conventional wisdom
Jan. 5th, 2022 12:44 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
calimacHere's what used to be the conventional wisdom about masks in the pandemic:
1. Any mask that covers your nose and mouth is much better than no mask.
2. A cloth mask is better at preventing you from breathing out virus (if you have it) than at keeping you from breathing it in, but it helps enough with the latter to be worth the trouble.
3. An N95 mask does not offer much additional protection unless you fit it properly.
3a. And even people who wear N95s regularly, like health care workers, mostly do not know how to fit the mask properly.
4. If you do fit the mask properly, it will be so tight over your nose and mouth that you'll have trouble breathing, especially if you're exerting yourself. Another reason not to wear one.
4a. If you have a beard, forget it. The N95 will not have a tight enough fit.
Here's the current conventional wisdom about masks:
1. Cloth masks are almost completely useless. They're "mask theater."
2. An N95 is the minimum necessary prevention. Nothing about the difficulty of proper fitting. Just make sure you have the straps around your head in the correct manner.
What I want to know is, why did the conventional wisdom change? That it has changed, and that there are official pronouncements to back this up, is amply documented. That's not what I'm looking for. I want to know why the change.
I can think of some possible reasons:
1. The increased transmissibility of the omicron variant has changed the dynamics of risk.
2. New studies have overturned what we thought we knew.
3. The old thinking was folk-wisdom to begin with, and was never valid.
4. The new thinking is the result of hysteria or improper influence (like the reduction of isolation periods from 10 to 5 days) and isn't valid.
But which, if any, of these is true has not been discussed anywhere that I've seen it. Indeed, the old wisdom seems to have disappeared in enlightened circles as if it never existed at all. What's going on here?
1. Any mask that covers your nose and mouth is much better than no mask.
2. A cloth mask is better at preventing you from breathing out virus (if you have it) than at keeping you from breathing it in, but it helps enough with the latter to be worth the trouble.
3. An N95 mask does not offer much additional protection unless you fit it properly.
3a. And even people who wear N95s regularly, like health care workers, mostly do not know how to fit the mask properly.
4. If you do fit the mask properly, it will be so tight over your nose and mouth that you'll have trouble breathing, especially if you're exerting yourself. Another reason not to wear one.
4a. If you have a beard, forget it. The N95 will not have a tight enough fit.
Here's the current conventional wisdom about masks:
1. Cloth masks are almost completely useless. They're "mask theater."
2. An N95 is the minimum necessary prevention. Nothing about the difficulty of proper fitting. Just make sure you have the straps around your head in the correct manner.
What I want to know is, why did the conventional wisdom change? That it has changed, and that there are official pronouncements to back this up, is amply documented. That's not what I'm looking for. I want to know why the change.
I can think of some possible reasons:
1. The increased transmissibility of the omicron variant has changed the dynamics of risk.
2. New studies have overturned what we thought we knew.
3. The old thinking was folk-wisdom to begin with, and was never valid.
4. The new thinking is the result of hysteria or improper influence (like the reduction of isolation periods from 10 to 5 days) and isn't valid.
But which, if any, of these is true has not been discussed anywhere that I've seen it. Indeed, the old wisdom seems to have disappeared in enlightened circles as if it never existed at all. What's going on here?
