Belief systems are hard to break. Many trusted in their masks, if they became ill - not the fault of the mask, no illness - masks worked. The science of "it ought to work (or help)" to reduce transmission was widely held. Few understood particle sizes, those who did then cited electrostatics to claim trapping. Our hypocrisy is revealed by not treating masks as hazardous waste - should we have required special containers in every home?
Worse, many are concerned that masks might actually be harmful. What about breathing in all those plastic/fabric pieces? Mishandling as seen in the Danmask study might even cause infection!
But the talisman lives on protecting the believers and wearing them affirms membership in a society (of fools). Even mockery is ineffective in reducing faith. Science has failed.
Cross-posting my comment from another blog as it seems apropos.
Can courage, judgement and critical thinking triumph over fear and social contagion? That is on my mind today.
I’m a physician and department chair at a large academic medical center. Today, while on call in the hospital, I’m sitting here looking at a sizable minority of my colleagues and trainees still going about their duties fully masked…and I’m bewildered! We are now 4 weeks out from California’s “careful and thoughtful analysis” of pandemic trends, yielding an end to THE STATE OF EMERGENCY, and allowing hospitals to rescind their mask mandates. After reams of data capped off by the recent Cochrane Review showed the utter failure of masks, I felt certain we would all happily discard our face diapers to the dustbin, saving them only for the woodshop or the occasional trip to the attic. Yet here I sit, looking around at these young physicians (and yes, age and eagerness to mask is inversely proportional), apparently America’s best and brightest, still dutifully affixing this totem to their faces. These are supposed to be scientists…formidable thinkers! I swear these people started smart, and we broke them. We took excellent raw material, and we wasted it. My questions to them:
1. Are your actions informed by facts?
2. Are your beliefs falsifiable?
If both can’t be answered yes, you are not hirable by me (and I am in a position to hire physicians).
I wrote this text to one of my partners.
“Ya know…
People who persist in masking, after the pandemic is over, after the stupid state rules have finally been revoked, after multiple publications have shown that they do and did nothing …
I consider it a very good indicator of a lack of critical thinking skills, poor judgment, irrational risk aversion, and at best, cowardice to stand for the truth.
I would not want to hire anyone in that group. As far as I’m concerned, they probably don’t belong in a field of science. I no longer trust them to make rational decisions, and rational decisions are the underpinnings of everything we do”.
Is this too harsh?
So my question - how can we change this? How can we escape this death spiral? I read my Prasad, my eugyppius, my el gato malo, Taibbi, Sasha, Free Press, VDH, and others. All excellent in chronicling the spiral and pointing out hypocrisy, but light on specific ways to regain our footing. Are these thought patterns baked into much of the population, especially the younger generations? I remain cynical about reversal. Is now the time to panic?
Vinay, I know you do not read these. But this is dead right as you know. Most of us in medicine know this is true (at least many of us do). Cannot we find SOMEONE with an even larger bully pulpit to report on this and make them look like the fools they are? So frustrating.
Let us all know when this gets accepted/rejected, please.
Vinay, I would use a different vocabulary than you. I would say that the broad confidence limits indicate that published research to date has NOT proved the efficacy of masks in decreasing the spread of respiratory viruses. However, these statistics do NOT prove that another study done with different populations, perhaps different masks, perhaps with different protocols might show efficacy. I believe that the likelihood of efficacy being proven in the future is very unlikely and I join you in deeply regretting the kowtowing of the Cochrane editor to pressure from the public health mainstream which clearly panicked with the publication of this study. They should host a discussion with fair representation of both sides. It is astonishing to me that so many healthcare institutions are still either requiring or pressuring patients and staff to mask up. I sincerely believe that they do not want to admit that they have been so deeply mistaken for the last three years.
"You literally never say it elsewhere. It speaks so poorly of you to be inconsistent." C'mon. The answer to this is so simple. How consistent can one be while having their head on a swivel to kiss multiple tushes? Vertigo. One of the words to define vertigo is inconsistency.
