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A comment on Masks4All: Wear a mask to stop the spread of Coronavirus (Jeremy Howard). Parent comment

Re:Masks4All: Wear a mask to stop the spread of Coronavirus ... by btbuildem on Tuesday March 31, 2020 @09:50AM (#22737496)
They recommend against it, because recommending the use of masks would expose the universal lack of availability of even basic surgical masks. The on-demand system in the US cannot cope with events like this (no stockpiles).

So, they're recommending we don't use masks, so that more masks are available for medical professionals, so that when most of us get sick via community transmission (because we don't have masks), the medical professionals can also run out of masks while they treat us.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Masks4All: Wear a mask to stop the spread of Coronavirus ... by mindslight on Tuesday March 31, 2020 @11:04AM (#22738179)
Just a nit - mask production could have been ramped up throughout January and February, by executive order if necessary, if the virus had been acknowledged as a threat instead of simply being ignored for two months.
[ Parent | on HN ]