Fake Covid Masks

Provided to my blog visitors as a public service.

–Published by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention–

Counterfeit Respirators / Misrepresentation of NIOSH-Approval

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COVID Masks … Yes or No

Let me say this upfront — I am most definitely an advocate of mask wearing to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

Having said that, I want to share an article I recently came across that questions the efficacy of masks. In the article discussion, there was a reference to a study done by a medical student and two medical school professors at the Cato Institute.* In this study, the authors asked … 

So, are masking requirements just “public health theater,” providing baseless assurance to a fearful public? Or has new evidence emerged to confirm the belief that masks—or, at least, the cloth masks that are commonly used—reduce respiratory virus transmission?

I think it might be worth your time to read both the article (The Ambiguous Science on Masks), as well as the referenced study: How Effective Are Cloth Face Masks? (The latter includes “a summary of the scientific literature on the effectiveness of masking, both against respiratory infection generally and against COVID-19.“) 

PLEASE NOTE: This post is not a vote for or against wearing masks by the general public to prevent the spread of COVID-19. The information is simply being shared as something to think about … and debate, if you so desire.

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*Via MediaBiasFactCheck.com — The Cato Institute is an American libertarian think tank headquartered in Washington, D.C. It was founded as the Charles Koch Foundation in 1974 by Ed Crane, Murray Rothbard, and Charles Koch. In July 1976, the name was changed to the Cato Institute. 

The Cost of COVID-19

In my last post, I urged people to wear masks to reduce the spread of COVID-19 (especially the Delta variant). What I failed to mention to those who resist masks (and/or vaccinations) is the COST of the virus.

Several reports have indicated that the recent Delta variant doubles the risk of hospital admission.

And in case you’re unaware …. hospital stays involve beaucoup bucks.

In fact, according to my online research, hospitalization costs for COVID-19 patients from 21-40, without insurance, averaged about $68,261. For people from 41-60, this increased to $78,569. Fortunately for the folks who have Medicare, the costs are considerably less, but since many depend primarily on Social Security, their finances suffer as well.

Yes, many people have insurance through their employers and that will definitely help with medical costs. BUT … there are also scores of people who are currently unemployed because of the virus and thus are bereft of any insurance.

As I indicated in one of my previous posts, I recently had a brief (3 days) hospital stay (not COVID-related). My hospital-only costs were around $26,000. OTHER costs (the procedure itself, various doctors involved, lab tests, etc.) brought the total up to around $35,000. Fortunately, with Medicare, this amount was significantly reduced and thankfully, I had some savings.

 Now consider that the average hospital stay for COVID-19 for all ages is 22.4 days — just over three weeks. (I will leave it to each reader to calculate cost.)

So go ahead. Leave off your mask! Reject the vaccine!

Just be sure you have the finances available when your declared independence comes back to haunt you.

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Image by Peggy und Marco Lachmann-Anke from Pixabay

I’m So Tired …

• Tired of Trump and any and all news about him
• Tired of reading about Marjorie Taylor Greene and her idiotic and perverted beliefs
• Tired of The Pillow Guy
• Tired of people defending Kyle Rittenhouse’s actions
• Tired of WHITE law enforcement killing BLACK people
• Tired of Antifa getting the blame for QAnon actions/activities
• Tired of Faux News manipulating the facts to satisfy their audience
• Tired of disagreements without compromise
• Tired of people who refuse to wear a mask during the COVID-19 pandemic
• Tired of churches claiming they are exempt from COVID-19 restrictions
• Tired of the COVID-19 pandemic
• Tired of evangelists ripping off their congregations to satisfy their own biblically forbidden “worldly desires”
• Tired of the evangelical community forcing their beliefs on others
• Tired of individuals claiming false Second Amendment rights
• Tired of closed-minded individuals
• Tired of ignorance
• Tired of … etc., etc., etc.

Are you tired also? Here’s your chance to kvetch!

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Image by Stephanie Ghesquier from Pixabay

The Covid-19 Mask Conundrum

Sometime back I signed up to receive The Washington Post’s “Coronavirus Updates” free newsletter. (If you’re interested in getting your own copy, you can sign up here.) The information offered in the newsletter isn’t generally anything new and/or earth-shattering, but at the end of each issue they share, and provide a response to, questions related to the virus  — and some of them can be very relatable.

Such a question was included in the latest issue, which I’m sharing here. I think many of my readers will identify with “Anne in Pennsylvania.”

“I live in an area with a large Republican majority. State law requires masks inside and outside. Today, I unfortunately was in a checkout line behind an unmasked 30-something female, very busy chatting up the cashier. I said nothing, because we were inside and the problem of aerosols would just have been aggravated. What is your advice for a courteous way to mention to people that their habits put my health at risk while still minimizing the risk of confrontation?” — Anne in Pennsylvania

This is becoming an unhappily frequent conundrum. On the one hand, we have scientific evidence that it’s especially dangerous to be near people who fail to wear masks. On the other hand, confronting such people risks increasing the chance of contagion, or even violence.

Nor do these bare-faced renegades appear to be going away. A small group of anti-maskers actually marched through a Target store in Florida this month, loudly inviting customers to join them.

Let’s first dispense with two obvious options for Anne: She could have simply left the store, though applying this advice globally would effectively surrender all public spaces to anti-maskers. Or she could have reported the offending customer to a store manager, though doing so would have simply forced an employee to take on the risk of confrontation and contagion. We’ve reported that retail workers already have it hard enough during the pandemic.

Luckily, experts do have advice for how to encourage a stranger to mask up without provoking them into even more dangerous behavior, which wellness reporter Allyson Chiu shared in an article today.

The first thing to keep in mind is that it’s possible the maskless person is a narcissist — someone who lacks empathy and believes themselves exempt from rules. That may sound like a snap judgment, but Chiu reports that peer-reviewed studies in the United States, Brazil and Poland all suggest that people prone to narcissism are less likely to follow social distancing guidelines or wear masks.

This does not mean everyone without a mask in the grocery store has a personality disorder, but it may be safest for you to assume they do, because another common trait of narcissists is being prone to anger. A simple eye roll directed at a maskless narcissist “will be enough to spin them into a rage,” a clinical psychologist at California State University at Los Angeles told Chiu.

So you should avoid even semi-confrontational comments such as “You’re supposed to wear a mask in here,” behavioral experts told Chiu. One suggested speaking to the person like a “hostage negotiator:” kindly, softly and appealing to their own self-interest as much as yours.

A Harvard Medical School psychologist suggests trying the line: “You can make the difference between life and death because we’re all in this together.” Using the word “we” emphasizes interconnection and might appeal to a narcissist’s sense of grandiosity. A small bribe might work, too: some experts recommend carrying an extra factory-sealed mask with you and offering it to the person you’re trying to convince.

At all costs, avoid letting the conversation become an argument. If it’s clear that the person isn’t listening to you or is stirring to anger, you should disengage. Simply stop responding to them, and walk away if you have to. You tried your best to make the situation safer for everyone around you. You can at least make it safer for yourself by leaving.

I tend to think most of us would prefer to avoid any confrontation on this issue, but if you decide to try the suggested approach, let us know how it went!

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Image by digital designer from Pixabay