Dear Yserbius,
It’s nice that we are down to only three points!
1. My one support was that one question was actually a question. It did have a simple answer, which I subsequently posted. I never endorsed not wearing masks. I am a strong proponent of questioning and defining the benefit.
2. The Government gets to decide if it’s laws are just or not. Your statements on this part of the topic is so basic that you are not saying anything worth pointing out. Except that you keep trying to reframe it as a right. I disagree with that wholeheartedly.
3. So let the experts convince them. I think everyone can agree that the messaging in the U.S. on public health was terrible. It still is, and has been for decades. Maybe always. But we thought that at the cmost important times, the system would get it’s act together for the good of the country. Turns out the system is so broken, it could not even pull itself together for it’s own good.
Now to what I think is the center of this never ending discussion. The function of public health – really the entire public system of government during a pandemic is to defend the critical infrastructure from crumbling, while using what is functioning to overcome the onslaught. The fact is without restraining the citizenry, an epidemic will surely erode and very possibly destroy a government.
This is something that had to be said. And was paid clearly in the strongest democracies. New Zealand, Australia, Taiwan, Canada, and Paraguay. Once that is out of the way, there are only two questions for public health officials to worry about. 1. What is working? 2. What is coming next? In the U.S. in general and certain communities in particular, the messaging was unclear and they tip-toed around that very necessary point. That left inconsistent compliance. Which made it near impossible to tell what is working. Somehow, masks became the flashpoint for this failure. Hence, people seriously believe that it encroached on their personal freedoms.
It is known that masks help prevent infection. It was generally assumed in the West that masks do not prevent the flu. This is being reevaluated now. As is almost all the science on viruses. It was assumed all over the East that masks help prevent infection coronavirus and flu. There are different ways to mandate wearing masks. Now that the federal and state governments tried [Aof mostly failed.] their hand, it is up to the local businesses and clergy to follow through. In most of the U.S., mask mandates were only effective at the local level.
Once some communities partly rejected some health guidelines without any clear reasoning, It is impossible to get back to where things should be. So what are you trying to get at? Putting some masks on some people is not significant. In sum, I think you miss how much personal autonomy there is for the individual when it comes to following public health.
Personal question, how much increased hand washing have you been doing?