The NYTimes published an opinion piece that said “ This isn’t hard,” and a hilarious PSA featuring Paul Rudd ended with him ranting “Just wear a mask! This isn’t hard! I shouldn’t have to make this fun!” The overall vibe is that only an idiot or a coward would have a problem with pandemic precautions.Įxcept… okay, let’s put aside the outlandish overreactions that get endlessly mocked on YouTube, and just admit that this does, in fact, suck? I don’t think I’m being a baby when I admit that it’s been hard to avoid my friends and wear uncomfortable face masks for a year. Wearing a mask and social distancing sure aren’t easyĮver since mask wearing became the subject of partisan political controversy, one of the most common strategies for convincing anti-maskers is to downplay how difficult it is. People miss out on the truth not because they’re stupid or lazy, but because they’re busy-probably because we’re in the middle of a pandemic. And most people only read headlines (according to The Washington Post), so the nuance of the study's findings is then lost. Framing it as a general warning erodes the confidence in all mask precautions. But the situation is specific and more of an exception. The truth behind the study is that particularly thin fabrics, in particular situations, can increase transmission of airborne fluids that might carry a virus. I’m calling it a “factoid” because, according to the authors of the reported study on neck gaiters, it isn’t true. I’m linking to the Washington Post, but don’t mean to call them out specifically: Everyone reported this particular factoid. One of 2020's standout pandemic headlines was the claim that wearing a neck gaiter could be worse than no mask at all. The wrong mask isn’t “worse than no mask at all” Pack of 50 disposable face masks for $12.99 at Amazon But the actual instructions are, and have always been, pretty straightforward. This isn’t to downplay confusion, or to let the CDC off the hook. If you want to get into the nitty-gritty, you could closely follow which masks were considered the best, or get into the debate between experts and government officials about whether people outside the healthcare industry should be wearing N95 masks, but none of that is strictly necessary. The truth is that while there were constant breakthroughs in understanding how this particular coronavirus works, the guidelines have remained virtually the same: After all, official advice keeps changing, right? No one can be blamed for not knowing how to behave in a pandemic. NBC reported on it, CNN reported that the CDC was pressured to change guidance arbitrarily during the Trump administration, and I wrote about every tiny chang e or breakthrough that happened right here on SFGATE.
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