OT: COVID-19 Ontario 2nd Wave Thread

[NBA Sheady]

Lots of vacancies in Oshawa.

I always find it funny when people complain about the real estate and rent prices in Toronto as though they're entitled to HAVE to live in the big city. London, Paris, New York, Tokyo and Shanghai all make Toronto look like a bargain.

You want to live in a world class city, but want to pay peanuts to do so. That's not how it works.

Shwa also underwent a major gentrification. People that have been in shwa can't move anywhere else in shwa. The toronto spillover has pretty much **** over all mid to small communities and cities in ontario.

Since when was Oshawa called shwa? lolll what an awful name

Ahem...

Check my join date.

[Prestige]

What I find interesting is that the strength of the western world became its biggest weakness in a situation like this. Most third world autocracies ordered shutdowns, mandatory mask wearing, and curfews. There was no public debate, the government made an order and that was it. I was in just such a country during the beginning of the pandemic and everything was extremely smooth and efficient. Very impressive actually.

Meanwhile people here and especially the US are throwing tantrums in stores, spreading fake news and flaunting public health guidelines by holding large gatherings, just because they can. I guess it’s because we’re not conditioned to obey orders from the government, and the act of not complying gives us an illusion of ‘freedom’. We’ve come to see anything from the government as being contradictory to and opposing our own interests. The result is that any type of cohesive campaign or plan is doomed to be mired in the muck of debate and dissent. And this is a reflection of the current political system.

[mtcan]

Shwa also underwent a major gentrification. People that have been in shwa can't move anywhere else in shwa. The toronto spillover has pretty much **** over all mid to small communities and cities in ontario.

Since when was Oshawa called shwa? lolll what an awful name

Ahem...

Check my join date.

He really does rep the SHWA...I see the name.

[ItsDanger]

Current Ontario hospitalizations in last 4 days: 206, 225, 213, 217
Active cases: 5442,5662, 5754, 5697

That's about 3.8% hospitalization rate. Early, August was roughly 5%. Early July was 7.5%. Early June was 17-20%. Absolute hospital numbers were higher than current. The increase in number of tests does not explain the difference.

This is also the normal influenza season where hospitalizations would normally increase congruently. Need more detail but next 10 days or so will be very telling on the consistency of the data from early spring. Right now, there is a clear trend away from spring pattern.

[jaymeister15]

From listening to epidemiological experts, overreacting is the proper reaction. I think the reality is that the distance between reacting too much and reacting not enough is so small that trying to hit the perfect sweet spot of doing just enough isn't worth it given the possible consequences of miscalculating

I understand that financial pressures were largely the reason behind progressing in stages but it really feels like Ontario jumped the gun each time. We never let cases really get down to the recommended low levels and were always a week or two early on the decision

It’s far from a consensus from epidemiological experts that lockdowns make sense for coronavirus. There are experts on both sides of the debate. Plenty feel that the right approach is to put policies in place to protect and isolate the vulnerable portions of society (namely long term care homes) while allowing the rest to continue with reasonable restrictions and precautions in place.

https://www.newsweek.com/over-6000-scientists-sign-anti-lockdown-petition-saying-its-causing-irreparable-damage-1537047

More than 6,000 scientists have signed an anti-lockdown petition saying that coronavirus policies are causing "irreparable damage."

The petition, which is named the Great Barrington Declaration after the town in Massachusetts it was signed in, was written on October 4 and has signatures from at least 2,826 medical and public health scientists, 3,794 medical practitioners and over 60,000 members of the general public.

It was co-authored by Dr. Martin Kulldorff, a professor of medicine at Harvard; Dr. Sunetra Gupta, a professor at Oxford University; and Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, a professor at Stanford University Medical School.

"As infectious disease epidemiologists and public health scientists we have grave concerns about the damaging physical and mental health impacts of the prevailing COVID-19 policies, and recommend an approach we call Focused Protection," the petition says in its opening line. "Current lockdown policies are producing devastating effects on short and long-term public health."

The petition adds, "Keeping these measures in place until a vaccine is available will cause irreparable damage, with the underprivileged disproportionately harmed."

"Restaurants and other businesses should open. Arts, music, sport and other cultural activities should resume," the petition states. "People who are more at risk may participate if they wish, while society as a whole enjoys the protection conferred upon the vulnerable by those who have built up herd immunity."

