Tag: Pandemic

A few words about masks

Masks in public has become the new normal. So let’s talk about this for a few minutes.

Masks are a whole lot like condoms: they do work; they only work if you use them, and use them correctly; they don’t work with holes cut in them; and they are not foolproof — you and the people around you are safer if you’re all doing something to prevent the spread of disease.

Nor are masks a substitute for things like quarantining the sick, isolating those who are known to have unprotected exposure, washing your hands, or social distancing. Hand hygiene is still the number one thing you can do to keep from getting almost any disease — it will even stop you from accidentally making somebody else sick. That last point is really important, because people can spread COVID-19 two days before they feel sick, and worse yet they can spread it and never feel sick at all.

Again, just like condoms, masks are only one tool to prevent the spread of disease.

We haven’t got a cure or a vaccine for this thing yet. Prevention is literally all we’ve got to prevent more people from getting sick and possibly dying.

Now for those of you who like actual research results: here’s the Mayo Clinic; Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA); some research from Hong Kong; and The Lancet. For those of you who are total data nerds, here’s some more fine studies.

Wear the damn mask, people. There’s nothing “unconstitutional” about it. Your “rights” end when you interfere with the rights of others, such as when your selfishness accidentally spreads disease.

Lessons from a Pandemic

Some of these are things we are now learning. Some are things we should have long since learned but are now becoming obvious.

We should be taking medical advice from medical experts, not politicians. Insert the Fauci Facepalm here. Some of our Governors are remarkably well informed, because they choose to be informed by medical experts. Gov. Cuomo’s presentation Sunday was particularly level, and riddled with facts. Gov. Sisolak is doing the best with what he’s got. I wish him and NV Attorney General Aaron Ford much luck making banks follow rules.

Employer based insurance was [still] never going to cover everybody. Long time readers know I’ve been beating this drum for over a decade. First, it’s never going to cover all children. Second, it inhibits the growth of small business. And finally, there’s the unemployed. Which brings me to….

COBRA is [still] a bad joke on the newly unemployed. I said it years ago. People are now saying it on the radio!

The uninsured aren’t somebody else’s problem, they’re everybody’s problem. Cancer isn’t communicable, nor diabetes, nor hypertension. But TB sure is. And now, COVID-19 sure is. There’s a couple of problems with the uninsured in an epidemic or pandemic. First, people who don’t think they can afford a doctor are not going, not getting help, probably still going to work (because they can’t afford not to work, duh), and most importantly infecting other people. So yeah, now it’s your problem. Oh, I said a couple problems, didn’t I? All those unpaid costs are going to drive your medical costs up. The hospital isn’t getting paid for a bunch of critically ill patients? Your bed cost goes up.

It turns out a lot of jobs can indeed be done from home. I’m hearing radio shows from home studios, seeing TV shows done via videoconference. There’s a lot of “important meetings” that can now be done remotely, or not at all. That is a trend I hope sticks. Of course, this may mean that business travel is in for a longer term slump, since it’s easier, safer, faster, and cheaper to teleconference to San Jose than fly there.

It turns out a lot of jobs are essential. We all knew medical personnel, firefighters, and the like were essential. Some of us in reality-land also knew that “environmental services” (cleaning staff) were essential — I can’t keep people from getting diseases in a hospital if the hospital isn’t clean. Maintenance staff? Essential. Supermarket staff? Essential. Oh yeah, and that “kid” who makes minimum wage making your burger at lunchtime when an actual “kid” should be at school? Essential.

$1200 a month isn’t a lot of money. I don’t know if Congress actually considered this, but with a minimum wage of $7.25/hr, 40 hours of minimum wage a week for 4 weeks is $1160. Round that up to the nearest $100, and that’s $1200. So if you’re kvetching that you can’t pay your bills on that, think about the “essential” employee who does just that. More on what Congress did here.