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Can everyone please RT this? The idea that masks "create a false sense of security" has ZERO basis in fact. It came from WHO and has been uncritically parroted by *everyone*. @celliottability just emphasized the primacy of physical distancing. Masks *ENHANCE* physical distancing.
Studies from Italy https://arxiv.org/pdf/2005.12446.pdf & Germany https://osf.io/es7kt/ show mask-wearing results in better physical distancing.
Polling from McMaster https://brighterworld.mcmaster.ca/articles/new-polling-from-mcmaster-researcher-majority-of-canadians-already-started-wearing-masks-ahead-of-official-recommendation/ & EKOS https://twitter.com/ProbitInc/status/1255472559040147457shows shows mask-wearers more compliant w other measures across the board.
Polling from McMaster https://brighterworld.mcmaster.ca/articles/new-polling-from-mcmaster-researcher-majority-of-canadians-already-started-wearing-masks-ahead-of-official-recommendation/ & EKOS https://twitter.com/ProbitInc/status/1255472559040147457shows shows mask-wearers more compliant w other measures across the board.
Why? The German and Italian studies find that masks act as a social device. They convey that these aren't normal times, we're in the middle of a pandemic. No masks = things are normal, distancing is lax. Yes masks = a visual cue / reminder to behave accordingly.
Apart from being an important source control measure (see: literally there's a new study every day), they act as a multiplier for other measures. Masks don't subtract. In fact, they do more than add: they enhance all other health measures. The intransigence on masks is insane.
"False sense of security" claim appears to come from early WHO guidance https://who.int/docs/default-source/documents/advice-on-the-use-of-masks-2019-ncov.pdf No evidence cited. Researchers in Lancet report "unaware of any empirical evidence" of the claim https://thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)30918-1/fulltext Narrative has been uncritically adopted / repeated.
We're literally discarding actual studies on the benefits of mask use in favour of unfounded hearsay. Like, WTF. So what's really going on? A potent cocktail of confirmation bias, group-think, ego-defence mechanisms, etc. from PH paired w free-market ideology among Ford et al.
Ontario just adopted a laissez-faire approach to public health. You do do. Complete dereliction of duty. It's now the wild west.
SARS-CoV-2 just clicked the like button on Ford's presser. It's smiling. Popped open the Moet. Is now clinking champagne flutes with fellow virons.
SARS-CoV-2 just clicked the like button on Ford's presser. It's smiling. Popped open the Moet. Is now clinking champagne flutes with fellow virons.
Listen to him at the top of the presser: safe re-opening, all in this together, give confidence to shoppers, support our economy. I call BS.
US Surgeon General just said masks = freedom: https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/14/health/us-surgeon-general-coronavirus-masks/index.html
If we don't mandate masks, we're begging for a second lockdown.
US Surgeon General just said masks = freedom: https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/14/health/us-surgeon-general-coronavirus-masks/index.html
If we don't mandate masks, we're begging for a second lockdown.
For anyone making it this far, go here: https://www.masksformunicipalities.ca/ Your local council and your local public health units are your only hope. Just get one or two more of these to budge, and maybe we'll course correct at the provincial level.