[Vaclac]

Current Ontario hospitalizations in last 4 days: 206, 225, 213, 217
Active cases: 5442,5662, 5754, 5697

That's about 3.8% hospitalization rate. Early, August was roughly 5%. Early July was 7.5%. Early June was 17-20%. Absolute hospital numbers were higher than current. The increase in number of tests does not explain the difference.

This is also the normal influenza season where hospitalizations would normally increase congruently. Need more detail but next 10 days or so will be very telling on the consistency of the data from early spring. Right now, there is a clear trend away from spring pattern.

This is a pattern pretty much across the world. This second wave is much less severe in terms of both hospitalization and death rates. I think the most likely reason is a different age mix of people getting it this time, with the nursing home being better secured and older people continuing to take more precautions than younger people. I believe the death rate among hospitalized patients has also decreased significantly since the spring, again around the world. Treatment has steadily improved even without any single drug being a dominant factor.

[JJWong17]

Current Ontario hospitalizations in last 4 days: 206, 225, 213, 217
Active cases: 5442,5662, 5754, 5697

That's about 3.8% hospitalization rate. Early, August was roughly 5%. Early July was 7.5%. Early June was 17-20%. Absolute hospital numbers were higher than current. The increase in number of tests does not explain the difference.

This is also the normal influenza season where hospitalizations would normally increase congruently. Need more detail but next 10 days or so will be very telling on the consistency of the data from early spring. Right now, there is a clear trend away from spring pattern.

This is a pattern pretty much across the world. This second wave is much less severe in terms of both hospitalization and death rates. I think the most likely reason is a different age mix of people getting it this time, with the nursing home being better secured and older people continuing to take more precautions than younger people. I believe the death rate among hospitalized patients has also decreased significantly since the spring, again around the world. Treatment has steadily improved even without any single drug being a dominant factor.

This might be the case, although the state they were in beforehand makes me hesitant to assume this, but it also needs to be factored in that the first wave probably killed a lot of the most vulnerable of those in nursing homes. I don't like the idea but it's definitely playing a role in the differences this time around.

[JJWong17]

From listening to epidemiological experts, overreacting is the proper reaction. I think the reality is that the distance between reacting too much and reacting not enough is so small that trying to hit the perfect sweet spot of doing just enough isn't worth it given the possible consequences of miscalculating

I understand that financial pressures were largely the reason behind progressing in stages but it really feels like Ontario jumped the gun each time. We never let cases really get down to the recommended low levels and were always a week or two early on the decision

It’s far from a consensus from epidemiological experts that lockdowns make sense for coronavirus. There are experts on both sides of the debate. Plenty feel that the right approach is to put policies in place to protect and isolate the vulnerable portions of society (namely long term care homes) while allowing the rest to continue with reasonable restrictions and precautions in place.

https://www.newsweek.com/over-6000-scientists-sign-anti-lockdown-petition-saying-its-causing-irreparable-damage-1537047

More than 6,000 scientists have signed an anti-lockdown petition saying that coronavirus policies are causing "irreparable damage."

The petition, which is named the Great Barrington Declaration after the town in Massachusetts it was signed in, was written on October 4 and has signatures from at least 2,826 medical and public health scientists, 3,794 medical practitioners and over 60,000 members of the general public.

It was co-authored by Dr. Martin Kulldorff, a professor of medicine at Harvard; Dr. Sunetra Gupta, a professor at Oxford University; and Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, a professor at Stanford University Medical School.

"As infectious disease epidemiologists and public health scientists we have grave concerns about the damaging physical and mental health impacts of the prevailing COVID-19 policies, and recommend an approach we call Focused Protection," the petition says in its opening line. "Current lockdown policies are producing devastating effects on short and long-term public health."

The petition adds, "Keeping these measures in place until a vaccine is available will cause irreparable damage, with the underprivileged disproportionately harmed."

"Restaurants and other businesses should open. Arts, music, sport and other cultural activities should resume," the petition states. "People who are more at risk may participate if they wish, while society as a whole enjoys the protection conferred upon the vulnerable by those who have built up herd immunity."

