Why does the CDC recommend Covid-vaccinated people wear masks in public?

[Robert Faygo]

Thinking more of the 1918 Spanish Flu in terms of worldwide reach, waves of infection, and the draconian measures that were implemented and then later relaxed.

Just like now, people let their guard down thinking the worst was over only to be proven wrong. Just like now, it's arguable if the restrictions had the desired results in the long run. They never really have figured it out. (If they had, there would have been one playbook this time around instead of 51 of them in the USA).

Ten years later the bottom fell out of Wall Street and that pandemic didn't matter anymore.

[Rate This]

Thinking more of the 1918 Spanish Flu in terms of worldwide reach, waves of infection, and the draconian measures that were implemented and then later relaxed.

Just like now, people let their guard down thinking the worst was over only to be proven wrong. Just like now, it's arguable if the restrictions had the desired results in the long run. They never really have figured it out.

Ten years later the bottom fell out of Wall Street and that pandemic didn't matter anymore.

My main gripe is that we started from scratch and did a lot of what they did. Color me underwhelmed that we couldn’t do better with 100 years to think about it.

[Robert Faygo]

My main gripe is that we started from scratch and did a lot of what they did. Color me underwhelmed that we couldn’t do better with 100 years to think about it.

A-freaking-men

[MotorCityRadioFreak]

So I'm just curious then - how are we going to react when the next pandemic hits - one with a virus of an equal or higher R0 value AND one that has an actual mortality rate of say 5 percent? I'm sorry, but the fact that Covid is new is not an excuse for bad policy, especially given the precedents we're setting.

Sorry if I seem overly-fired up about this, but this pandemic is now over a year old and I truly believe that draconian response by various governments is going to have significant negative implications for decades to come. So when people like Lester make it sound like I'm just here to piss and moan about something as petty as a mask - my criticism of government response goes far, far deeper than that of just masks.

The mortality rate is 5% for Michigan. Sorry if Q disagrees. I live in the real world.

[MotorCityRadioFreak]

I suspect this will go like it did with the last similar global pandemic. We'll start out with overreacting (still in this phase), morph into something resembling normal reactions (be careful out there), to totally forgetting everything (where we were in Feb 2020).

Just curious which pandemic you're referring to. The last comparable pandemic was the 1969 Hong Kong flu which killed an estimated 1 to 4 million people worldwide - was there even 1 percent the reaction to that as far as government policy at the time that there was to Covid?

I guess you could also count AIDS as a pandemic. That began in the early 1980s and has killed 35 million people to date. I guess it would be comparable in one way to our mask mandates - I don't believe there were ever mandates for people to wear condoms to prevent the spread of HIV. Recommendations, sure, but never mandates.

AIDS is sexually transmitted or through needles and does not pose a threat to daily life for the average person. Totally different threat level.

[Lester The Nightfly]

I suspect this will go like it did with the last similar global pandemic. We'll start out with overreacting (still in this phase), morph into something resembling normal reactions (be careful out there), to totally forgetting everything (where we were in Feb 2020).

Just curious which pandemic you're referring to. The last comparable pandemic was the 1969 Hong Kong flu which killed an estimated 1 to 4 million people worldwide - was there even 1 percent the reaction to that as far as government policy at the time that there was to Covid?

I guess you could also count AIDS as a pandemic. That began in the early 1980s and has killed 35 million people to date. I guess it would be comparable in one way to our mask mandates - I don't believe there were ever mandates for people to wear condoms to prevent the spread of HIV. Recommendations, sure, but never mandates.

AIDS is sexually transmitted or through needles and does not pose a threat to daily life for the average person. Totally different threat level.

Oh yeah, the AIDS epidemic. That was another time Fauci had to bail out a brain dead Republican President who didn't give two shits about keeping his citizens safe. Pepperidge Farms remembers...

[bmw]

You forgot about the bodies piling up...

Pandemics have tendency to do that. If you have a problem with how natural selection works, you need to take that one up with God.

