[uwuwuwu]

Would be ok if everyone was wearing a mask. You go to the bathroom, cough cough, you go to the restaurant, cough cough, and you're driving back home with your friends in the car, cough cough. If we tried to reduce infection during these occasions, there maybe wasn't even a need for much lock-down.

Germany is about to get rid of wearing masks in stores. That's like turning off the firewall because the attack is over. It's preventive, so you need to wear a mask before sth happens.

I'd be very happy if there was an experiment, just for 4 weeks everybody should wear the damn mask both in private and public, and see what happens.

How can so many people fail to grasp the concept of prevention?

[mcntsh]

> Germany is about to get rid of wearing masks in stores. That's like turning off the firewall because the attack is over. It's preventive, so you need to wear a mask before sth happens.

There were 140 new cases in Germany yesterday in a country of 83 million. In my city of 3,5 million there were 17 new cases. At what point would you say it's safe to not wear a mask in stores?

[ulfw]

When it's been ZERO for a while. Obviously?

I don't understand this question at all. As long a there's >=1 case and little immunity the virus WILL spread.

[anthonypasq]

this is literally impossible and completely ridiculous

[ulfw]

and yet it worked in Taiwan, in Vietnam, in Japan, in New Zealand...

ridiculous huh

[mcntsh]

Wasn't it the goal all along to flatten the curve and gradually introduce herd immunity while softening the impact on hospitals?

No one estimates a vaccine any time remotely soon and even with one it would take years at best to achieve zero cases globally.

[dragonwriter]

> Wasn't it the goal all along to flatten the curve and gradually introduce herd immunity while softening the impact on hospitals?

No, suppression was the goal. At least, the study that turned the tide on policy concluded that targeting suppression was essential.

[uwuwuwu]

The issue with herd immunity are the unknown long term risks. Just imagine this stuff wrecks your immune system a couple of months after infection. Or, that immunity goes away after some months.

There's no guarantee that herd immunity helps. On the other hand, we could be working all hands on deck to arrange our lifestyle AND protect from infection.

[kadoban]

Flattening the curve was the most immediate and important goal, because overloaded hospitals kill a _lot_ of people.

Herd immunity by everyone getting infected should _not_ be a goal. That's still going to kill many, many people.

The estimate for the US by that route was around 2.5million dead. You could probably scale that by population size and maybe reduce a bit as we get better at treatment for this disease, but that's still a big number.

I don't think we have much option other than to prevent the spread as much as we can while waiting for something like a vaccine and/or far better treatments than we currently have.

Zero cases globally will indeed be a while, if it ever happens.

[uwuwuwu]

As long as there is a very volatile equilibrium, I'd wish we play safe -- because there is absolutely no cost associated with wearing masks.

We've seen that local outbreaks happen, and that local authorities hesitate to take action.

[daddy_]

Wow, we’re really caught up in yelling at each other. Seems convenient for the people in charge of our response over the past six months and the organizations that have spent decades preparing for pandemics.

[uwuwuwu]

I didn't mean to yell - I'm simply astonished. A mask costs like 0.15€ or 0.17$ (based on Taiwans price with overall comparable price levels in Germany). Two masks a week, that cost is next to nothing.

I think the response in Germany is quite good compared to many others.

My main issue is: we compromise on having some infections and deaths, rather than compromising on wearing a mask.

[mns]

What are you talking about? Everyone wears a mask in Germany in closed spaces and public transport. I haven't seen a single person not do it and it's already part of daily life. I don't understand the point here?

[uwuwuwu]

Meck Pomm country wants to get rid of wearing masks.

[detaro]

The economics Minister of MeckPomm wants to. His boss doesn't. The federal health Minister also disagrees, as do most other states: https://www.rnd.de/politik/maskenpflicht-in-den-bundeslander...

[mns]

I don't think this will happen, I also HOPE it won't happen too soon, in Bayern we still have restrictions on number of people that are allowed to meet. Austria got rid of masks almost everywhere, but you still need to wear them in public transport and pharmacies, so I'm pretty sure they will be with us for a while.