Hello Gondwanaland,
They are direct numbers from official sources. No spin. The literal definition of realistic as they represent reality.
So why are we seeing identical curves, if mask mandates work? If they work, we would expect to see the effects of them.
The curves from every single nation are not shown. Other factors beside masks have not been ruled out. It is a bogus argument. It is not convincing.
There are other factors besides masks. That cannot be ignored. Any conclusion which ignores that is not valid. It is not scientific to begin with a conclusion and then find data which supports it. Selected instances are not convincing. To be truly scientific it would have to include data from all nations, and rule out other factors besides masks. That cannot be done. Essentially, it is not possible to prove masks work or don't work.
Since the medial consensus is that they do work, that is what should be followed. Surgeons wear masks in an OR for a reason. To avoid infection. Since mask wearing has become common, the common cold has been reduced. That alone suggests masks are effective in reducing transmission.
People are not arguing against mask usage because they don't think it works. They argue against it because they personally don't like wearing masks.
There is no proving it either way, so the wise course of action is to err on the side of caution.
Wearing masks isn't going to hurt anybody, but not wearing them can definitely result in death.
So we wear them.
Those who fight it are thrown off of airplanes, fired from jobs, and not appreciated in public settings. This is serious. This is not be done for bogus reasons. We are fighting a killer. Mask rules are in place for a reason. That reason is valid.
There is growing frustration with the anti mask, anti vax position. There is a very wide belief that we could get control of the pandemic if we unite in our effort to combat it. If we all acted in unison to prevent the spread of the virus, we can get control of the pandemic. We can get our lives back.
Fighting against the united effort to combat the pandemic is seen as fighting for death, fighting for the spread of the virus, prolonging the pandemic. It is becoming increasingly unpopular.
We will conquer this and get our lives back. Those who refuse to be a part of the solution are seen as part of the problem. That is not appreciated at all. People are tired of this. We will prevail. The only unknown is how long it will take. That depends on how long it takes to get the hold-outs to come around.
Medical professionals are getting pretty tired of hearing dying people say they wish they got vaccinated, wish they could back up in time and do it before they got infected.
That would be hard to take after a while. Especially after we began to make progress in the spring, and then too many restrictions were lifted too quickly, too few got vaccinated, and the pandemic came right back, now even stronger than ever. ICU's are full. Nearly all the people on ventilators are not vaccinated. That situation is completely preventable.
It's pretty hard to fight a war when a certain contingent of your troops are actively working to help the enemy.
We need to be united on this to put forward our best effort.
It's pretty hard to understand the coldness it must take to casually disregard the lives of others.
The message to the hold outs needs to be clear: Join the effort to eradicate coronavirus. Give it your best. Unite with your fellow humans against our common enemy.
Doing nothing is not going to get us out of the pandemic.