I was recently at a family wedding with some relativrs ( smart and lovely people ) who were 75 years plus who told me they were shocked that no one wore masks on the airline like they did on their cross country flights. They told me how careful they always are when they travel. I then asked them “then why don’t you have a mask on right now at this cocktail reception?“
Belief systems are hard to break. Many trusted in their masks, if they became ill - not the fault of the mask, no illness - masks worked. The science of "it ought to work (or help)" to reduce transmission was widely held. Few understood particle sizes, those who did then cited electrostatics to claim trapping. Our hypocrisy is revealed by not treating masks as hazardous waste - should we have required special containers in every home?
Worse, many are concerned that masks might actually be harmful. What about breathing in all those plastic/fabric pieces? Mishandling as seen in the Danmask study might even cause infection!
But the talisman lives on protecting the believers and wearing them affirms membership in a society (of fools). Even mockery is ineffective in reducing faith. Science has failed.
Cross-posting my comment from another blog as it seems apropos.
Can courage, judgement and critical thinking triumph over fear and social contagion? That is on my mind today.
I’m a physician and department chair at a large academic medical center. Today, while on call in the hospital, I’m sitting here looking at a sizable minority of my colleagues and trainees still going about their duties fully masked…and I’m bewildered! We are now 4 weeks out from California’s “careful and thoughtful analysis” of pandemic trends, yielding an end to THE STATE OF EMERGENCY, and allowing hospitals to rescind their mask mandates. After reams of data capped off by the recent Cochrane Review showed the utter failure of masks, I felt certain we would all happily discard our face diapers to the dustbin, saving them only for the woodshop or the occasional trip to the attic. Yet here I sit, looking around at these young physicians (and yes, age and eagerness to mask is inversely proportional), apparently America’s best and brightest, still dutifully affixing this totem to their faces. These are supposed to be scientists…formidable thinkers! I swear these people started smart, and we broke them. We took excellent raw material, and we wasted it. My questions to them:
1. Are your actions informed by facts?
2. Are your beliefs falsifiable?
If both can’t be answered yes, you are not hirable by me (and I am in a position to hire physicians).
I wrote this text to one of my partners.
“Ya know…
People who persist in masking, after the pandemic is over, after the stupid state rules have finally been revoked, after multiple publications have shown that they do and did nothing …
I consider it a very good indicator of a lack of critical thinking skills, poor judgment, irrational risk aversion, and at best, cowardice to stand for the truth.
I would not want to hire anyone in that group. As far as I’m concerned, they probably don’t belong in a field of science. I no longer trust them to make rational decisions, and rational decisions are the underpinnings of everything we do”.
Is this too harsh?
So my question - how can we change this? How can we escape this death spiral? I read my Prasad, my eugyppius, my el gato malo, Taibbi, Sasha, Free Press, VDH, and others. All excellent in chronicling the spiral and pointing out hypocrisy, but light on specific ways to regain our footing. Are these thought patterns baked into much of the population, especially the younger generations? I remain cynical about reversal. Is now the time to panic?
Vinay, I know you do not read these. But this is dead right as you know. Most of us in medicine know this is true (at least many of us do). Cannot we find SOMEONE with an even larger bully pulpit to report on this and make them look like the fools they are? So frustrating.
Let us all know when this gets accepted/rejected, please.
Vinay, I would use a different vocabulary than you. I would say that the broad confidence limits indicate that published research to date has NOT proved the efficacy of masks in decreasing the spread of respiratory viruses. However, these statistics do NOT prove that another study done with different populations, perhaps different masks, perhaps with different protocols might show efficacy. I believe that the likelihood of efficacy being proven in the future is very unlikely and I join you in deeply regretting the kowtowing of the Cochrane editor to pressure from the public health mainstream which clearly panicked with the publication of this study. They should host a discussion with fair representation of both sides. It is astonishing to me that so many healthcare institutions are still either requiring or pressuring patients and staff to mask up. I sincerely believe that they do not want to admit that they have been so deeply mistaken for the last three years.
"You literally never say it elsewhere. It speaks so poorly of you to be inconsistent." C'mon. The answer to this is so simple. How consistent can one be while having their head on a swivel to kiss multiple tushes? Vertigo. One of the words to define vertigo is inconsistency.
I was recently at a family wedding with some relativrs ( smart and lovely people ) who were 75 years plus who told me they were shocked that no one wore masks on the airline like they did on their cross country flights. They told me how careful they always are when they travel. I then asked them “then why don’t you have a mask on right now at this cocktail reception?“
This is cognitive dissonance…,