How to Judge Pandemic Policies

[Lake-Effect]

Originally Posted by valhalla360

Then you issue an emergency order prohibiting sales to non-medical personnel and say this is why you are doing it.

You don't lie about it. Most people already saw that it was a lie when they first said it but now the authorities proved they were lying about things, so you still see the echos in terms of those who refuse masks and anti-vaccers, etc... because very reasonably, they assume the authorities are lying...even if they aren't.

PS: I feel like I'm in 1984 arguing with someone practicing "doublethink".

Amazing powers of hindsight. Then again, a wise poster recently stated:

I've done research (non-pandemic related) where you have many variables changing simultaneously...anyone who commits with surety is likely feeding you an agenda or at least feels the need to come to a conclusion.

Yes, it was hard to get everything just right, especially as the pandemic was unfolding.

It's this obsession to brand the first mask messaging as "lying" that bugs me. With hindsight, yes, of course it would have been better to have had a better understanding of asymptomatic transmission so that in that initial message, cloth or surgical masks were recommended over N95 masks, and why... and putting more emphasis on the potential shortage of PPE as a factor. Even to prohibiting sales of N95 masks to the general public... but how do you think that would have gone over? Generated a panic maybe, and an instant black market in N95 masks?

And no-one is taking into account the effect on healthcare if there had been a run on N95 masks.

I've already shown that the protection to the wearer of even N95 masks in the hands of the general public is not a given (so no lie there), and many of you conveniently forget that there are 2 major classes of masks, and 2 main goals of mask policy.

Anyway, we're past all that. This after-the-fact claim of "lying" seems to be coming mainly from the right wing, I guess in an effort to shift blame from the liar-in-chief (who still holds sway over the GOP), who did more than anyone to throw US pandemic response into disarray.

Still seems too early to play the blame game, but whatever.