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Comment by HWR_14 | Hacker News Reader

It means mask mandates that allow cotton masks as opposed to surgical masks or N95s aren't worth as much.

I'm still waiting for the CDC to explain why last year when they were explaining how N95 masks required expert knowledge to use and that us dummies in the public would just poke covid in our eyes if we tried to wear them, how exactly that changed. Are we no longer dummies and capable of using masks without poking covid in our eyes or were they lying? And if they were lying, how many people died from using inferior masks since then based on the lie that cotton masks are somehow useful.

Do you have anything to support this “dummies” claim? What I remember from the N95 “guidance” (it wasn’t a “ban” iirc) was that the reason was to ensure there was enough supply of them for healthcare / frontline workers, who need them more than the rest of us, which made sense at the time (and I can see reasons why it would change later). I’m curious when that reason switched to “you are all dummies who can’t be allowed to use masks”?

https://web.archive.org/web/20200301071220/https://www.forbe...

They wanted to save N95s for professionals due to a shortage. They lied. It's the same way the fed lies about inflation because people thinking inflation happening worsens the effects making it irresponsible to tell the truth.

How many people died? Hard to say. You have to also compare how many were saved because medical workers had access to N95 masks. But you're not considering this factor.

Honest truth is that it's complicated and people were trying their best. It's not a conspiracy it's just that we're humans.

> making it irresponsible to tell the truth.

So, we should be thankful for being lied to? Perverse. And extremely short sighted.

I'm saying that things aren't simple. If you're not aware of cases where telling the truth is worse than telling a lie then I'd tell you that you're lying to yourself.

Are there Jews in my basement? No, Nazi fucks, not at all.

But that's not really the same thing as a critical taxpayer funded health body telling major fibs at the outset of a crisis. And if you think it is then who here is lying to themselves?

> They wanted to save N95s for professionals due to a shortage. They lied.

That's certainly a plausible interpretation of what happened. Another is they actually thought masks don't help in most cases and that covid wasn't primarily air-transmitted.

Which is what they were.

So we all agree they weren't worth much.

They're still worth a lot. For one, mask mandates are going to encourage some people to wear non-cotton masks who would otherwise skip masks. For another, cotton masks are still better than nothing.

But I agree, we should statrt having stricter mandates.

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