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Why Telling People They Don’t Need Masks Backfired
NY Times ^ | March 17 2020 | By Zeynep Tufekci

Posted on 03/17/2020 7:45:21 PM PDT by rintintin

When news of a mysterious viral pneumonia linked to a seafood market in Wuhan, China, reached the outside world in early January, one of my first reactions was to order a modest supply of masks. Just a few weeks later, there wasn’t a mask to be bought in stores, or online for a reasonable price — just widespread price gouging. Many health experts, no doubt motivated by the sensible and urgent aim of preserving the remaining masks for health care workers, started telling people that they didn’t need masks or that they wouldn’t know how to wear them.

As the pandemic rages on, there will be many difficult messages for the public. Unfortunately, the top-down conversation around masks has become a case study in how not to communicate with the public, especially now that the traditional gatekeepers like media and health authorities have much less control. The message became counterproductive and may have encouraged even more hoarding because it seemed as though authorities were shaping the message around managing the scarcity rather than confronting the reality of the situation.

First, many health experts, including the surgeon general of the United States, told the public simultaneously that masks weren’t necessary for protecting the general public and that health care workers needed the dwindling supply. This contradiction confuses an ordinary listener. How do these masks magically protect the wearers only and only if they work in a particular field?

(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...


TOPICS: Government
KEYWORDS: chinavirusinfo; facemasks; fakenews; nytimes
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To: rintintin

Masks didn’t work for the ER doctors and nurses that have it now.


21 posted on 03/17/2020 8:04:34 PM PDT by Skywise
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To: kaehurowing

“What no one will say is that people in China bought up America’s mask supply as soon as the virus hit Wuhan.”

Confiscated.


22 posted on 03/17/2020 8:05:55 PM PDT by TexasGator (Z1z)
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To: Skywise

That’s one assumption. Another deals with how many DRs already forget/ignore basic procedures and are too “godlike” to be reminded by lowly nurses. The book Checklist Manifesto examined that problem.


23 posted on 03/17/2020 8:07:29 PM PDT by proust (Justice delayed is injustice.)
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To: steve86

That’s how it should have been for the last two decades.

Waiting rooms are the worse place for a healthy person to be.


24 posted on 03/17/2020 8:08:18 PM PDT by lightman (I am a binary Trinitarian. Deal with it!)
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To: TexasGator

“What no one will say is that people in China bought up America’s mask supply as soon as the virus hit Wuhan.”

Confiscated.


Speculators. I personally saw cases going out of our local drugstore, although the lady who bought up the entire supply spoke with a Filipino accent. But she was clearly foreign, probably was going to make a lot of money reselling them in the Philippines on ebay.


25 posted on 03/17/2020 8:09:24 PM PDT by kaehurowing
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To: steve86

Was it made specially for you and fitted to shape of your face? If not, it is not air tight. Majority of masks sold at Walmart (where I buy masks for wearing when doing dusty work) are not N95 type. I pay like 25-29 cents for each.


26 posted on 03/17/2020 8:10:17 PM PDT by entropy12 (You are either for free enterprise or want gov't to interfere with corporate issues.)
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To: steve86

See post #21 as well.


27 posted on 03/17/2020 8:11:53 PM PDT by entropy12 (You are either for free enterprise or want gov't to interfere with corporate issues.)
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To: entropy12

The have (had) N95 masks and respirators in the paint section. You aren’t serious about “specially made for you”, I hope. If the real question is “Does it seal well?”, yes it does.


28 posted on 03/17/2020 8:13:37 PM PDT by steve86 (Prophecies of Maelmhaedhoc O'Morgair (Latin form: Malachy))
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To: steve86

That’s what my doc told me yesterday.

I was referring to pre-wuhan times


29 posted on 03/17/2020 8:13:51 PM PDT by digger48
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To: Skywise

Most infections occurred at takedown time, not just from the masks but from gloves, goggles, etc. And those medical professionals were dealing with far higher ambient viral loads than ordinary people would be. If the medical staff were not wearing protection be assured the infection rates would be much higher. Do you seriously dispute that?


30 posted on 03/17/2020 8:16:45 PM PDT by steve86 (Prophecies of Maelmhaedhoc O'Morgair (Latin form: Malachy))
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To: metmom

And now that they have a twisted narrative that masks won’t help us, and there will be masks galore, are they going to tell us to wear masks or not.


31 posted on 03/17/2020 8:18:01 PM PDT by Cold Heart (.)
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To: steve86

SO why are doctors and nurses wearing masks are getting infected?

Which is proof masks are not fool-proof.


32 posted on 03/17/2020 8:19:40 PM PDT by entropy12 (You are either for free enterprise or want gov't to interfere with corporate issues.)
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To: TexasGator

They supposedly turned a ship headed to the US with masks and medical supplies around back to China.

Right there is reason to keep the US Merchant Marine sound, and keep the Jones Act intact.


33 posted on 03/17/2020 8:21:37 PM PDT by Cold Heart (.)
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To: Skywise
Masks didn’t work for the ER doctors and nurses that have it now.

There may be other factor at play that explain that. Were they wearing eye protection? Doffed a mask and were not vigilant in washing, etc? Just too many variables that are unknown.

34 posted on 03/17/2020 8:24:19 PM PDT by Fury
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To: entropy12

“Was it made specially for you and fitted to shape of your face?”

None of the gas masks the Navy issued me were specially fitted to me.


35 posted on 03/17/2020 8:26:39 PM PDT by dsc (As for the foundations of the Catholic faith, this pontificate is an outrage to reason.)
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To: Cold Heart

Right there is reason to keep the US Merchant Marine sound, and keep the Jones Act intact.

Better yet, bring manufacturing back home. Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan won’t like that, but screw em


36 posted on 03/17/2020 8:28:41 PM PDT by rintintin (qu)
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To: metmom

Gofeki Tufecki.

Not sure I spelled that right.


37 posted on 03/17/2020 8:31:22 PM PDT by Dr. Pritchett
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To: TexasFreeper2009

Any kind of mask that provides any amount of filtering against tiny droplets of moisture will work better than no mask at all. Any mask that keeps those droplets from traveling farther will protect others from the wearer to some extent.

It’s all about viral loads, chances or odds and levels of immunity.


38 posted on 03/17/2020 8:34:11 PM PDT by familyop ("Welcome to Costco. I love you." - -Costco greeter in the movie, "Idiocracy")
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To: TexasFreeper2009

Not true . Even simple surgical masks do a lot to stop droplet transmission. That’s what people have been wearing in Taiwan, Korea, Japan, not the N95s.


39 posted on 03/17/2020 8:34:12 PM PDT by heartwood (Someone has to play devil's advocate.)
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To: rintintin

I knew they were lying when “they” told us that masks wouldn’t protect us from the virus.......after telling us to be sure to buy N95 masks two days before.


40 posted on 03/17/2020 8:35:01 PM PDT by ALASKA (Watching an attempted coup by a thousand cuts....)
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