Yeah there are a couple of things in this petition that makes me side eye it. First, I wasn't asking for lockdown restrictions to be held throughout the entirety of the pandemic. I was pointing out that it felt like we'd ended them too early going from stage 2 to 3. TO reported 101 new cases the week they announced we were going to move into stage 3. From that point on, we have unsurprisingly had a steady increase in new cases which to me, says we didn't let them get low enough before we started letting more indoor activities happen. Here are the weekly numbers since then:

129
118
154
243
263
477

To me, this reads as situation where we hadn't gotten it low enough that it would burn itself out because that's the aim with a lockdown. You don't want to shut people in their homes forever; you want to starve the virus of new hosts to infect and THEN let things go back to normal. Clearly we didn't accomplish that. There are places that did managed to though (South Korea, New Zealand, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Thailand) and they have been able to allow people to live like they normally do, with a few minor precautions. How did they do this? Strict lockdowns UNTIL it was safe to go back to normal. Not only did it work for their first waves but they basically did the same things to get their second waves under control and again, unsurprisingly, it worked

Another thing about this petition that bugs me is the insistence on herd immunity created by letting those who are least at risk of death to go about their lives and slowly get infected so they can build up immunity. This operates under the idea that death is the only bad outcome from a covid infection, that as long as you don't die, then the virus is no big deal. I've read enough long-term symptoms to know that I sure wouldn't be volunteering to be infected. This also presumes that we get to control how much viral load we get hit with when we get infected, which is unrealistic and dangerous because the amount of the virus that we get infected with plays a big part in how bad of a time you're going to have

Also, we saw this herd immunity experiment run in real time by Sweden. They opened up with this strategy in their first wave; didn't close any of their shops, didn't ban indoor dining, didn't really do much of anything to be honest. They just told people to wear masks and keep their distance and waited for herd immunity to develop. At one point during this strategy, they had the same number of deaths as Canada despite having about half of our total number of cases. Suffice it to say, things rapidly got out of control

I'm not really interested in a consensus among all health practitioners because things are already in motion and trying to convince everyone of the exact same thing is going to cost people their lives and their health. I'm sure if you got all the oncologists in the world into one room and presented them with a single case of lung cancer, they would not be able to all agree to the optimal course of treatment. What I am interested in is looking at the examples set by places that are in great shape and emulating their strategies so we can hopefully achieve the same result

[B00Yah]

Current Ontario hospitalizations in last 4 days: 206, 225, 213, 217
Active cases: 5442,5662, 5754, 5697

That's about 3.8% hospitalization rate. Early, August was roughly 5%. Early July was 7.5%. Early June was 17-20%. Absolute hospital numbers were higher than current. The increase in number of tests does not explain the difference.

This is also the normal influenza season where hospitalizations would normally increase congruently. Need more detail but next 10 days or so will be very telling on the consistency of the data from early spring. Right now, there is a clear trend away from spring pattern.

As of Sept 19, 2020, exceptionally low levels of influenza activity continued to be reported across Canada. To date, here have been 6 confirmed cases of Influenza; 1 case of Influenza A and 5 cases of Influenza B.

https://ipac-canada.org/influenza-resources.php#SEASONAL

[B00Yah]

Current Ontario hospitalizations in last 4 days: 206, 225, 213, 217
Active cases: 5442,5662, 5754, 5697

That's about 3.8% hospitalization rate. Early, August was roughly 5%. Early July was 7.5%. Early June was 17-20%. Absolute hospital numbers were higher than current. The increase in number of tests does not explain the difference.

This is also the normal influenza season where hospitalizations would normally increase congruently. Need more detail but next 10 days or so will be very telling on the consistency of the data from early spring. Right now, there is a clear trend away from spring pattern.

Notice how the news only focuses on cases, not fatalities.

Also WHO has stated lockdowns do more harm than good
https://www.zerohedge.com/medical/who-flip-flops-urges-world-leaders-stop-using-lockdowns-fight-covid-contagion

Also masks masks don't appear to have impact on cases https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2020/10/09/no-spike-in-florida-coronavirus-cases-despite-lack-of-enforceable-mask-mandate/

Science is being ignored and suppressed. There is no longer a pandemic. However, that narrative continues because it's politically expedient.

[Van_Trump]

The one mistake made in Ontario, and by extension, Canada, was having too many exceptions during the initial lockdown.
At that time, because there was so little testing, fatality rates approached one in twenty. All the talk was about flattening the curve, so the health care system wouldn't be overloaded.

