Snarky comments to people not wearing masks - wrong?

[Zed Head]

I've had the urge to make, and at times been unable to avoid making, snarky comments to people who aren't wearing face coverings even though they are in close quarters.  It feels right and wrong at the same time.  People who are obviously well off and have to be educated.  Only the young, pretty and vain people, worried about looking weird, or the older "don't give a crap" guys.  Not sure that talking to the 70 year old people who don't give a crap will have any effect.

 

Super-spreader! is a good one.     It sounds like a funny comment.  People laugh then realize...

Are your parents dead?  Kind of cuts, but it's true.     Best used on older people without face coverings since their parents are probably in the 80% death probability group.

Praying for your grandmother.     Who wants to be their grandmother's killer?

 

I asked a a young couple if they just didn't know or just didn't care.  The guy tried to play ignorant. Huh?  What?   It was sad, seeing a grown man play stupid.  The girl was young and pretty, she knew better.  Killers.

[siteunseen]

Well it finally happened to me too!

I had to go to my Mom's veterinarian to get flea meds for her animals. Signs everywhere, Xs taped on the floor every 6 feet. The whole push. But damn idiots where packed in there like sardines in a can.

After 5 minutes my smart arse passive aggressive personality took over and I said really loud, "are these seeing eye dogs? Can you people not read? Please stay away from me!" One girl muttered "no joke, what are y'all thinking?"

COVIDIOTS

[Zed Head]

To be fair, the Alabama "Stay At Home" instructions aren't the clearest.  The Washington state site is bad too.  Things aren't super clear.  These "orders" are being issued without much media coverage explaining what they mean and how to comply.

If you get on the internet to try and find things you get in to the government bureaucracy sites.  The most important thing, the social distancing, is not even on the front page.  The most important thing for stopping the spread.  You can't really get angry at people if the information is not readily available.

 

Pretend that you're a person who got yelled at in the store and you want to find out why people are pissed at you.

Click "Learn More" - https://covid19.alabama.gov/

Try to find something on these two sites -

https://www.governor.wa.gov/issues/issues/covid-19-resources

https://coronavirus.wa.gov/

[zclocks]

Information is available . The fact  is most don't believe it. The fact is that contact with infected people is how this virus has spread all over the globe. 

Facts: Covid -19 is a protein and not a normal virus. The lipid, fat layer, that protects it is what has caused all the problems. The normal body immune system can not remove this fat layer and the virus attracts the DNA shutting down what immune system the body has. Currently there is no cure for those infected and the only recourse is to limit those being infected ie:  stay away from groups of people.  It's not know why some have recovered from the symptoms of the virus of if they can become re-infected again. 

Thank god most stores here are requiring masks or you can't enter .

Why people are going out in public without masks or gloves is beyond me. Protect yourselves because the stupid will infect the rest and prolong the problem.

Edited April 18, 2020 by zclocks

[jonbill]

Information is available . The fact  is most don't believe it. The fact is that contact with infected people is how this virus has spread all over the globe. 
Facts: Covid -19 is a protein and not a normal virus. The lipid, fat layer, that protects it is what has caused all the problems. The normal body immune system can not remove this fat layer and the virus attracts the DNA shutting down what immune system the body has. Currently there is no cure for those infected and the only recourse is to limit those being infected ie:  stay away from groups of people.  It's not know why some have recovered from the symptoms of the virus of if they can become re-infected again. 
Thank god most stores here are requiring masks or you can't enter .
Why people are going out in public without masks or gloves is beyond me. Protect yourselves because the stupid will infect the rest and prolong the problem.

Those "facts" aren't facts. its a normal RNA virus, with a similar lipid & protein structure to other viruses.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coronavirus?wprov=sfla1

[siteunseen]

15 hours ago, Zed Head said:

To be fair, the Alabama "Stay At Home" instructions aren't the clearest.  The Washington state site is bad too.  Things aren't super clear.  These "orders" are being issued without much media coverage explaining what they mean and how to comply.

If you get on the internet to try and find things you get in to the government bureaucracy sites.  The most important thing, the social distancing, is not even on the front page.  The most important thing for stopping the spread.  You can't really get angry at people if the information is not readily available.

 

Pretend that you're a person who got yelled at in the store and you want to find out why people are pissed at you.

Click "Learn More" - https://covid19.alabama.gov/

Try to find something on these two sites -

https://www.governor.wa.gov/issues/issues/covid-19-resources

https://coronavirus.wa.gov/

This was just stupid people.  Old timey veterinarian's office in Alabama.  Who'd of thunk I was actually the stupidest in there.  I should have done it over the phone and had them bring it out.  Lesson learned.

Thanks for letting me vent here Zed Head.

[zclocks]

This is anything but a normal virus. 

[duffymahoney]

My close friend works at the CDC, he was on the ground for Ebola and was warning me about covid in late December/ early January. Most masks people are wearing are 0-20% effective according to him. He laughed at scarfs, handkerchief etc... then you have people not covering your nose, wearing Half shields etc... then improper glove usage.   I see a lot of shields here with no face mask, but my area only has 3 confirmed cases, so we are lucky.

He said that people are being told to wear masks for a few reasons. First and foremost it helps you not touch your face.  People feel like they are helping and continue to spend money and move about. Then you have legit masks that are way higher percentage. I hope they are more available soon and that’s what people end up wearing more often. 

I personally don’t think most of us are going to get through this without catching this virus, masks and such will slow the rate down, hopefully enough for our hospitals to give the sick the best possible chance, also every second we push it back, is a second longer for treatments etc.. But I think we need to come to grip with the fact that we need to get it, then protect the at risk as much as possible.  
 

