Maskers: why didn't you wear a mask before COVID? Did infectious disease not exist prior to 2020?

Of course but it did not impact the election. I think you know that.

I guess what has changed is that in 2020 we've been presented with an easily-spread disease that's much more deadly than anything we've previously seen in our lives.

I do think it's reasonable to ask why people don't mask during a bad flu season.

A lot of people were wearing masks prior to covid19 in Japan and China, especially during flu season. This was without any government orders or mandates.

veero wrote:

A lot of people were wearing masks prior to covid19 in Japan and China, especially during flu season. This was without any government orders or mandates.

I would often see Asians wearing masks in the subway. I never understood why until this past Spring. Interesting that Asians were not as effected as the Black, Latino, religious Jews in New York

veero wrote:

A lot of people were wearing masks prior to covid19 in Japan and China, especially during flu season. This was without any government orders or mandates.

Sure, but my question is directed at Americans who did NOT wear masks previously and have now suddenly become judgey about others' mask wearing after they themselves spent decades spreading disease mask-free.

Look, dude.

If you hate the judgment, tough crappola. I'm not going to sugar coat this for you and I don't care one iota if you get mad.

The DIFFERENCE that you need to get through your thick skull is that this is the first time that the CDC and expert virologists have recommended it for our own SAFETY in our lifetime. I'll give you time to process that while you puff your joint.

Right...safety.

For the first time, we have been told that to be SAFE, we need masks.

You do. I do. We do.

Why?

It protects all when all follow directions.

So when you and your rebellious hoodlums don't wear one, you compromise your, my, our safety.

Got it?

That's all you need to know.

Compromise safety and be judged.

Cool?

Move on, son.

NOT much more deadly. Not even close. It is more easily spread than many we've seen in our lives. To answer the OPs question: because the scientific opinion tells us to.

For other viruses such as influenza, we have natural immunity, we have effective vaccines, we have drugs to treat it, we also have reliable tests for it. None of this is applicable for COVID.

We also don't know how the virus could mutate, if it infects all 7 billion if us it could evolve different strains which might be more deadly.

Slowing the spread until we understand more is what we're trying to do.

Probably because we constantly adjust our lifestyles based on new information. Maybe we should’ve been doing this a long time ago, and maybe we’ll be healthier in the long run afterwards if we continue to make masks a common thing. I’m not sure what us not wearing masks in the past has to do with wearing them now.

do what you want wrote:

Probably because we constantly adjust our lifestyles based on new information. Maybe we should’ve been doing this a long time ago, and maybe we’ll be healthier in the long run afterwards if we continue to make masks a common thing. I’m not sure what us not wearing masks in the past has to do with wearing them now.

I agree but arguments such as the OPs are so basic they require you to spell out the answer for them. You need to tell the OP what's changed because for some reason they can't figure it out.

I wanted to but was afraid it would make me look like weird.

I used public transport a lot last year (buses often packed full of filthy school children) and generally - and especially when I had a race coming up - I would be quite concerned with trying to avoid their germs. I had a race on the 15th of March and in the couple of weeks preceeding it I actually did occasionally cover my face with a scarf when on the bus when it was particularly crowded and there were people coughing. Not to avoid covid, as such, just illness in general.

My housemate also had an infectious stomach bug that he picked up doing a paediatric rotation; it had passed round amongst other students and two of the students I was with on my placement were also ill with colds/flus/possible covid at the time (one of them came in and told me 'I'm so ill').

I felt like I was surrounded by illness and no one cared about spreading it. I did, in fact, get a little ill before my race but it didn't stop me from getting a PR.

I'm glad now that masks are now seen as acceptable, and people are more aware of trying not to spread disease. It would be great, in my opinion, if we adopt the Eastern attitude of wearing masks when we have respiratory illness so as to reduce spreading it to other people.

what has changed? wrote:

Maskers: why didn't you wear a mask before COVID? Did infectious disease not exist prior to 2020?

Wow! What a BRILLIANT rhetorical question!

So clever!