Now we know the fatality rate is closer to one in two hundred or less.
If you wear a mask, you not only reduce the chance of you spreading the virus, if you do get infected it is likely to be a mild case thanks to the lower initial viral load.
'
The best advice I could give everyone is to take Vitamin D3.
Minimum 2000 IU per day during the winter. If you haven't been taking it until now, you should probably take 4000-5000 IU per day for a month, then 2000 per day afterwards.

Most important: the darker your skin, the higher the daily dosage. Dark skin is great for protecting against sunburn and skin cancer, but lousy when it comes to producing Vitamin D. This is not racist, it is simply the science.
The old standard of 800 IU, designed to promote bone health, is far below what is needed for your immune system.

If anyone is interested in slogging through the science:

https://www.bmj.com/content/356/bmj.i6583

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7456194/

[Clay Davis]

Current Ontario hospitalizations in last 4 days: 206, 225, 213, 217
Active cases: 5442,5662, 5754, 5697

That's about 3.8% hospitalization rate. Early, August was roughly 5%. Early July was 7.5%. Early June was 17-20%. Absolute hospital numbers were higher than current. The increase in number of tests does not explain the difference.

This is also the normal influenza season where hospitalizations would normally increase congruently. Need more detail but next 10 days or so will be very telling on the consistency of the data from early spring. Right now, there is a clear trend away from spring pattern.

Notice how the news only focuses on cases, not fatalities.

Also WHO has stated lockdowns do more harm than good
https://www.zerohedge.com/medical/who-flip-flops-urges-world-leaders-stop-using-lockdowns-fight-covid-contagion

Also masks masks don't appear to have impact on cases https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2020/10/09/no-spike-in-florida-coronavirus-cases-despite-lack-of-enforceable-mask-mandate/

Science is being ignored and suppressed. There is no longer a pandemic. However, that narrative continues because it's politically expedient.

Re ZH: Problem is is that we don't have a better method of dealing with it than lockdowns since our politicians are incompetent. Science isn't being ignored in this case... rather, the harsh reality of our inefficacy is. This is in line with what the WHO said.

Also Florida has been a total hotbed for the entire pandemic lol. It's like burning down your house, turning on the gas, and lighting a match and saying that that wouldn't cause your home to burn down

[Kevin Willis]

Current Ontario hospitalizations in last 4 days: 206, 225, 213, 217
Active cases: 5442,5662, 5754, 5697

That's about 3.8% hospitalization rate. Early, August was roughly 5%. Early July was 7.5%. Early June was 17-20%. Absolute hospital numbers were higher than current. The increase in number of tests does not explain the difference.

This is also the normal influenza season where hospitalizations would normally increase congruently. Need more detail but next 10 days or so will be very telling on the consistency of the data from early spring. Right now, there is a clear trend away from spring pattern.

Notice how the news only focuses on cases, not fatalities.

Also WHO has stated lockdowns do more harm than good
https://www.zerohedge.com/medical/who-flip-flops-urges-world-leaders-stop-using-lockdowns-fight-covid-contagion

Also masks masks don't appear to have impact on cases https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2020/10/09/no-spike-in-florida-coronavirus-cases-despite-lack-of-enforceable-mask-mandate/

Science is being ignored and suppressed. There is no longer a pandemic. However, that narrative continues because it's politically expedient.

1. You got your source from breitbart?? There might be a non-scientific political leaninng there I believe.
2. Zerohedge states that lockdowns should not be the primary means to fight the virus. Unless systems are stressed. Nobody is arguing this really. If numbers go up and systems are stressed you lock it down. Also this article is applauding Donald Trump for what he's done. really? Really?? REALLLLYYYY????

This is the non-biased article.

https://pandemic.internationalsos.com/reports/who-official-states-lockdown-policies-not-helpful-to-public-health-oct-11-2020

The World Health Organization’s special envoy on COVID-19 Dr. David Nabarro in an interview stated lockdowns are not helpful as the primary means to control COVID-19. He advocated a middle path which means holding the virus at bay whilst keeping economy and social life going. It would require "high level of organisation by governments and remarkable degree of engagement of people" with robust infectious disease control services or public health. He emphasised on combining of several measures such as "physical distancing , face protection, hygiene, isolating the ill and protecting the vulnerable" as an effective method.

