Originally Posted by
AntiPeter
Study after study do not show masks help mitigate the virus. Recent numerical modelling shows they do, previous studies are a mixed bag. Would you believe recent numerical modelling and government directives? Do you think they are biased?
Regarding Trump -- not a hill I'm willing to die on, however there is no reason for healthy younger and middle age adults to be wearing masks. Their use is ridiculous -- nothing more than a placebo to make people feel more secure.
The average age of COVID death in NYC was 78 with a BMI of 32. On average, COVID killed senior citizens that were also obese. How many obese senior citizens does South Korea have?
Many states do not have mask mandates. The initial three to avoid mandated mask usage were Oklahoma, Iowa and Montana. Let me know how much COVID and COVID related illness and death they've had vs. the states that mandate mask usage, then we can have a "conversation".
Because a country has had "success" with COVID (depending on how you want to define it) doesn't mean it's because they "did something". Correlation is not causation. Demographics and lifestyle play a massive role with COVID related fatality, but it isn't politically correct to discuss it so it's brushed under the rug while we are recommended to wear thin pieces of cloth around our mouths to stop a virus. Ridiculous.
Recent numerical modeling? You mean studies? If so, post them and tell me why that is enough to dismiss all the counter evidence. Previous studies are hardly a mixed bag. You'll have to search long and hard before you find anything that even casts significant doubt into the effectiveness of masks.
Also, what "bias" would a government be pushing by trying to get people to wear masks? It doesn't help facial recognition, they can't read your mind from a mask, what possible reason would the govt have for trying to encourage people to wear masks aside from limiting the spread of a respiratory illness during a pandemic?
Also, according to the latest data:
https://www.covidexitstrategy.org/
OK is not doing too good. IA is about the same and MT is doing much worse, but because it's so rural they've been socially distancing long before it was cool.
Where I'm annoyed is you've made a lot of big claims counter to everything I've read with no citations to back them up.