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wear a mask or pay a fine Houston

Discussion in 'BBS Hangout: Debate & Discussion' started by body slam, Aug 4, 2020.

  1. body slam

    body slam Member

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    tinman and RayRay10 like this.
  2. Os Trigonum

    Os Trigonum Contributing Member
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    "Fear and Loathing in Covid America":

    https://www.wsj.com/articles/fear-and-loathing-in-covid-america-11596470084?mod=hp_opin_pos_2


    Fear and Loathing in Covid America
    Public panic and media scorn are shutting down important debates about how to tackle the virus.
    By Joseph A. Ladapo
    Aug. 3, 2020 11:54 am ET

    The fear surrounding Covid-19, combined with the media’s judgmental portrayal of new coronavirus cases as failures of political leadership and citizen morality, are backing policy makers into a corner and seeding social turmoil. Rising case numbers are the expected result of basic, powerful human desires to participate in life. Rather than acknowledge this, politicians are allowing fear to fuel poor policy decisions. A course correction will require empowering Americans to prevent illness and absolving ourselves from the prevailing narrative.

    The profound shift in public-policy goals from March to the present is a powerful demonstration of the effects of public fear and a judgmental narrative from the press. In March, Americans understood that Mother Nature can sometimes be unforgiving in matters of life and death. There was broad public support for the prudent goals of preventing hospitals from being overwhelmed and buying scientists time to develop therapies.

    But as those goals were accomplished, fear stoked by the press gave birth to the dogma that preventing Covid-19 cases isn’t an issue only of health but of morality—even if prevention comes at the cost of livelihoods and futures, or increases poverty and domestic violence, or sacrifices children’s educational and emotional well-being. Statewide shutdowns were extended, and states with case increases were deemed to have incompetent leaders and citizens who were behaving “selfishly” and “not following rules.”

    The problem with public-health strategies born of fear and disdain is that they create unrealistic expectations and smother dissent. The country has shifted from a period of public unity and cooperation in March to one of blame and opprobrium. Approaches to managing the pandemic that fall outside mainstream thought are shut down. States become willing to make trade-offs that would have been unthinkable in saner times.

    An example is the use of masks. As a result of energetic scientific inquiry, there is now evidence that reducing the transmission of respiratory droplets with masks is associated with reductions in Covid-19 transmission, primarily when indoors. But before the pandemic, at least 10 randomized clinical trials yielded mixed results on community masking for influenza, with several studies showing no effects on transmission.

    It is reasonable to suggest that these clinical trials may not be applicable to the current circumstances, given the chance of Covid-19 transmission from those without symptoms and variation in mask compliance. But the minimal attention these trials received is an example of how fear has eroded reason and curiosity and replaced these virtues with whatever is most expedient.

    Los Angeles has had a mask mandate in place for people outside their homes since May. Gov. Gavin Newsom issued a similar mandate for the state of California in June. While these mandates have likely decreased Covid-19 transmission, the 2,400 new cases Los Angeles County averaged daily over the past week show that masks aren’t the cure-all the media often presents them as.

    If the counterargument is that those in Los Angeles aren’t wearing masks while walking down the street or at the beach, consider that indoor—not outdoor—transmission is the driver of the pandemic. One contact tracing study in China involving 318 outbreaks and 1,245 cases of Covid-19 identified only a single incident of outdoor transmission. This basic evidence didn’t stop District of Columbia officials from threatening $1,000 fines on people not wearing masks outdoors. Policies like this are about politicians flexing power and looking tough; they are not about public health.

    Then there’s the debate about reopening schools. Because of the moral deference given to preventing Covid-19 transmission, it is now possible for school districts to deprive children casually—and indefinitely—of an environment that nurtures their educational, social and emotional development, all of which affects long-term health, income and well-being. This injury is compounded by data from multiple countries that show children are the least likely to be harmed by the virus. Concerns about transmission from students to teachers, parents and vulnerable family members are valid. But the toxic political environment has choked off any earnest discussion about solutions that could satisfy all these concerns.

    A path to breaking the grip of fear on society is through empowerment. Though the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s guidance about masks focuses on protecting others and is cast in the language of altruism, it is doing little to empower citizens. Telling people their fate lies in the hands of others leaves them feeling powerless and frustrated when others don’t comply.

    One way to empower people would be resolving the shortage of personal protective equipment and providing older Americans, other vulnerable populations and anyone else who wants it with easy access to the tools that are reducing infection risk in health-care workers, such as medical masks and face shields. Communicating the role of good nutrition, exercise and stress reduction—all things we can control—as facilitators of immune function would also increase personal empowerment and reduce fear.

    Other critical steps include increasing the supply of effective therapies, improving communication about mortality risk—which is low for most people—and increasing access to rapid testing for those in contact with vulnerable populations.

    And what should be done about the media and public derision that is haunting leaders and vexing citizens? Everyone needs simply to stop participating. It is a terrible way to implement public-health interventions, and it sows conflict and diminishes morale. We all need to get off this treadmill.

    Dr. Ladapo is an associate professor at UCLA’s David Geffen School of Medicine.
     
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  3. sirbaihu

    sirbaihu Member

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    It's been 5 months: T-Rump and the Captains of Industry have failed to do this. Throw the bums out. Give them a kick on the way.
     
  4. CometsWin

    CometsWin Breaker Breaker One Nine

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    It's about time. Hidalgo looking better by the day. That police union president still looks like a bobo dumbass.
     
  5. Ziggy

    Ziggy QUEEN ANON

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    Strike 2, after the first fine, you should be required to waive your rights to visit a hospital in Harris County until 2022.
     
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  6. tinman

    tinman Contributing Member
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    You have to explain to the people in the D&D who this Mayor Turner and this city called Houston

    This section is full of non Rockets fans
    @Reeko @Os Trigonum
     
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  7. Reeko

    Reeko Member

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    good

    crybabies acting like they’re being forced to wear full body suits...put a damn mask on if you’re going to be around people

    the worst is when fake Christians try to bring up God as their excuse for not wearing a mask...gtfoh
     
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  8. tinman

    tinman Contributing Member
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    the issue is the bros don't wear the masks correctly, they use them as chin straps
     
    RayRay10 and Reeko like this.

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