No Shoes, No Shirt, No Face Mask, No Service. It's Not That Hard.
My Saturday late morning stroll this week took me down 30th street in North Park, from Adams Avenue to Upas Street.
After a couple of blocks, I started counting… counting the number of people wearing masks of some sort I encountered on the sidewalk. And those who didn’t. People across the street, in their yards, or whatever didn’t count.
My unscientific study says that 1 in 3 people could not be bothered to wear a mask. I doubt many of them have thought this through. Americans are all-too-often secure in their ignorance.
Come on people! Wearing a mask is not about YOU. It’s about US.
More troubling are the people who have decided to make not wearing a mask in public as a political statement. Whether they are influenced by misinformation campaigns or simply think their sh*t smells sweeter, the message I hear from these types is Me! Me! Me!
The United States of America has 4% of the world’s population and 30% of the world’s death count of COVID-19. It is, by all accounts, a highly contagious disease.
While there is no single action that will abate the spread of COVID-19, all of the steps like hand washing, testing, social distancing, and wearing masks significantly reduces the disease’s ability to spread.
A team at Yale University looked at the effectiveness of any kind of mask, be it bandanna or N95, and concluded that the number of deaths from COVID-19 would be reduced by 10% if everybody played nice about covering the nose and mouth while in public. Their findings led to the change in the CDC’s recommendations.
https://twitter.com/KagroX/status/1262044092101545984?s=20
An even newer study by De Kai, at UC Berkeley’s International Computer Science Institute, found that "If 80% of a closed population were to don a mask, COVID-19 infection rates would statistically drop to approximately one-twelfth the number of infections."
Now that I’ve stated some facts, let review some not-facts or, as I like to call them, lies.
The usual conspiracy-prone suspects (anti-vaxxers, libertarians & nihilists) have taken to Facebook to spread variations on the theme that face masks either don’t work or are a danger to users. Many of them cite Dr. Rusell Blaylock as their source.
Blaylock is well-known in fact checking circles for his observations about chemtrails’ nano-particles being sprayed as part of a government plot to infect people with cancer. For $51.25, he’ll sell you a bottle of his “brain repair” pills.
You can read more about this flavor of misinformation at Judd Legum’s Popular Information newsletter, where he documents the struggle to get Facebook to remove posts with bad information.
Next up in the world of misinformation are the COVID-19 HIPAA face mask “passes.”
Some not-so-smart people have taken to carrying around a piece of paper they saw on the internet claiming that in any state where masks had been mandated or otherwise advised in public places the bearer was specifically exempt from any such public health rule or law due to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA):
Kim LaCapria at Truth or Fiction chased this down and concluded that both the document and the claims it makes are false. (emphasis mine)
A viral image claiming HIPAA and the ADA exempted anyone who didn’t want to wear a mask from localized COVID-19 face mask mandates didn’t appear to be legally sound — even in the more regulated employer/employee relationship and even in the presence of a legally documented disability, individuals “unable” to wear masks might be sent home without pay for the duration of the pandemic.
Businesses were within their rights to refuse entry to anyone not complying with local public health ordinances requiring masks, and even in the event a legally documented disability prevented the wearing of masks, no one was entitled to jeopardize public health due to their own disability. It was possible those who printed and presented the COVID-19 mask exemption document would be allowed entry, but we found no legal basis permitted people who didn’t want to wear masks from violating regional public health ordinances.
A video of a woman trying to use this line at a Gelson's Market in Dana Point went viral over the weekend, and the employees trying to reason with her ought to get medals for their perseverance and manners.
It's a good thing I wasn't there. I would have told her to take her "freedom" and shove it.
https://twitter.com/twmentality1/status/1262120746438066176?s=20
The amount of misinformation and deliberate misdirection concerning COVID-19 is simply astounding. Lies are popping up faster than fact checkers can refute them. When discussing these falsehoods, remember, always tell the truth first before repeating the claim.
https://twitter.com/moneyymaya/status/1262139370460581888?s=20
Hey folks! Be sure to like/follow Words & Deeds on Facebook. If you’d like to have each post emailed to you check out the simple subscription form on the right side of the front page.
Email me at: WritetoDougPorter@Gmail.com