Found the Christian Scientist...

Ethics and religion aside, natural selection has been occurring for as long as there's been life on this planet. Pandemics are nothing new, and throughout history, they have killed off large chunks of human populations. That we think we can magically stop this from happening by merely implementing some government regulations seems not only a bit arrogant, but irrational as well.

[MotorCityRadioFreak]

I suspect this will go like it did with the last similar global pandemic. We'll start out with overreacting (still in this phase), morph into something resembling normal reactions (be careful out there), to totally forgetting everything (where we were in Feb 2020).

Just curious which pandemic you're referring to. The last comparable pandemic was the 1969 Hong Kong flu which killed an estimated 1 to 4 million people worldwide - was there even 1 percent the reaction to that as far as government policy at the time that there was to Covid?

I guess you could also count AIDS as a pandemic. That began in the early 1980s and has killed 35 million people to date. I guess it would be comparable in one way to our mask mandates - I don't believe there were ever mandates for people to wear condoms to prevent the spread of HIV. Recommendations, sure, but never mandates.

AIDS is sexually transmitted or through needles and does not pose a threat to daily life for the average person. Totally different threat level.

Oh yeah, the AIDS epidemic. That was another time Fauci had to bail out a brain dead Republican President who didn't give two shits about keeping his citizens safe. Pepperidge Farms remembers...

Very true, but he paid for it. Karma never forgets either.

[MWmetalhead]

Regarding mask wearing in general....

Every single person my family knows who contracted COVID, excluding those who contracted it in the very early going in March, share the following characteristics:
- At least one person in the household is a diehard Trumpbot and proudly defied CDC guidance
- At least one person in the household completely ignored social distancing guidelines
- At least one person in the household attended multiple gatherings with friends & family members with no masks
- Several eat out regularly

So far, one has died, one is on his death bed as we speak, about five more were or are seriously or critically ill, and a handful suffered only moderate illness.

Among those who live in households where all members routinely follow social distancing, sanitization and mask wearing guidelines, NO ONE has tested positive for COVID or has shown COVID symptoms at any point.

That we think we can magically stop this from happening by merely implementing some government regulations seems not only a bit arrogant, but irrational as well.

Eradicate or completely prevent it? Nope, we cannot. You are right about that.

However, common sense and precaution can definitely lessen the severity of impact.

[Rate This]

Regarding mask wearing in general....

Every single person my family knows who contracted COVID, excluding those who contracted it in the very early going in March, share the following characteristics:
- At least one person in the household is a diehard Trumpbot and proudly defied CDC guidance
- At least one person in the household completely ignored social distancing guidelines
- At least one person in the household attended multiple gatherings with friends & family members with no masks
- Several eat out regularly

So far, one has died, one is on his death bed as we speak, about five more were or are seriously or critically ill, and a handful suffered only moderate illness.

Among those who live in households where all members routinely follow social distancing, sanitization and mask wearing guidelines, NO ONE has tested positive for COVID or has shown COVID symptoms at any point.

That we think we can magically stop this from happening by merely implementing some government regulations seems not only a bit arrogant, but irrational as well.

Eradicate or completely prevent it? Nope, we cannot. You are right about that.

However, common sense and precaution can definitely lessen the severity of impact.

Pretty much this. It’s impossible to plausibly argue guidelines do NOTHING.

[MWmetalhead]

I'm talking specifically about people who have been fully vaccinated against Covid. I'm arguing that there's no justification rooted in science or statistics that would justify a recommendation that these people, as an entire group, need to wear a mask while in public, or that if there is, then for consistency, there must also be a recommendation that every single person wear a mask every single year while in public during flu season.

I don't think it is sensible to eliminate mask enforcement before herd vaccination is reached among vulnerable groups. That would be unfair to those who have not yet been able to receive the vaccine.

Once herd vaccination is reached (or once anyone who wanted the vaccine is able to receive the vaccine), then I agree there is no reason to continue any sort of mask mandate.

