Well so there's the question: how much more effective is good ventilation than masking? I was under the impression that it's, like, a lot. Orders of magnitude. Like if good ventilation was equivalent to seatbelts in cars, then masking would be wearing a helmet while driving.

But perhaps someone who is better at reading scientific results could find the study and come up with a better analogy for us laymen, in case my understanding is way off base. If it's actually that masking is more like airbags, then I think people would be a lot more amenable to doing both.

[–] ThePac@lemmy.ml 5 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Let me help you out.

Wearing a mask is like wearing a mask. It helps prevent spit and other large particulate matter from escaping your personal space. Some work better than others, some work almost not at all.

All are, at least, somewhat helpful in containing the spread of illness.

You can work with that information.

[–] rothaine@beehaw.org -1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

And despite masking, COVID spread all over the globe and killed a fuckload of people.

Would more people have died if there was no masking? Yes, absolutely.

But the question of interest is: how many fewer people would have died if we made a concentrated effort to improve ventilation in public spaces?

Maybe I'm completely missing your point, or maybe you're just being snarky/contrarian and don't really have a point, but it sounds like you are basically saying (reusing the above analogy) "Why are we talking about adding seatbelts to cars when we already have helmets?"

[–] ThePac@lemmy.ml 4 points 1 year ago

Maybe I’m completely missing your point, or maybe you’re just being snarky/contrarian and don’t really have a point, but it sounds like you are basically saying (reusing the above analogy) “Why are we talking about adding seatbelts to cars when we already have helmets?”

I can promise you the latter is not the case. It's possible I misinterpreted your post. I am 100% for layers of preventative measures.