Whoa, you must be the toughest hombre around when your office allows you back to your cubicles after this Big Scary Flu is over. I'm sure that you mask up for all your Zoom meetings in the meantime.

https://m.discgolfscene.com/logos/clubs/7267/bandito-disc-golf-156410d6492c.jpg

YMMV wrote:

Whoa, you must be the toughest hombre around when your office allows you back to your cubicles after this Big Scary Flu is over. I'm sure that you mask up for all your Zoom meetings in the meantime.

https://m.discgolfscene.com/logos/clubs/7267/bandito-disc-golf-156410d6492c.jpg

I don't know about others but I just eat free range meat so I have nothing to worry about.

I've been back to work since late May.

But damn straight I stay uber-protected at work, and mask orders, virex quaternary ammonium cleaner, hand sanitizer, and disinfectant sprays used regularly where I work certainly help that safety.

Absolutely.

Stoppit Smith wrote:

Look, dude.

If you hate the judgment, tough crappola. I'm not going to sugar coat this for you and I don't care one iota if you get mad.

The DIFFERENCE that you need to get through your thick skull is that this is the first time that the CDC and expert virologists have recommended it for our own SAFETY in our lifetime. I'll give you time to process that while you puff your joint.

Right...safety.

For the first time, we have been told that to be SAFE, we need masks.

You do. I do. We do.

Why?

It protects all when all follow directions.

So when you and your rebellious hoodlums don't wear one, you compromise your, my, our safety.

Got it?

That's all you need to know.

Compromise safety and be judged.

Cool?

Move on, son.

Does it really protect though, where is the actual evidence for this sudden change in recommendation? Where all of the experts really just lying in the beginning when they told everyone that the science says wearing masks in public is not going to help? Why the policy shift? Some, many actually, may say it is for optics and politics and not safety; sort of the like how you have to take your shoes off and get scanned to go on an airplane. I not not saying I don't wear a mask either, we have trapped ourselves into this false security as a society so most go along with it because they don't want to upset people or have to deal with crazies screaming at them in public. Still, the evidence that effectively does anything when worn by healthy people in public is scant to nil; hospitals, yes that makes sense...and still then, the evidence is skeptical in most situations.

205,000 deaths mean nothing to you, apparently. This thing isn't half over. You could very easily help to stamp this out but you choose to try to spread resistance to a trivial gesture, wearing a mask, so that hundreds of thousands more will die in this country. The death total now far exceeds any one-year epidemic in the U.S. since the Spanish Flu one hundred years ago. It is within a month of the highest kill rate for any epidemic in the U.S. since the Spanish Flu. Yet, you imply that it is just like any typical year.

Stoppit Smith wrote:

Look, dude.

If you hate the judgment, tough crappola. I'm not going to sugar coat this for you and I don't care one iota if you get mad.

The DIFFERENCE that you need to get through your thick skull is that this is the first time that the CDC and expert virologists have recommended it for our own SAFETY in our lifetime. I'll give you time to process that while you puff your joint.

Right...safety.

For the first time, we have been told that to be SAFE, we need masks.

You do. I do. We do.

Why?

It protects all when all follow directions.

So when you and your rebellious hoodlums don't wear one, you compromise your, my, our safety.

Got it?

That's all you need to know.

Compromise safety and be judged.

Cool?

Move on, son.

Hahaha, "the difference is we were told to do it"..the epitome of people who can't think for themselves. They literally see 'following directions' (orders) as being virtuous, when that's an incredibly weak minded mindset.

Stoppit Smith wrote:

I've been back to work since late May.

But damn straight I stay uber-protected at work, and mask orders, virex quaternary ammonium cleaner, hand sanitizer, and disinfectant sprays used regularly where I work certainly help that safety.

Absolutely.

Do you have kids yet? You might want to chill on the excessive quat spray. You are not helping your immune system either. Point; clean in moderation or you may be doing more harm than good and don't let the OCD get so bad that it causes physical illness, it is always a risk. Best of luck being safe.