Archive for the ‘Covid – Mask debate’ Category

(Practically) guaranteed to stop Covid transmission …

February 10, 2022

The “science of masking” goes full bonkers.
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You know the old, flippant saying: “I’d rather be dead than [fill in the blank].

Well, in the masking debate, we may now be able to fill in the blank.

(Possibly) well-intended researchers at the University of Cambridge tested an array of “mask hacks” that increase the covid protection that masks provide.

For example, they tried adding more and stronger rubber bands around the ears and taping around the edges of the mask.

Those sound reasonable, right?

But, the winner was…

Pulling panty hose over your face before putting on your mask.

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I thought this was a joke until I spotted a full write-up on NPR’s web page.

The I realized that it wasn’t a joke, it was just absurd.

What’s next clothes-pinning your nose and Duck-taping your mouth?

In my days as a marketer, I learned that it’s very hard to get people to perform unnatural (or embarrassing) acts.

Odds of people (other than home invaders and bank robbers) pulling panty hose over their heads to shield them from covid are slim to none.

So, my big takeaway from the study: Proof positive that cloth masks are like sieves and don’t work very well.

Probably not the message that the researchers (or NPR) intended…

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P.S. Imagine if Trump had recommended that we all pull panty hose over our heads.

My hunch: He would have been ridiculed, called a science-denying moron and a misogynist for telling people to appropriate a gender-specific piece of clothing.

But, this study is “the science” speaking so we have to nod our heads and shout “Eureka”.  Go, figure.

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The straw that broke the camel’s back?

February 9, 2022

Some images become iconic.
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You know the old saying: A picture is worth a thousand words.

Well this one may be destined to be the one that ultimately symbolizes the mask-the-kids-in-school debate.

A maskless politico posing in front of a room full of small, masked children.

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For a moment, forget that it’s Stacey Abrams.

Imagine that it’s Tony “I am Science” Fauci posing with the children.

The effect would be the same.

A hypocritical politico caught in the act.

More important, focus on the kids.

If you could x-ray through their masks, I doubt that you’d see many smiles.

They know that they’ve been political (and union) pawns during the pandemic.

They’re not stupid.

They’ve just been under-taught for a couple of years.

At least these kids are in school, and their learning loss is (hopefully) subsiding.

Now, they just have to catch up on what they’ve lost….

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