For those susceptible to severe effects from the flu, I think optional mask wearing during flu season is a great idea. The fact influenza cases were so few this past autumn & winter is a pretty strong sign that mask wearing does work in terms limiting viral contagion spread.

[bmw]

I don't at all dispute that avoiding prolonged gatherings with large groups of people was (and still is, least for a few more months) a good idea. I've had tons of fleeting interactions with people over the past year, some with masks, some without, and I have yet to get it that I'm aware of. But I also have completely avoided large gatherings and I don't ever eat out. It seems to be spread when you're in close proximity to a person who has it for a length of time or in a group for a length of time where someone has it. So I don't at all argue against social distancing and avoiding large groups (or at least significantly reducing one's exposure to those kinds of settings).

With regards to masks, it is my belief that if you're in close proximity to someone with Covid for a length of time, the mask isn't going to stop you or even reduce your chances of catching the virus. MW - your info is anecdotal, and even to the extent that it may be very generally true among other people, I suspect that the reason that the "Trump Bots" as you call them are getting virus has less to do with the mask and more to do with them not taking ANY reasonable precautions whatsoever.

[km1125]

So I'm just curious then - how are we going to react when the next pandemic hits - one with a virus of an equal or higher R0 value AND one that has an actual mortality rate of say 5 percent? I'm sorry, but the fact that Covid is new is not an excuse for bad policy, especially given the precedents we're setting.

Sorry if I seem overly-fired up about this, but this pandemic is now over a year old and I truly believe that draconian response by various governments is going to have significant negative implications for decades to come. So when people like Lester make it sound like I'm just here to piss and moan about something as petty as a mask - my criticism of government response goes far, far deeper than that of just masks.

The mortality rate is 5% for Michigan. Sorry if Q disagrees. I live in the real world.

What kind of math do you do in your version of "the real world"???

Worst case, the CFR would be 16,082 divided by 665,948 and is closer to 2.4%. The actual mortality rate would be much, much lower. Over ONE THIRD of those deaths were easily preventable, as they were directly related to the eldercare site policy or the incarcerated facilities.

[Matt]

So I'm just curious then - how are we going to react when the next pandemic hits - one with a virus of an equal or higher R0 value AND one that has an actual mortality rate of say 5 percent? I'm sorry, but the fact that Covid is new is not an excuse for bad policy, especially given the precedents we're setting.

Sorry if I seem overly-fired up about this, but this pandemic is now over a year old and I truly believe that draconian response by various governments is going to have significant negative implications for decades to come. So when people like Lester make it sound like I'm just here to piss and moan about something as petty as a mask - my criticism of government response goes far, far deeper than that of just masks.

The mortality rate is 5% for Michigan. Sorry if Q disagrees. I live in the real world.

What kind of math do you do in your version of "the real world"???

Worst case, the CFR would be 16,082 divided by 665,948 and is closer to 2.4%. The actual mortality rate would be much, much lower. Over ONE THIRD of those deaths were easily preventable, as they were directly related to the eldercare site policy or the incarcerated facilities.

That denominator is also actually probably closer to 800,000 - 1M.

[TC Talks]

I only feel bad for the service workers who are doing everything they can to stay safe despite the assholes choose to show off their Trumpness.

I also find it hilarious that the people who are challenging masking probably aren't working in a service capacity where they are forced to deal with these types of idiots. We have this fat idiot who advertises all the time on television for his country store called Ebels. He didn't do anything about masking right up until the point where he's now dead. Does that bother me? Of course the guy had children and grandchildren. Did he pretty much do this to himself? He certainly didn't go out of his way to help his circumstances by wearing a mask regularly.

And if you have less than 10 customers a day, you're not really in retail.

I've been vaccinated for over a month and I wear my mask all the time. Why? Because I still can contract and spread covid. The vaccine just keeps me from dying because my body has learned to respond to the virus faster.

With the B 117 variant in Michigan now it's even a greater risk and an even more important time to wear your mask. Just wait till the Brazilian variant shows up.