Do masks save lives?

amother

Royalblue

Sat, Jan 16 2021, 7:53 pm

gande wrote:

Most of you who say masks helps have been isolating yourself from others. You can isolate and NOT wear a mask and you will see the same results. So its not necessarily the masks. In fact, 90% of People are wearing masks WRONG and it makes them feel a false sense of safety so they don't social distance properly for just once and they get sick. So my opinion is that masks only do harm.

I don't think that's the case at all. Almost everyone on imamother has been going to work, kids going to school, and shopping/gas station at least occasionally. Almost everyone who is married has a husband going to shul too.

amother

Gold

Sat, Jan 16 2021, 8:01 pm

amother [ OP ] wrote:

Do you believe that masks really saves lives?

Please no bashing, I wear mine but I don’t believe it saves lives at all.
I wear it solely because we are forced to.
This is just an interesting conversation.

It acts like a placebo, its a waste of time but makes powerless people feel more powerful in thinking they can outsmart the virus. Unfortunately, people who have worn it rigidly have gotten coronavirus while people who dont wear it havent gotten sick at all. I have heard of people who wear masks saying that they got sick from people who didnt wear the masks but they admitted that was not the case since the non-masker wasnt sick and tested negative so you cant give someone a virus you dont have yourself.
And the masks I bought came with a warning saying that they dont protect anyone from coronavirus which is further proof that its just a placebo. Getting tired of all of this and not sure whats gonna happen now that Biden is saying that he will work with the governors and mayors of each state to enforce a mask even outdoors for his first 100 days in office. Crazier times are a'comin.. And here I thought we were looking at the light at the end of the tunnel Banging head

Ema of 5

Sat, Jan 16 2021, 8:29 pm

amother [ Apricot ] wrote:

So NOT true.

My family and 2 families that I am very close with were/are very careful about masks, distancing, and not attending indoor simchas. They did allow children to go to school with masks and adults to go to work with masks starting in the summer.

Guess what? BH not one member of any of the families got Covid.

Masks, distancing and avoiding indoor events work!

Your anecdotal evidence doesn’t make someone else’s anecdotal evidence not true.

southernbubby

Sat, Jan 16 2021, 8:34 pm

amother [ Gold ] wrote:

It probably won't be enforced any better than it is now. If you knew that someone was statistically likely to die if they caught coronavirus, you would probably agree that they should wear masks whenever they couldn't isolate because it might prevent them from catching it.
Florida has had a lower death rate than NY and with fewer restrictions but apparently many people in Florida choose to wear masks. I am not sure what factors influence the death rate and what part masks play but people don't wear them outside.

amother

Apricot

Sat, Jan 16 2021, 8:40 pm

amother [ Honeydew ] wrote:

Are you saying my statement that I know people who were super careful and got very sick anyway? How can you stay that's not true? And no it doesn't always work. And many people who have not been careful did not get sick at all. So no there is no proof that masks save lives.

Clearly your definition of careful and my definition of careful are very different.

imasinger

Sat, Jan 16 2021, 8:42 pm

Of course masks help. The combination of masks, hand washing, SD, and avoiding large indoor gatherings clearly makes a difference. You can see which countries have been meticulous about it, and see that those countries have far better records with Covid cases and deaths.

nylon

Sat, Jan 16 2021, 8:47 pm

Yes, they help.

for those of you saying that "but so and so wore a mask and got Covid" this is the perfect solution fallacy. No one is claiming that masks are 100% effective in preventing Covid. They help. And this is why we use ALL the techniques--masks, social distancing, etc--because put all together they help more than alone.

Just like the graphic of transmission where the lowest odds of transmission are where everyone wears a mask, so it's not enough to say "if you're worried? You wear a mask!" because a big part of how they work is helping the infected not spread, not just the wearer from catching it.

Frumme

Sat, Jan 16 2021, 8:55 pm

amother [ Gold ] wrote:

And the masks I bought came with a warning saying that they dont protect anyone from coronavirus which is further proof that its just a placebo. Getting tired of all of this and not sure whats gonna happen now that Biden is saying that he will work with the governors and mayors of each state to enforce a mask even outdoors for his first 100 days in office. Crazier times are a'comin.. And here I thought we were looking at the light at the end of the tunnel Banging head

No, that statement is on the box to prevent the company from being sued in the off chance someone catches covid after wearing their masks, either due to improper use, faulty production, human error, etc. It has nothing to do with being a "placebo." Would you ask your surgeon to go maskless because you believe they are just placebos?

Hashem_Yaazor

Sat, Jan 16 2021, 9:13 pm

imasinger wrote:

You need to look at the studies where the only variable between the test group and control group is masks, and everything else is the same.

amother

Gold

Sat, Jan 16 2021, 9:24 pm

Frumme wrote:

If the mask companies are only writing it because they assume that people dont wear the mask correctly then they would write that the mask only works when worn correctly (and if its faulty production then they should be sued if it really would have worked). But that is not the case, and they are not writing that because the masks are placebos and dont work.
Surgeons dont wear a mask for corovavirus related purposes, they have been wearing masks even before covid and will presumably wear a mask after covid as well so its not comparable.
And between the strictest state of California and the least restrictive state of Florida, we can see that masks are not relevant and dont work. California has lockdowns and restrictions and masks and their case rates are going up while their hospitals are overflowing to the point where people who are coding are not being taken to the hospital. While Florida is business as usual with none of these issues so no, masks dont work and are in fact placebos.

causemommysaid

Sat, Jan 16 2021, 9:29 pm

its interesting people are saying they get less sick from other illnesses this year.

In my house we almost never get sick and this year alone its been one virus after another. None of them Covid. Go figure.

My theory is that because we are wearing masks all the time, especially my kids all day in school, we are less exposed to germs and it weakened our immune system so every little thing that gets through the mask is making us sick.

I have no proof of this theory, just my own musings. I wear the mask because I have to but I am not convinced it is doing much.

imasinger

Sat, Jan 16 2021, 9:38 pm

Hashem_Yaazor wrote:

You need to look at the studies where the only variable between the test group and control group is masks, and everything else is the same.

Could you link any? That's pretty hard to control accurately, as self reporting is notoriously faulty.

amother

Royalblue

Sat, Jan 16 2021, 10:30 pm

causemommysaid wrote:

Do your kids actually wear the mask all day in school?

amother

Royalblue

Sat, Jan 16 2021, 10:59 pm

causemommysaid wrote:

That's the official policy. I'm not sure if everyone is following it.

I work in a few schools, all of which have an official all day mask policy. Most of the kids are not wearing masks for most of the day. There is plenty of opportunity to pass around all kinds of viruses and bacteria.

amother

Papaya

Sun, Jan 17 2021, 12:06 am

amother [ Royalblue ] wrote:

Lol. No one says it will save EVERY life. But it reduces the spread, thereby saving some lives.

My kids have not seen the doctor for a sick visit since last March. They've barely even gotten a cold. For reference, I have BH a bunch of kids and they tend to get strep and other illnesses a few times a year. If it's not the masks it must be magic.

We are anti masks and my kids have not had a sick visit(or a well visit) since March

amother

Oak

Sun, Jan 17 2021, 12:18 am

imasinger wrote:

Wadr, which countries? I am genuinely interested in seeing a source for this because all I have seen is tons of comparisons among states and countries showing no benefit to mask mandates.