Sadly, COVID measures have become part of politics and that is deeply unfortunate.
Yes, smart, informed people can disagree on cost-benefit analysis; after all, I take just that sort of analysis when I decide on whether to go to a yoga class, ball game, or even when I decided to go to “in person” teaching last year (following the vaccination of my higher risk wife).
But some things really are black and white.
The trouble is, “black and white” doesn’t mean “easy to understand.” For example, take the issue of how effective masks are at “preventing infecting the user” of said masks. There was debate over “droplet spread” vs. “aerosol spread”, with the latter having much smaller droplets. But, as we see:
“According to them, particles bigger than 100 microns sank within seconds. Smaller particles stayed in the air. Randall paused at the curve they’d drawn. To her, it seemed to foreshadow the idea of a droplet-aerosol dichotomy, but one that should have pivoted around 100 microns, not 5. “
What this means: yes, aerosol transmission of COVID is real..it is airborne and can easily defeat the 6 feet distance in poorly ventilated spaces. But the droplets are still big enough for a mask to be useful in mitigation effects.
Then there is the issue of vaccines, and what does it mean if there are a large number of breakthrough infections?
This article looks at data from states that measures breakthrough infections:
“Almost all (more than 9 in 10) COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations, and deaths have occurred among people who are unvaccinated or not yet fully vaccinated, in those states reporting breakthrough data (see Figure 2).“
BUT…how far back does this data go? Remember that vaccines started in mass in January, often with priority to those in certain groups. So of course, the “vaccinated vs unvaccinated” numbers would be lopsided during this time. And delta has just arrived here. That is, what would “cases in the last 1-2 weeks of July” look like? Remember this:
“Nearly three out of four people (346 of 469) who tested positive for COVID-19 in a Massachusetts outbreak were fully vaccinated, according to data released by the CDC Friday.“
This is post-delta and includes a population with high vaccination rates.
I hasten to point out this was a mass gathering event, and that vaccines almost certainly kept the total number of who would become infected much lower (I’ve heard 5 times lower) than they otherwise might have been. And few of these ended up in the hospital..that too is important.
Evidence: in San Diego County, the unvaccinated COVID rate is 18 per 100,000 whereas it is 2 per 100,000 for the vaccinated.
I am “Mr. Get the Damned Shot”..make no mistake about it. But honestly and accurately interpreting the data is not that easy.
Life of an old goat 