It seems to me you don’t believe in any mitigation until your state’s health system crumbles under the load and then you will go look for planes to fly people somewhere.
It can be prudent to plan for the worst and hope the worst never happens.
They didn’t lie. Early in the pandemic, they were unaware of how many presymptomatic, mildly symptomatic, and asymptomatic people would be walking around for days spreading the virus. Most the states in the US with a large number of cases had shut down. Masks were not necessary with that information. Supplies were desperately needed for healthcare workers. This was explained at the time.
Once data started coming in about the length of the incubation period and how many people never developed significant symptoms, masks were recommended as source control. This was in late March, early April. If people are fixating on a time that early in the pandemic with as much information out there, they are looking for an excuse or they are very low information citizens.
While I initially thought the same thing, there is evidence (acknowledge by Fauci in this short video clip) that there was a short period at the beginning where they were recommending people not buy masks as they didn’t want a run on N-95 masks by the general public. Once vendors locked down that supply and limited it to relevant personnel, the Fauci’s of the world changed the recommendations quickly.
That doesn’t excuse the previous sentence of his:
That hasn’t been true in a very very long time unless you are listening to people who don’t have a clue.
Even Trump’s personal butt boy Azar can tell you the 3 Ws (warning, FoxNews link, so you might have to shower afterwards).
- Wear a cloth mask over your nose and mouth.
- Wait 6 feet apart. Avoid close contact.
- Wash your hands or use hand sanitizer.
Additional information on how long it’s going to take for the vaccinations to really make a dent in cases in the U.S., from the White House coronavirus task force today:
Moderator Note
Let’s keep political jabs out of this forum, as well as homophobic slurs. Do not do this again.
Colibri
QZ Moderator
I apologize for that. I keep forgetting the “No politics” rule in this forum, but I’ve been here long enough that that is no excuse.
Apology noted and appreciated.
Colibri
29% of all Americans are comorbid and by implication susceptible to death from covid? That seems very high.
I don’t think there’s wholesale rejection of prudence nor are we looking forward to plan B, C, and D.
the pushback is from people in economic free-fall and those who support them. At this point in the timeline we’re wearing masks at box stores and keeping 6 feet apart so that vulnerable people have a safe place to shop.
But there is an expectation of support for businesses where masks can’t be worn. vulnerable people are expected to avoid these places until they are vaccinated just as they would be for the flu or any other environment that poses a threat.
…this is neither an expectation nor a realistic possibility.
How would you describe the increase and decrease of social interaction that governors are engaging in? In my state we are changing school schedules, restaurant schedules and other social functions as the covid numbers change.
…there are about 54 governors in the US and associated territories: can you be a bit more specific on which ones have the expectation that vulnerable people are expected to avoid “these” places until they are vaccinated?
And what does this have to do with what you expect vulnerable people to do?
What drove his original comments was that they did not know how much asymptomatic transmission was going on as much as protecting PPE for healthcare workers. They were already recommending people who had symptoms to stay at home and wear a mask. It wasn’t until they discovered the amount of asymptomatic/presymptomatic transmission (published from the CDC online April 1). This changed everything. At this point masks became essential for source control (which is not controversial at all) as Fauci explains here. We now have evidence that suggests layered cloth masks can actually protect the wearer as well.
So it absolutely was not a lie. They simply didn’t know how transmission was occurring. Once they were confident, they became adamant about wearing masks. Again, this was while most places in the US were in lockdown/shelter-in-place which is superior anyway. We could have reopened more safely with mask mandates as guided by appropriate leadership.
This is a hijack of the topic but I just wanted to rebut, once again, the “lie” myth.
That does seem a tad on the alarmist side. Still, about 15% are over 65 which starts to get significant risk. Add all the people who have serious health issues under that age, it’s a fair few people.
Maybe I’m missing something, but I’m confused about why that would be so – it seems to me that any significant level of immunization would substantially reduce all of these things. It doesn’t have to reach 100% of the vulnerable population to have an effect, right? Especially if – as seems likely – people who have had the vaccination are less likely to transmit it to other people, even if that also isn’t 100%?
What do you expect vulnerable people to do at restaurants? your entire responses make no sense.
Can you cite this? I only see his statement about PPE shortages. Fauci said US government held off promoting face masks because it knew shortages were so bad that even doctors couldn’t get enough
Here’s the numbers for some significant comorbidities and factors that lead to poorer prognoses for COVID-19:
- Age 65+: 15%
- Diabetes: 10%
- Severe obesity: 9%
- Chronic kidney disease: 15%
- COPD: 8%
- Coronary artery disease: 7%
- Smokers: 15%
Granted, there’s going to be a lot of overlap between these (such as overlap between obesity, diabetes, and kidney disease), but even so, it’s very easy to picture that 29% of Americans have at least one of the above.
thanks Kenobi_65. Do you have a link for those numbers.
I was just googling “Percent of Americans with [condition]”, so each percentage was from a different link; almost all of them were from CDC fact sheet pages.
For instance, this is the source for diabetes incidence, and this is the one for kidney disease.