I had a crazy idea, find out the least lethal strain, then give that to young and healthy people In a controlled fashion as a way to jump start Herd immunity.  While still not overloading the hospitals, kind of like a ghetto/ shitty vaccine, but this would end up causing a lot of deaths, so maybe it’s not a great idea? But how long can the world shelter in place? I think we don’t have much longer till people rebel and or people will be broke. Fingers crossed some genius is figuring out a vaccine quickly. 

 

[Zed Head]

12 hours ago, duffymahoney said:

My close friend works at the CDC, he was on the ground for Ebola

What does he do there?  Is he a professional?

I ask because there are professional viroligists who determined that face coverings were helpful.  I've worked with many people who were at a high level in their profession but understand very little about mine.  I've posted about the problem of being a smart person in the past.  If you know a lot about one thing you start to believe that you know a lot about everything.

Need some background on your friend's area of true expertise.

p.s. also, it seems that your friend might be confusing areosol with droplets.  Droplets are projected from the mouth and nose, hence the value of a face covering.  Aerosol is what the best masks are designed to prevent.  I think that you can argue about aerosol, but not about droplets.  Your friend sounds like someone who wants to be someone smart, but is giving you bad information as a result.  And now you are spreading tit.

 

Finally, if your friend has any influence at the CDC why are they publishing "incorrect" guidelines?  Why does his opinion have no value at the place that he works? .  "Works at the CDC" could mean almost anything.

Don't be part of the misinformation problem.

Edited April 20, 2020 by Zed Head

[duffymahoney]

2 hours ago, Zed Head said:

What does he do there?  Is he a professional?

I ask because there are professional viroligists who determined that face coverings were helpful.  I've worked with many people who were at a high level in their profession but understand very little about mine.  I've posted about the problem of being a smart person in the past.  If you know a lot about one thing you start to believe that you know a lot about everything.

Need some background on your friend's area of true expertise.

p.s. also, it seems that your friend might be confusing areosol with droplets.  Droplets are projected from the mouth and nose, hence the value of a face covering.  Aerosol is what the best masks are designed to prevent.  I think that you can argue about aerosol, but not about droplets.  Your friend sounds like someone who wants to be someone smart, but is giving you bad information as a result.  And now you are spreading tit.

 

Finally, if your friend has any influence at the CDC why are they publishing "incorrect" guidelines?  Why does his opinion have no value at the place that he works? .  "Works at the CDC" could mean almost anything.

Don't be part of the misinformation problem.

I don't know what his exact role is at the Cdc.  I could ask, but I literally don't care.  What he said makes perfect sense.   

Are you a virologist?  Doctor?  Research PHD?  

Government publish incorrect guidelines all the time.  If they said wear a face mask as a reminder to wash your hands and not touch your face, would that work?  No it would not.  I am just saying that the ghetto face masks people are wearing are stupid.  I saw a knitted one this week at our grocery store, which is literally doing nothing.  Then you have face-shields without face masks, doing absolutely nothing.  Most don't even cover the mouth at all.  Legit mask obviously help, even some of the homemade ones are very nicely made and I assume they help (20% is still better then 0%)  My friend is an ER doctor at a major hospital in Portland Oregon and he posted a picture of the positive pressure hazmat suit he is wearing at work.  So I am guessing that is what it actually takes to make sure you don't get it.  Even then, my guess infection rate would be 0-5% (I am not an expert).  

I personally believe that herd immunity is our only way out of this unless we can find a treatment or a vaccine.  All the other measures are just going to slow the spread.  But they spread will still need to happen.  

I am not a doctor, expert, PHD etc.... I personally wore a mask at the hospital this week, but I didn't at the local hardware store visit over the weekend.  I hope I get it sooner then later, then an antibody tests will allow me to move around more.  I think testing is key, and I hope the government sees the same soon. 

This news is awesome: https://www.geekwire.com/2020/univ-washington-ramps-abbott-labs-really-fantastic-test-covid-19-antibodies/

Edited April 20, 2020 by duffymahoney

[Zed Head]

Just now, duffymahoney said:

I don't know what his exact role is at the Cdc.  I could ask, but I literally don't care.  What he said makes perfect sense.   

Are you a virologist?  Doctor?  Research PHD?  

I've posted this before.  I read the work of the professional scientists and trust them.  Not the words of somebody who sounds confident, for no apparent reason.

Why would you pass on the words of somebody with no reason to know more than the professionals?  How can you "not care"?  Really, what was your reason for posting that pseudo-knowledge?  Doesn't make sense.  "A guy that works at the CDC".  Could be a security guard.  Would you trust him to treat you if you had COVID-19?

That's the problem with being "rational".  You can rationalize anything to make it sound sensible.  Here's a good one - sunlight kills the virus.  Therefore, if you're out in the sun you can't get it.  Everybody should, therefore, go outside.  Where they'll be safe.  Makes sense?

And, on pseudo-experts.  What happened to hydroxychloroquine?

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/04/20/trump-hydroxychloroquine-coronavirus-196191

[duffymahoney]

Wow, what a strange reaction to my comment.  I am sorry I commented.  My friend is some sort of researcher for the cdc.  He was my roomate in college, Biomedical Engineer was what he was studying then,  but I don't know his exact role at the cdc is.  I doubt he is a security guard.  

I stand by my comment that a knitted mask with visible holes is stupid though:) 

I hope you all stay healthy and aren't hurt too bad financially by all of this and fingers crossed for a vaccine somewhat soonish!