I care quite a lot about small effects, because small effects (and thus layered protection) are what we've got. Vaccination has a big effect on protection from death and severe disease, but everything else, including vaccination on other outcomes, has small effects. Also viral infections are exponential so in the medium term small protective effects can snowball (equally small increases in absolute risk can lead to major population-wide disasters, so.)
I don't think shouting at people about the exact numbers of how much protection you get from masks in exactly what circumstances is at all productive; people who have made anti-mask part of their identity aren't going to accept any evidence anyway, much less emotional pressure from people they perceive as angry and threatening. The group worth persuading, I think, are people who basically accept the consensus that masks are protective, but believe that the downsides of masking are worse than repeatedly catching Covid.
Like you I wear a mask when it's practical; I don't find them particularly unpleasant, and also: masks are a physical barrier. The level of evidence I need in order to believe that a physical barrier which prevents viruses from entering your lungs is effective, is much lower than the level of evidence I need to believe in a pharmaceutical intervention. I might get Covid while wearing a mask, but I probably won't ever know whether it was because the mask wasn't sealed well enough, or because I was unlucky and got exposed when I took the mask off briefly, or when I intentionally removed the mask because outdoors is IMO 'safe enough'. But I am mostly relying on trying to minimize my exposures as much as I can.
Miscellaneous. Eclectic. Random. Perhaps markedly literate, or at least suffering from the compulsion to read any text that presents itself, including cereal boxes.
(no subject)
Date: 2023-03-14 03:28 pm (UTC)I don't think shouting at people about the exact numbers of how much protection you get from masks in exactly what circumstances is at all productive; people who have made anti-mask part of their identity aren't going to accept any evidence anyway, much less emotional pressure from people they perceive as angry and threatening. The group worth persuading, I think, are people who basically accept the consensus that masks are protective, but believe that the downsides of masking are worse than repeatedly catching Covid.
Like you I wear a mask when it's practical; I don't find them particularly unpleasant, and also: masks are a physical barrier. The level of evidence I need in order to believe that a physical barrier which prevents viruses from entering your lungs is effective, is much lower than the level of evidence I need to believe in a pharmaceutical intervention. I might get Covid while wearing a mask, but I probably won't ever know whether it was because the mask wasn't sealed well enough, or because I was unlucky and got exposed when I took the mask off briefly, or when I intentionally removed the mask because outdoors is IMO 'safe enough'. But I am mostly relying on trying to minimize my exposures as much as I can.