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Model: Universal Mask-Wearing Would Do More To Reduce Infection Than Indefinite Lockdowns Would
HotAir via InstapunditOne of the weirdest quirks of coronavirus politics is that the group that’s most adamantly opposed to continuing lockdowns is also the group that’s grouchiest about wearing masks. There’s a certain dopey consistency to both positions: Lockdowns are an intrusion on the liberty of business owners and consumers, mask mandates (whether public or private) are an intrusion on the liberty of the individual. It's sad when ideology suppresses common sense. But refusing to take basic minimal precautions against infection is exactly the sort of thing that makes lockdown supporters wary of opening back up. If we can’t have ubiquitous testing, and we can’t have a bureaucracy to conduct contact tracing, the least we can do to raise the comfort level of Americans who are reluctant to risk their health by crowding into retail spaces is wear masks to protect each other. But we know that coronavirus crisis is a hoax by Bill Gates & Neil Ferguson. In many cases I don’t think the libertarian argument against masks is even being made in good faith. What’s driving the opposition isn’t fear of "social control" or denialism about the threat from the disease but a certain whiny rejectionism about the new normal created by the pandemic. I don’t like this reality and I resent being inconvenienced in any way by it and I want it to end *right now.* But refusing to take basic minimal precautions against infection is exactly the sort of thing that makes lockdown supporters wary of opening back up. If we can’t have ubiquitous testing, and we can’t have a bureaucracy to conduct contact tracing, the least we can do to raise the comfort level of Americans who are reluctant to risk their health by crowding into retail spaces is wear masks to protect each other. Masks can substitute for herd immunity until a vaccine comes along. Ooops, forgot, vaccine is a plot by [fill in your pet peeve] to take over the world and convert all [fill in] to [fill in]. Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2020-05-10 |
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=571162 |