutions.

    Also in this same vein vaccines during the height of covid were made free for those without insurance but i do not think that is the case anymore. Vaccination combined with those other solutions even without proper masking would massively reduce spread, and the fact it hasnt been done is simply a systemic issue.