The article you wrote before said no face protection but this one from the WHO says 'face protection'. Also this article supports the Great Barrington Declaration which states the following:

"Those who are not vulnerable should immediately be allowed to resume life as normal. Simple hygiene measures, such as hand washing and staying home when sick should be practiced by everyone to reduce the herd immunity threshold. Schools and universities should be open for in-person teaching. Extracurricular activities, such as sports, should be resumed. Young low-risk adults should work normally, rather than from home. Restaurants and other businesses should open. Arts, music, sport and other cultural activities should resume. People who are more at risk may participate if they wish, while society as a whole enjoys the protection conferred upon the vulnerable by those who have built up herd immunity."

The problem is people are not following simple hygiene measures and young people are spreading it. Why becasue they are not doing physical distancing, face protection, hygiene that needs to be done. So there are steps this to everything. Do these things then focus protection works.

I'm not a fan of people posting nonsense like we don't need to wear masks or they have no impact. That's a lie. Or constructing arguments that nobody is arguing. No-one wants lockdowns, everyone knows it's harmful. The question is if it's necessary and the WHO is saying if the system is not stressed find a different way of controlling the virus.

[mtcan]

Current Ontario hospitalizations in last 4 days: 206, 225, 213, 217
Active cases: 5442,5662, 5754, 5697

That's about 3.8% hospitalization rate. Early, August was roughly 5%. Early July was 7.5%. Early June was 17-20%. Absolute hospital numbers were higher than current. The increase in number of tests does not explain the difference.

This is also the normal influenza season where hospitalizations would normally increase congruently. Need more detail but next 10 days or so will be very telling on the consistency of the data from early spring. Right now, there is a clear trend away from spring pattern.

As of Sept 19, 2020, exceptionally low levels of influenza activity continued to be reported across Canada. To date, here have been 6 confirmed cases of Influenza; 1 case of Influenza A and 5 cases of Influenza B.

https://ipac-canada.org/influenza-resources.php#SEASONAL

Masking and social distancing works to lower flu numbers in addition to covid.

[Ackshun]

"shutting them down and affecting thousands of peoples livelihood again should require more than just a general "these are high risk activities" statement (which would be far more applicable before restrictions were in place)"

well people are getting covid19 and dying. These places generally spread the disease. I think that's why they're getting shut down. How much of a standard do you need? How much proof is required IYO?

"These places". I think that's exactly what he meant by blanket statements.

I run a restaurant in Durham serving just under 3000 meals per week. Our other location in Durham serves about the same. Yet, none of my 124 employees have contracted the virus. None of their families. Nobody in our second location either. Have not heard of any cases since we opened in June come through our building even though everyone has the Ontario app on their phone.

Most restaurants are doing everything needed to create a safe environment. The government should target the ones that are not, instead of scapegoating an entire industry.

This is a great point. I live on Dundas near Dovercourt. Several barber shops/salons on my street. I have reported Wavy Cuts 3 times for not following protocols and nothing has been done. The other shops are always on point.

Happy to report that the Ontario Ministry of Labour stopped by last night to inspect things. Apparently they have been visiting restaurants in the Durham and York region all week to avoid a shutdown occurring on the GTA outskirts.

I'm happy they are now taking proactive measures to isolate individual businesses rather than default to shutting the entire industry down. Unfortunately, it may be too little too late.

[mdenny]

The one mistake made in Ontario, and by extension, Canada, was having too many exceptions during the initial lockdown.
At that time, because there was so little testing, fatality rates approached one in twenty. All the talk was about flattening the curve, so the health care system wouldn't be overloaded.

Now we know the fatality rate is closer to one in two hundred or less.
If you wear a mask, you not only reduce the chance of you spreading the virus, if you do get infected it is likely to be a mild case thanks to the lower initial viral load.
'
The best advice I could give everyone is to take Vitamin D3.
Minimum 2000 IU per day during the winter. If you haven't been taking it until now, you should probably take 4000-5000 IU per day for a month, then 2000 per day afterwards.

Most important: the darker your skin, the higher the daily dosage. Dark skin is great for protecting against sunburn and skin cancer, but lousy when it comes to producing Vitamin D. This is not racist, it is simply the science.
The old standard of 800 IU, designed to promote bone health, is far below what is needed for your immune system.

If anyone is interested in slogging through the science:

https://www.bmj.com/content/356/bmj.i6583

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7456194/

Appreciated reading this. Me and my daughter are white but the rest of my family is black. We can't believe that ppl are hesitating to talk about differences in vitamin d. We've had the whole family on the gummies since march.

