Masks are definitely a trigger, on both sides of the `debate.’ Then there is the “mask mandate” that’s almost a declaration of war to some. I feel that the discussion in the U.S. has been very unhelpful. This includes statements by Fauci and others. One week it’s put your masks on, the next is it’s take your masks off. As I’ve said all along I wish the guidance would be about the entire package of mitigation measures, not just masks. We certainly can relax these measures over time. Yet, the cautionary principle should apply: Indoor transmission is far more likely than outdoor. So, relax ALL outdoor protocols for everyone. But, for those who are not vaccinated the advice should be to keep masks on in indoor public places AND maintain the other mitigation measures, such as distancing.
I am cautiously optimistic, and hope the vaccines will do their thing against all variants. But, I believe that by suppressing the virus as much as possible, so getting it down to levels of, say, 5,000 cases or less on a daily basis nationwide, we can truly prevent any wave from occurring this fall and winter. It’s important to continue to make it as hard as possible for the virus to find hosts. So, the rules/guidance should be different for those who are vaccinated, versus those who aren’t. This would provide added incentive for people to get vaccinated.
With regard to masks, I remember distinctly Dr. Fauci on tv interviews at the very beginning of the pandemic saying directly “Healthy people should NOT wear masks!” Of course, most everyone was “healthy” at the time, and look what happened eventually. Also, he never specified what “healthy” meant. For most people “healthy” could mean just being able to get out of bed every morning. There still could be many health issues to be considered.
We lost a good month “not masking” imo. It should have been done as soon as the pandemic became official.
Also, with regard to indoor masking, at some point the medical experts are going to have to figure a way to unmask safely so that these vaccinations will be worth it. That is the next major step to normalcy.
I agree re inconsistency with regard to masks, Joshua …from all.
Philip, I believe the initial comments not to wear masks was because of the shortage and medical folks needed them. I have said numerous times that I began searching for Masks January 3, 2020, and they didn’t exist. It was the first trigger for me that we were facing something we’d never seen….although in my wildest dreams I never thought of this.
I find the resistance to masks…no matter the message….to be childish and self serving. Sorry if that is harsh but I truly see no other explanation. We have to wear seat belts. We have to wear shoes in a store. We have to wear clothes period for heavens sakes. It is a damned mask and we know that it does make a difference. To need an explanation other than that shows how far we have come from being caring human beings willing to do what it takes to care for others as well as ourselves. I actually saw a few comments recently that said science proved masks did absolutely no good.
Rant over. 🙂
Vicki, I don’t recall even hearing about Wuhan province, China let alone a possible virus being spread in January 2020. Not saying that it wasn’t already on the national news broadcasts. I guess I was completely clueless at the time. If you were already looking for masks in stores, then mask production should have begun immediately, and the public should have been instructed by the medical community to wear them as soon as they became available.
Based on your statement on masks, then we were actually 2-3 months behind schedule. Worse than I thought.
This is curious. The header is misleading. Many reasons given in the article are now being recognized. Some hesitancy is covid but there are other reasons also for not returning in person
Unable to read article. Not a subscriber. Oh well.
Sorry Philip. Thought they allowed so many free views. They may have stopped that. Darn
On masks, Vicki is correct. Fauci and others, like Surgeon General Adams, opposed masks for the general healthy public because of: a. Shortages; b. The thought at the time was that only if you’re sick should you wear a mask. Mounting evidence suggests masks have some efficacy for all who wear them.
This said, we are in the process of ditching our masks. It’s a slow process. But outdoors certainly makes sense. Also, fully vaccinated people meeting with other fully vaccinated people don’t need to wear masks. Indoors, in public places, I still think masks have a place. Whether it’s on airplanes, trains, or restaurants. Certainly staff should wear them. And, anyone who’s not vaccinated – for whatever reason – should wear them until we have a caseload that’s below 5k per day nationwide. We may need to revisit this in the fall and winter should a resurgence of coronavirus occur.
On the news in January 2020, I followed it very closely. The media were calling it a “mysterious pneumonia.” The Chinese authorities were circumspect at the time. What caught my attention was the fact that it appeared to be a zoonotic transfer of virus from animals to humans. Once Wuhan was locked down, I began to follow the numbers carefully. Yet, even in February and early March I did not believe it would impact us as much as it ultimately did. I guess I thought that because the Chinese were successful at curbing its spread that: a. It would be nipped in the bud and wouldn’t become a pandemic; b. If it arrived here we would learn from Wuhan’s experience.
I was naive. The Wuhan lockdown was as draconian as it gets, and it extended to many Chinese cities. If you lock people up in their homes for 9 weeks you will crush the virus’ spread. Our mindset was and is different. I do get it. After all we live in democracies, thank goodness. Our stay-at-home order was subject to an honor system protocol. I remember driving on the highways in late March and early April. There wasn’t nearly as much traffic as two weeks before. But, I thought to myself, this is not a real stay-at-home order. I’m not staying at home. And all these people on the roads aren’t. How are we going to crush the virus if we have so much traffic, and also so many people out and about? Another key difference was that once someone in a household tested positive in China, that person was forced to isolate from the rest of the household, in a government hostel. This minimized intra-household spread. Our system was and is much more laissez-faire. If you test positive and aren’t very sick you’re simply told to go back home (where you can and will infect others).
