I called BS initially having seen the size of corona virus against the gaps of high thread count cotton. I theorized however that the air disturbance was enough to create a small virulent cloud around the user and not spread it much further. It appears that's where the science lies....the virus still leaks, but it just doesn't get pushed out as far. The numbers don't seem to lie, even w/shitty face coverings.
Bit of a skewed statistic as the ones who got someone close to them die from the virus might still be hiding in their closet, but living in Madrid, one of the cities hardest hit by criminal quarantines... uh, I mean the coronavirus, after meeting quite a bunch of people after the city has reopened for quite a few weeks now, it looks like the virus nocivity was very far from the nocivity of the strict lockdown. I suspect the husband or someone very close to my landlady passed away, someone quite old, but heard of several suicide casualties and many more suicide attempts. Huge pressure on families with separations all over the place. Quite a bit of economic distress in the people who didn´t have guaranteed income, and I suspect civil servants parasites are among the partisans of going on with the stay at home order ( on a side note for Sig, I know a couple of US military officers (pilots) working for Nato here, their income wasn´t hit but they don´t support further lockdown nor extreme social distancing or face mask wearing. They do have republican leanings though, and at least 1 had to face serious stress with his wife during the lockdown) Frankly I do not mind if one prefer to live in hiding, at least if I don´t need to feed them, but if they push others into getting locked in as well, I sure wish they die a painful death within a very short timeframe. Surveys still show huge parts of the spanish population scared of the corona btw, more than in other european countries, although among the people I meet, they are overwhelmingly fed up with the restrictions, especially with the past lockdow, and new restrictions are popping up all over the country, except in MAdrid and Canariy Islands. Little hope the schools will reopen half normally or for long in September. Now waiting to see how long Madrid will be able to resist the pressure to cave in to further restrictions, despite the rona cases being few here and overwhelmingly benign if the news are to be believed. While the extra death for the March to May period is still significantly beyond the number of registered rona deaths, all the talk in the media is about the rona deaths being underreported, colateral damage from the lockdown is mostly touched in an economic angle.
We're still arguing if its tyrrany to ask people to subject themselves to the minor inconvenience of wearing a mask in public (which primarily stops you from spreading vice protecting you) here on this side of the pond. And not coincidentally we're completely out of control with deaths compared to Spain as of now. I don't disagree that we need to weigh all the costs of a lockdown if we decide to go that way again. But we're being heavily influenced here by the @Money Trust level intellects who basically deny that COVID is anything more than a cold despite 140,000 whose deaths say otherwise, so we've swung so far in the other direction that the conversation you want to have isn't even on the horizon.
Actually it sounds like a legit concern, while much of Europe is requiring people to wear masks in indoor public places (probably not even all of Europe, France just introduced the requirement and the country wasn´t amoing the first to exit the lockdown), now in all of Spain bar Canary and Madrid where one is to wear a mask in public indoor places except when doing sports of eating more or less, and outdoor when one can´t keep 1.5 advertised safe distance, people now do have to wear masks in every public place, be they alone in a small public street or walking in the forest. It seems in some provinces they have to wear it while lying on the sand at the beach. Gotta sit in restaurants with the masks on, just removing it to eat or drink, why would anyone patronize restaurants in thjose conditions ( wearing a mask in restaurants is not required yet in Madrid, just the staff wear those usually. It is required in nightclubs though) Imo wearing a mask, especially being forced to do it, is a large degradation of quality of life. Such a hassle to go out now in Madrid that we go out less than we would otherwise, and I cancelled planned short summer trips in parts of Spain with more restrictions. Besides you are right, there are strong voices in the US that claim the virus is a complete hoax which makes the discussion difficult, but than so are the voices claiming it is extremely dangerous and put society as we know it in danger. Imo what is so dangerous is the overreaction to the virus and the power grabs from governments worldwide. By now I´ve met a few and heard of more 50 y o and younger people who had the virus and got to learn about it, no scary story, and most probably are unaware they´ve had it.
On a side note, now here there´s a risk of being quarantined for being infected or in close contact to an infected person, I´m wondering the quarantines are now organised. A training partner tested positive for covid at the end of the long strict lockdown here, and he had to quarantine along his family, which I understand they never tested. Kept on sleeping with his wife as they prolly live in a small apartment and the kid next room. No surprise a lot of contagion happened within families. Got his kid distressed as well, because after 2 months being locked in 24/7 along most kids of the country who didn´t have a garden, he had to stay 2 extra weeks indoors while seeing other kids starting to play outside. That friend was asymptomatic or with very mild symptoms btw, he´s a policeman and was tested in relation to his work. Most cases in Madrid atm are reported to be very mild or asymptomatic, they are discovered when the patients go for some unrelated medical care and face covid mandatory testing. This coupled with a deficient tracing system in Madrid implies the cases are way more than advertised, but than we are getting at the moment 20/40 cases per day in a province of 6.6m, and the hidden cases are likely to be overwhelmingly benign. https://english.elpais.com/society/...of-madrids-lack-of-coronavirus-outbreaks.html
Look, I am very libertarian in my political views and the way I live and interact with others. But not wearing a mask in public is just a selfish and dangerous fuck you. Normally I am somewhat amused - even encouraged, about nature weeding out the idiots living among us. But when you risk the lives of others it is just not acceptable. If you don't want to wear a mask - stay the fuck at home. I see people pulling masks down to cover their mouths but not their noses. And that bandana might look gangster, but it's good for shit. I spoke to a friend on the phone the other day whose Mom had passed in March. Big shot jag off brother from Chicago came down to the funeral which he insisted on having. My friend wore a mask and this asshole belittled and teased her about it during the service and reception lunch. Guess which fucktard got COVID and had to call everyone attending the services to tell them.
So your beliefs are 'facts' but anything others have garnered from experts is crybaby rubbish and they should leave you be. I expect people have wished you dead sometimes long before Covid-19 appeared.
Oliver Wendell Holmes once said: "The right to swing my fist ends where the other man's nose begins." Likewise, the right to not wear a mask ends where the other person's nose begins.
Lots of contagious diseases around, with that mindset everybody should be forced to wear a mask at all time, even in the absence of covid. Kids just got back from Belgium, which had the highest death rate in Europe yet always allowed people to go out at least for exercising, which wasn t possible in Spain, and now they seem to be doing as well as their neighbours with few people wearing a mask in the streets. Few countries have actually imposed the mask outdoor in Europe, not sure any country has besides Spain and Italy actually Here pressure is mounting from all over the country including from some local political forces so Madrid starts imposing face mask everywhere public, no matter how isolated one is, which is the case in most of the country now. Paranoia and lack of respect for individual freedom is doing more damage than the virus.