These modern times are crazy. I guess they'd have me put equal amounts of sunscreen on all the kids too. Smh.

[13th Man]

Current Ontario hospitalizations in last 4 days: 206, 225, 213, 217
Active cases: 5442,5662, 5754, 5697

That's about 3.8% hospitalization rate. Early, August was roughly 5%. Early July was 7.5%. Early June was 17-20%. Absolute hospital numbers were higher than current. The increase in number of tests does not explain the difference.

This is also the normal influenza season where hospitalizations would normally increase congruently. Need more detail but next 10 days or so will be very telling on the consistency of the data from early spring. Right now, there is a clear trend away from spring pattern.

As of Sept 19, 2020, exceptionally low levels of influenza activity continued to be reported across Canada. To date, here have been 6 confirmed cases of Influenza; 1 case of Influenza A and 5 cases of Influenza B.

https://ipac-canada.org/influenza-resources.php#SEASONAL

Masking and social distancing works to lower flu numbers in addition to covid.

Social distancing yes. Masks, no for the most part. Not the masks that most people wear which are medical grade or cloth. The only masks that are really effective against covid and influenza are N95 masks.

https://aapsonline.org/mask-facts/

After reading this, I believe that unless they are N95 grade, masks do more harm than good. I've always suspected this to be true and all of the studies from the link just confirms it.

[13th Man]

The best advice I can give is get the F out of the house as much as you can to enjoy nature and to enjoy the sun. This does wonder for both your physical and mental health. You get the vitamin D naturally which is the best way and it engages the positive hormones while reducing stress.

If you want to degrade the mental and physical health of people, continue to follow the orders of the government to:

- stay cooped in your house for as much as possible.
- don't go to parks or beaches (bylaw that they imposed in the spring)
- closure of gyms and restaurants encourage people to stupidly stock up on toilet paper and buy overpriced fitness equipment that they won't even use because their home environment sucks. They dig themselves into greater debt due to living in fear, thus adding more stress into their lives. Many people that cannot afford home gym equipment are just getting fat again with little physical activity.
- avoid socializing with any friends unless they are part of the household. Again, depriving you of things that vital for your mental health.

All of this is bunk. The big corporations get richer while small businesses get destroyed. The average person has seen their quality of life suffer to do extreme measures put in place.

[Duffman100]

As of Sept 19, 2020, exceptionally low levels of influenza activity continued to be reported across Canada. To date, here have been 6 confirmed cases of Influenza; 1 case of Influenza A and 5 cases of Influenza B.

https://ipac-canada.org/influenza-resources.php#SEASONAL

Masking and social distancing works to lower flu numbers in addition to covid.

Social distancing yes. Masks, no for the most part. Not the masks that most people wear which are medical grade or cloth. The only masks that are really effective against covid and influenza are N95 masks.

https://aapsonline.org/mask-facts/

After reading this, I believe that unless they are N95 grade, masks do more harm than good. I've always suspected this to be true and all of the studies from the link just confirms it.

The curation of that 'mask-facts' article is highly suspect and some of the points aren't even related to a lot of points around covid.

Add on the that curator is the same person who is writing this blog.
https://marilynsingletonmdjd.com/2020/10/12/off-the-record-with-dr-adams-4/

Who actually refers to the virus as the Wuhan virus.

So credibility of the link you provided and that 'doctor' is pretty low to start.

[mtcan]

As of Sept 19, 2020, exceptionally low levels of influenza activity continued to be reported across Canada. To date, here have been 6 confirmed cases of Influenza; 1 case of Influenza A and 5 cases of Influenza B.

https://ipac-canada.org/influenza-resources.php#SEASONAL

Masking and social distancing works to lower flu numbers in addition to covid.

Social distancing yes. Masks, no for the most part. Not the masks that most people wear which are medical grade or cloth. The only masks that are really effective against covid and influenza are N95 masks.

https://aapsonline.org/mask-facts/

After reading this, I believe that unless they are N95 grade, masks do more harm than good. I've always suspected this to be true and all of the studies from the link just confirms it.

This OPINION is very politically charged. The blogger sounds like a Trump supporter by the looks of her other blog...and that is all you need to know about her views on "science".

The mere fact that the mask limits propulsion of droplets especially in indoor spaces, that may contain covid and or influenza is enough of a reason to wear it.