But how is China doing now? Was the virus truly crushed? Back to normalcy?
Joshua, how do we wean ourselves from masking indoors in public buildings and transit once vaccination rates are significantly high enough?
Rip off the band aid quickly or peel slowly?
FDA authorizes Pfizer vaccine for kids 12 to 15
I’m curious how many will choose to have kids in this ground vaccinated. My grandkids won’t be….not yet. Were it m6 kids in this group, Mac and I would not have had ours vaccinated right away either
Philip, I think that indoor masking and some distancing will be a thing for a while, but it can gradually diminish over time. We’ll have to follow the data on the ground. If caseload is low to very low that will allow for much less masking and distancing indoors. Also, keep in mind that a different set of protocols applies to vaccinated people as their risks of contracting the virus are much lower and risks of severe illness or death are very, very low.
Your question on China is difficult to answer definitively. It is after all a repressive dictatorship. Information within its borders is censored, and with borders more or less closed we don’t really know what’s going on. But from what I’ve gauged from Americans who still live in China, the virus was crushed. They do massive testing to ensure outbreaks don’t occur. But for the most part things have been back to normal since last spring.
Of course, for countries like China, Taiwan, Korea, NZ, Australia, Singapore, and a few others that have very low caseloads and have effectively crushed the virus what happens when borders reopen? All these countries have elaborate quarantine rules that are mandatory and involve 14-day stays at hotels. This will pretty much obliterate tourism. How long can these countries keep this up?
Don’t know why it took WHO so long to consider the B.1.617 variant (`Indian’ variant) a “variant of concern.” It does now. But I could have told them this weeks ago. It’s bleeding obvious that this variant is more transmissible and lethal (including younger folks) than the original so-called wild type virus. This video of a young pregnant woman (who later died) is heartbreaking but an important message, not only for her fellow Indians but also other nations in the region that are experiencing a relentless wave. https://twitter.com/BBCRajiniV/status/1391482537416044547
Another lesson from this pandemic: Stop being so slow to respond, public health authorities, and stop waiting for confirmatory data when keen observation is all you need initially to spread the word of caution. Better safe than sorry. If the observation turns out to be wrong, then at least you operated on the cautionary principle. Right now, unfortunately, everyone is acting on the reactionary principle. That is not smart, in my view.
C-19 for 5-11 is ready.
Comments are closed.
Your no-hype southeastern New England weather blog!
Masks are definitely a trigger, on both sides of the `debate.’ Then there is the “mask mandate” that’s almost a declaration of war to some. I feel that the discussion in the U.S. has been very unhelpful. This includes statements by Fauci and others. One week it’s put your masks on, the next is it’s take your masks off. As I’ve said all along I wish the guidance would be about the entire package of mitigation measures, not just masks. We certainly can relax these measures over time. Yet, the cautionary principle should apply: Indoor transmission is far more likely than outdoor. So, relax ALL outdoor protocols for everyone. But, for those who are not vaccinated the advice should be to keep masks on in indoor public places AND maintain the other mitigation measures, such as distancing.
I am cautiously optimistic, and hope the vaccines will do their thing against all variants. But, I believe that by suppressing the virus as much as possible, so getting it down to levels of, say, 5,000 cases or less on a daily basis nationwide, we can truly prevent any wave from occurring this fall and winter. It’s important to continue to make it as hard as possible for the virus to find hosts. So, the rules/guidance should be different for those who are vaccinated, versus those who aren’t. This would provide added incentive for people to get vaccinated.
With regard to masks, I remember distinctly Dr. Fauci on tv interviews at the very beginning of the pandemic saying directly “Healthy people should NOT wear masks!” Of course, most everyone was “healthy” at the time, and look what happened eventually. Also, he never specified what “healthy” meant. For most people “healthy” could mean just being able to get out of bed every morning. There still could be many health issues to be considered.
We lost a good month “not masking” imo. It should have been done as soon as the pandemic became official.
Also, with regard to indoor masking, at some point the medical experts are going to have to figure a way to unmask safely so that these vaccinations will be worth it. That is the next major step to normalcy.
I agree re inconsistency with regard to masks, Joshua …from all.
Philip, I believe the initial comments not to wear masks was because of the shortage and medical folks needed them. I have said numerous times that I began searching for Masks January 3, 2020, and they didn’t exist. It was the first trigger for me that we were facing something we’d never seen….although in my wildest dreams I never thought of this.
I find the resistance to masks…no matter the message….to be childish and self serving. Sorry if that is harsh but I truly see no other explanation. We have to wear seat belts. We have to wear shoes in a store. We have to wear clothes period for heavens sakes. It is a damned mask and we know that it does make a difference. To need an explanation other than that shows how far we have come from being caring human beings willing to do what it takes to care for others as well as ourselves. I actually saw a few comments recently that said science proved masks did absolutely no good.
