[throwawayfear]

Where do you draw the line? Did you see how Australia was dealing with it? They stopped being a democracy once their politicians got a taste of the immense and inordinate new powers to control the average person. This happened in the United States to a lesser extent too, with hall monitors enjoying new unwarranted authority over people's bodies and livelihood even when evidence like from this latest study was already known. Anybody who questioned the narrative or warned about the direction was treated like a pariah.

[trog]

So weird, I live in Australia and everywhere I look we continue to have democracy, just all over the place.

(And, I'd argue, more freedom than the average American citizen in many areas, most notably healthcare.)

[aakresearch]

In my corner of Australia healthcare is effectively closed to me, as GPs around here demand wearing masks and allow no exemptions. I guess that's democracy in action. No mask - no rights, as per majority decision.

One of the biggest regrets is letting my US GC "win" to lapse a few years ago. Oh well, it all went down the toilet over there just the same, isn't it?

[trog]

> In my corner of Australia healthcare is effectively closed to me, as GPs around here demand wearing masks and allow no exemptions. I guess that's democracy in action. No mask - no rights, as per majority decision.

This is like whining that the pub requires shirt and shoes but more bizarre.

It has nothing to do with 'democracy'; in QLD at least GPs have no requirement for mask wearing so it's just up to the good old "free market" where businesses can set their own rules. Complaining that a GP requires basic healthcare precautions is truly bizarre to me.

[cempaka]

How long do you think it will be reasonable to continue requiring ineffective cloth masks to visit a doctor's office? Should this new requirement remain in effect indefinitely? Were we just failing to institute "basic healthcare precautions" pre-2020?

[trog]

They're not required here, as I noted - not sure what your question is about? Just asking generally?

I don't think 'cloth masks' should be used at all; I think people should probably be required to wear respirators in certain healthcare circumstances - particularly at GPs - as long as there are virulent airborne illnesses around.

And there are all the time, to the point where respiratory disease is a top five killer.

I think if we review indoor air quality guidelines & get better at indoor air filtration we can probably relax that requirement. But sitting in a closed indoor space with a bunch of sick people not wearing even the most basic protective equipment is not my idea of a good time. (FWIW my GP requires people who have cold/flu symptoms sit outside in a separate area and then they have to come in via a back entrance. So there's some segregation of symptomatic people, but not a huge amount.)