Here's another nail in the casket of mask uselessness:
In China there is a natural experiment just concluding now that strongly supports the futility of masks in reducing covid transmission: Draconian behavioral restrictions were in force from the beginning of the pandemic until early December 2022. Around that time the CCP and Chinese p…
Here's another nail in the casket of mask uselessness:
In China there is a natural experiment just concluding now that strongly supports the futility of masks in reducing covid transmission: Draconian behavioral restrictions were in force from the beginning of the pandemic until early December 2022. Around that time the CCP and Chinese public health authorities finally caved to the inevitable: Their zero covid policies were no longer tenable. Under the former policy, many cities had to be shut down by putting a large number of residents into semi-permanent house arrest. Economies suffered, people suffered. The damage to the economy was obvious, in addition to disasters such as the apartment fire resulting in many deaths because quarantined residents could't escape the flames.
In the natural experiment starting around December 6 or 7, 2022, many restrictions were lifted, except masking when outside of home. i.e. The variable of interest -- masking -- continued when all other major restrictions were lifted. The outbreak curve from December through present looks like the contour of Eiger north face. I don't have vetted data, but I've seen reports of 800 million to a billion covid cases in the PRC from early December 2022 to present. Based on this experience, it's impossible to argue that masks are a "critical public health tool" in controlling the spread of covid. I would point out that in general, the Chinese citizenry is compliant with mask usage, likely much more than the practice in the USA, even at the worst of the outbreak here. Were's the flattened outbreak curve in China?
We need to bury masking mandates in the graveyard of bad ideas.
Here's another nail in the casket of mask uselessness:
In China there is a natural experiment just concluding now that strongly supports the futility of masks in reducing covid transmission: Draconian behavioral restrictions were in force from the beginning of the pandemic until early December 2022. Around that time the CCP and Chinese public health authorities finally caved to the inevitable: Their zero covid policies were no longer tenable. Under the former policy, many cities had to be shut down by putting a large number of residents into semi-permanent house arrest. Economies suffered, people suffered. The damage to the economy was obvious, in addition to disasters such as the apartment fire resulting in many deaths because quarantined residents could't escape the flames.
In the natural experiment starting around December 6 or 7, 2022, many restrictions were lifted, except masking when outside of home. i.e. The variable of interest -- masking -- continued when all other major restrictions were lifted. The outbreak curve from December through present looks like the contour of Eiger north face. I don't have vetted data, but I've seen reports of 800 million to a billion covid cases in the PRC from early December 2022 to present. Based on this experience, it's impossible to argue that masks are a "critical public health tool" in controlling the spread of covid. I would point out that in general, the Chinese citizenry is compliant with mask usage, likely much more than the practice in the USA, even at the worst of the outbreak here. Were's the flattened outbreak curve in China?
We need to bury masking mandates in the graveyard of bad ideas.