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H5N1 Bird Flu Isn’t a Human Pandemic—Yet. American Contrariness Could Turn It into One
(www.scientificamerican.com)
this post was submitted on 15 Jun 2024
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The CDC said that masks would not be very effective at preventing you from getting the disease if you don't already have it. They are however extremely effective at preventing you from spreading it if you are already infected.
THAT is the difference.
Yes, masks (not just N95 masks either) were indeed in short supply when the pandemic hit and the morons were buying them up like hot cakes in an effort to be "protected" from getting the virus. Except even if you are wearing a mask the virus can get in your eyes or get on your skin and get wiped on you nose, mouth, and eyes and you can get it. The only way to prevent the spread is for those who are infected to stop spreading the disease and masks are extremely effective at that.
Fauci and the CDC didn't lie, they were trying to stop idiots from hoarding masks that were in desperate need in hospitals and immediate care facilities. They just underestimate how unfathomably dumb you all are.
I don't know why you're lecturing me about this and including ad hominems, I understand how the virus spreads and take it very seriously, including masking where appropriate and getting the vaccine 4 months before it was available to the general public. I'm merely explaining how the CDC bungled the messaging at the beginning of the pandemic, it absolutely contributed to the amount of confusion. The public is simply not mentally equipped to handle that level of nuance, the CDC should have just said "masks work, wear one" and left it at that. The level of detail you explained is correct, and it's way too much detail for the average brainrotted Facebooker to understand.
This is why. It's not true. This is not what they said. At all. They said what I outlined above.
What you said here is what has been distorted by conservative media in the smear campaign against Fauci. A man we owe a great debt too and yet he continues to get threats and hate because of the absolute distortion of what he was saying and doing during the pandemic. All in an effort to shift the blame for how bad things got away from the great orange dipshit who bungled every aspect of our response to the disease when it hit the world.
Don't take it from me, here is the literal CDC Facebook page telling people in Feb 2020 not to wear masks. And here is a scientific paper analyzing comments on their Facebook page comparing reactions of citizens to that Feb 2020 announcement, and the later April 2020 announcement where they did recommend masks. The paper explores lessons public health officials can learn from the failed messaging, it's important to learn what we can so we're ready for the next one. I do believe they were doing their best but this messaging was a mistake and it absolutely contributed to the confusion around this virus early on.
CDC Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cdc/posts/pfbid02f4JBbsKWeEvZe1c6V1Gsvs1jDixoH9qRpwonebiY4QtaJGVaXs9K4FnNqB91cAm3l?__cft__[0]=AZWtQDpU3TRZ9RTLJrbXWOi98FW5DhWq8Uskn3vssi5Eh_t3VEgPvRH2NGGcIJrcpVwGLFBS-lk3i80XNb7v9dR_N2knM_cpoGlnaIB32ak2QhdrBzTxiC_xSYgwGTTLxc-DYG_nCjemFllecZwyR2vo&__tn__=%2CO%2CP-R
Paper: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10298096/#B3-ijerph-20-06062
This literally says exactly what I just did. Wearing a mask will not protect you from getting covid or any other disease but it can protect other people from catching it from you by stopping you from spreading it.
P.S. and yes, at the time healthcare professionals needed the masks desperately so that they could administer to patients without the fear of spreading the disease all over the place if they caught it because COVID has such a long incubation period that overlaps significantly with its shedding phase.