Some in the medical field have been trying to get the general public to not create shortages of masks for medical personnel by saying they don't protect, which is wrong. Others admit that the masks will help slow the spread in the general population, but that risk is lower compared to Doctors and Nurses. If they get sick we are in deeper trouble.rberq wrote: ↑Sun. Mar. 29, 2020 9:19 amBot or not, there's sense in his posting. If masks don’t help, then why do virtually all doctors and nurses use them?
“... the greatest benefit of masking the masses … likely comes not from shielding the mouths of the healthy but from covering the mouths of people already infected. “
https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/03/would-eve ... w-pandemic
I have read that a number of other places, too. Since there apparently are very large numbers of infected people with no symptoms, masks on those people could keep them from passing the virus to others. And since we don’t know which healthy people are carrying the germs, the only practical strategy is to mask everybody.
kobe999’s post says the authorities have cynically lied and discouraged and shamed people against masking, to keep the inadequate supply for healthcare workers. I think that is overstating it, but you have to wonder what would be the recommendation if there were enough masks to go around.
Soon after the mask panic started someone stole all the masks at my wife's Nursing Home. I bought her masks at Lowes and gave her some of my shop N95 masks with the exhalation valve because she wears glasses. That helped until her facility got resupplied.
Paul
