When did wearing a mask become a political issue instead of a scientific one? Doctors and nurses have been wearing masks for a long time now because we know that it helps prevent the spread of airborne diseases.
As far as the flu comparison, there are many many more variants of Influenza than there are of COVID 19. The flu isn't just one disease, there are four types of the flu and many more variants under each type. Type A is thought to have almost 200 variants alone.
A mask became a political issue the second the government mandated people to wear them.
It's true that medical professionals (and others) wear masks - in one aspect they are used to reduce the risk of bacterial/viral infections during surgeries (staph infections are a big problem in operating rooms)
But I don't recall my GP ever requiring to mask up for a physical assessment...even though he/she sees many sick people every day.
COVID has killed people, but I can say the same thing about every cold/flu virus that has ever existed. Please tell me, what makes this one so much more dangerous?
TL;DR : It's way deadlier than the flu and spreads exponentially faster.
Based on what I was able to find with a cursory search the death rate for COVID 19 is about 2.14% worldwide. That's taking all the deaths and dividing it by all the cases recorded.
Now, it's almost certainly much lower than that because people can get it and be asymptomatic, so they don't ever know they had it. But, we don't know how much lower.
The death rate for Influenza, even if you use the worst possible numbers (lowest case # = 340m cases per year, highest death number = 650k deaths) is 0.19%
So, that'd make COVID 19 eleven times more deadly than the flu. It's the difference between having a 1 in 50 chance of dying from it vs a 1 in 550 from the flu.
Also, the R number for COVID 19 is estimated to be about 2.87. The R, or reproduction number, is a measure of for every person who gets the virus how many people they'll infect on average. So for COVID 19 if you get it you're on average going to infect 2.87 others, then they'll each infect 2.87 others and so on.
For the typical seasonal influenza it's about 1.28. So COVID 19 is about 2.25 x more infectious, and keep in mind that makes it exponentially worse because each generation infects 2.25 x more.
So, after 10 infection cycles with the average seasonal flu a total of approximately 12 people would have been infected.
With COVID 19 that number would be 37,916.
As far as masks go I personally feel like if not wearing a mask only put the person who wasn't wearing the mask at risk, fine. It's your life and if you want to take the risk you should be allowed to. The problem is masks are much better at protecting others around you. Doctors don't wear masks for themselves most of the time, but to protect their vulnerable patients.
When did wearing a mask become a political issue instead of a scientific one? Doctors and nurses have been wearing masks for a long time now because we know that it helps prevent the spread of airborne diseases.
As far as the flu comparison, there are many many more variants of Influenza than there are of COVID 19. The flu isn't just one disease, there are four types of the flu and many more variants under each type. Type A is thought to have almost 200 variants alone.
https://www.verywellhealth.com/learn-about-different-types-of-flu-770509
A mask became a political issue the second the government mandated people to wear them.
It's true that medical professionals (and others) wear masks - in one aspect they are used to reduce the risk of bacterial/viral infections during surgeries (staph infections are a big problem in operating rooms)
But I don't recall my GP ever requiring to mask up for a physical assessment...even though he/she sees many sick people every day.
COVID has killed people, but I can say the same thing about every cold/flu virus that has ever existed. Please tell me, what makes this one so much more dangerous?
TL;DR : It's way deadlier than the flu and spreads exponentially faster.
Based on what I was able to find with a cursory search the death rate for COVID 19 is about 2.14% worldwide. That's taking all the deaths and dividing it by all the cases recorded.
Now, it's almost certainly much lower than that because people can get it and be asymptomatic, so they don't ever know they had it. But, we don't know how much lower.
The death rate for Influenza, even if you use the worst possible numbers (lowest case # = 340m cases per year, highest death number = 650k deaths) is 0.19%
So, that'd make COVID 19 eleven times more deadly than the flu. It's the difference between having a 1 in 50 chance of dying from it vs a 1 in 550 from the flu.
Also, the R number for COVID 19 is estimated to be about 2.87. The R, or reproduction number, is a measure of for every person who gets the virus how many people they'll infect on average. So for COVID 19 if you get it you're on average going to infect 2.87 others, then they'll each infect 2.87 others and so on.
For the typical seasonal influenza it's about 1.28. So COVID 19 is about 2.25 x more infectious, and keep in mind that makes it exponentially worse because each generation infects 2.25 x more.
So, after 10 infection cycles with the average seasonal flu a total of approximately 12 people would have been infected.
With COVID 19 that number would be 37,916.
As far as masks go I personally feel like if not wearing a mask only put the person who wasn't wearing the mask at risk, fine. It's your life and if you want to take the risk you should be allowed to. The problem is masks are much better at protecting others around you. Doctors don't wear masks for themselves most of the time, but to protect their vulnerable patients.
Current COVID 19 infection/death #s - https://gisanddata.maps.arcgis.com/apps/opsdashboard/index.html?fbclid=IwAR0hpcbGbIn7ITyOOdeAQUlICV6nN31QocZL8V4z6xf--EQTvB0KOSHSmJI#/bda7594740fd40299423467b48e9ecf6
R number for COVID - https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0242128
Death #s for Influenza, R # for Influenza - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Influenza
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gxAaO2rsdIs