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" These are complex and expensive, "

It's infinitely cheaper than shutting down the economy and the massive ensuing bailouts.

"on the street observations in the article are: masks, masks, masks. "

There is no evidence that masks are a solution.

Just the opposite: contact tracing is definitely a primary driver of success.

We should have enacted aggressive contact tracing and widespread testing a long time ago, and recommended 'surgical/cloth' masks for public but strongly discouraged N95's as there are limited quantities and those need to go to the front lines.




> There is no evidence that masks are a solution.

Masks are not meant to solve/prevent Corona. It's meant to slow down the spread of the virus. It needs to be used in combination with other measures such as social distancing.

Unfortunately the Dutch government keeps saying that masks do not help, sometimes they suggest that a mask can make things worse. The reason behind this seems to be to prevent people from stealing masks from hospitals, something that seemed to have happened in every country.

That said, please check the effectiveness of masks. It doesn't need to be perfect, just slow down the spread.


No, the evidence for masks is not there.

If they did materially help, governments everywhere would support them.

The fact 'they use them in Asia' is not evidence.




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