Rant over. 🙂
Vicki, I don’t recall even hearing about Wuhan province, China let alone a possible virus being spread in January 2020. Not saying that it wasn’t already on the national news broadcasts. I guess I was completely clueless at the time. If you were already looking for masks in stores, then mask production should have begun immediately, and the public should have been instructed by the medical community to wear them as soon as they became available.
Based on your statement on masks, then we were actually 2-3 months behind schedule. Worse than I thought.
This is curious. The header is misleading. Many reasons given in the article are now being recognized. Some hesitancy is covid but there are other reasons also for not returning in person
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/09/us/covid-school-reopening-virtual-learning.html
Unable to read article. Not a subscriber. Oh well.
Sorry Philip. Thought they allowed so many free views. They may have stopped that. Darn
On masks, Vicki is correct. Fauci and others, like Surgeon General Adams, opposed masks for the general healthy public because of: a. Shortages; b. The thought at the time was that only if you’re sick should you wear a mask. Mounting evidence suggests masks have some efficacy for all who wear them.
This said, we are in the process of ditching our masks. It’s a slow process. But outdoors certainly makes sense. Also, fully vaccinated people meeting with other fully vaccinated people don’t need to wear masks. Indoors, in public places, I still think masks have a place. Whether it’s on airplanes, trains, or restaurants. Certainly staff should wear them. And, anyone who’s not vaccinated – for whatever reason – should wear them until we have a caseload that’s below 5k per day nationwide. We may need to revisit this in the fall and winter should a resurgence of coronavirus occur.
On the news in January 2020, I followed it very closely. The media were calling it a “mysterious pneumonia.” The Chinese authorities were circumspect at the time. What caught my attention was the fact that it appeared to be a zoonotic transfer of virus from animals to humans. Once Wuhan was locked down, I began to follow the numbers carefully. Yet, even in February and early March I did not believe it would impact us as much as it ultimately did. I guess I thought that because the Chinese were successful at curbing its spread that: a. It would be nipped in the bud and wouldn’t become a pandemic; b. If it arrived here we would learn from Wuhan’s experience.
I was naive. The Wuhan lockdown was as draconian as it gets, and it extended to many Chinese cities. If you lock people up in their homes for 9 weeks you will crush the virus’ spread. Our mindset was and is different. I do get it. After all we live in democracies, thank goodness. Our stay-at-home order was subject to an honor system protocol. I remember driving on the highways in late March and early April. There wasn’t nearly as much traffic as two weeks before. But, I thought to myself, this is not a real stay-at-home order. I’m not staying at home. And all these people on the roads aren’t. How are we going to crush the virus if we have so much traffic, and also so many people out and about? Another key difference was that once someone in a household tested positive in China, that person was forced to isolate from the rest of the household, in a government hostel. This minimized intra-household spread. Our system was and is much more laissez-faire. If you test positive and aren’t very sick you’re simply told to go back home (where you can and will infect others).
But how is China doing now? Was the virus truly crushed? Back to normalcy?
Joshua, how do we wean ourselves from masking indoors in public buildings and transit once vaccination rates are significantly high enough?
Rip off the band aid quickly or peel slowly?
FDA authorizes Pfizer vaccine for kids 12 to 15
I’m curious how many will choose to have kids in this ground vaccinated. My grandkids won’t be….not yet. Were it m6 kids in this group, Mac and I would not have had ours vaccinated right away either
Philip, I think that indoor masking and some distancing will be a thing for a while, but it can gradually diminish over time. We’ll have to follow the data on the ground. If caseload is low to very low that will allow for much less masking and distancing indoors. Also, keep in mind that a different set of protocols applies to vaccinated people as their risks of contracting the virus are much lower and risks of severe illness or death are very, very low.
Your question on China is difficult to answer definitively. It is after all a repressive dictatorship. Information within its borders is censored, and with borders more or less closed we don’t really know what’s going on. But from what I’ve gauged from Americans who still live in China, the virus was crushed. They do massive testing to ensure outbreaks don’t occur. But for the most part things have been back to normal since last spring.
Of course, for countries like China, Taiwan, Korea, NZ, Australia, Singapore, and a few others that have very low caseloads and have effectively crushed the virus what happens when borders reopen? All these countries have elaborate quarantine rules that are mandatory and involve 14-day stays at hotels. This will pretty much obliterate tourism. How long can these countries keep this up?
Don’t know why it took WHO so long to consider the B.1.617 variant (`Indian’ variant) a “variant of concern.” It does now. But I could have told them this weeks ago. It’s bleeding obvious that this variant is more transmissible and lethal (including younger folks) than the original so-called wild type virus. This video of a young pregnant woman (who later died) is heartbreaking but an important message, not only for her fellow Indians but also other nations in the region that are experiencing a relentless wave. https://twitter.com/BBCRajiniV/status/1391482537416044547
Another lesson from this pandemic: Stop being so slow to respond, public health authorities, and stop waiting for confirmatory data when keen observation is all you need initially to spread the word of caution. Better safe than sorry. If the observation turns out to be wrong, then at least you operated on the cautionary principle. Right now, unfortunately, everyone is acting on the reactionary principle. That is not smart, in my view.
C-19 for 5-11 is ready.