Are we overemphasizing touching rather than breathing?
I suspect that governments are favoring actionable advice over accuracy.
The west in general ran out of masks due to government incompetence and complacency, therefore they told us that masks don’t work, because telling people that masks work but oops we don’t have any would contribute to panic and discontent.
The virus spreads mostly through the air, but people can’t easily stop that, so they emphasize hand-washing because it is actionable and gives people something to do and thereby reduces their anxiety. It is probably also slightly helpful—people already don’t wash their hands enough and a bit more hand-washing has a low cost.
It’s happened before. In WWII, they told people to collect various materials for the war effort, at least some of which were totally useless.
But we could supply the entire country with fabric masks in like a week, even assuming there’s not already enough of them sitting around. People who sew live for this kind of thing.
… someone in the government would have to organise that …
This seems to not only be false in general, but definitely false in this case. I’ve read about a lot of people making masks.
Are you claiming that only governments could supply everyone with face masks (“in a week”)? I’m more in agreement with that, but I think governments could spur private parties to do it themselves just by making the suggestion too.
I suspect that governments are favoring actionable advice over accuracy.
The west in general ran out of masks due to government incompetence and complacency, therefore they told us that masks don’t work, because telling people that masks work but oops we don’t have any would contribute to panic and discontent.
The virus spreads mostly through the air, but people can’t easily stop that, so they emphasize hand-washing because it is actionable and gives people something to do and thereby reduces their anxiety. It is probably also slightly helpful—people already don’t wash their hands enough and a bit more hand-washing has a low cost.
It’s happened before. In WWII, they told people to collect various materials for the war effort, at least some of which were totally useless.
But we could supply the entire country with fabric masks in like a week, even assuming there’s not already enough of them sitting around. People who sew live for this kind of thing.
Yeah but someone in the government would have to organise that, and they would take the blame if even one tiny thing went wrong.
Telling people to wash their hands is very safe and requires no effort. It is also helpful advice because some people actually have poor hand hygiene.
This seems to not only be false in general, but definitely false in this case. I’ve read about a lot of people making masks.
Are you claiming that only governments could supply everyone with face masks (“in a week”)? I’m more in agreement with that, but I think governments could spur private parties to do it themselves just by making the suggestion too.