> But like all the above, this entire ordeal wasn't about a virus, it's about control.

How are any of these things a useful means of control? What do governments gain by people wearing masks?

If anything, historically, governments have disliked people wearing masks because it makes people hard to identify.

It's not about, like, an Illuminati conspiracy. It's about a general attitude that the general public can't be trusted and the authorities have to make sure they do what's right. The obvious alternative to mandatory lockdowns would be to simply convince the public that it's very dangerous to go outside, but most commentators in the US saw the idea of not using government force as tantamount to giving up.

> would be to simply convince the public that it's very dangerous to go outside

That theory is being tested in Sweden right now. No government force, just strongly trying to convince residents to socially distance. And now its one of the highest death rates in all of Europe.

The libertarian ideal of people "doing the right thing" simply doesn't work.

Sweden's doing better on a per-capita basis than the UK, Spain, Italy, Belgium and France; pretty much any way you slice the data, and all of those countries implemented lock downs.

https://www.statista.com/statistics/1104709/coronavirus-deat...

Half of the deaths in Sweden are in long-term care homes, and happened to people under the care of the state.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-52704836

Whatever mistakes were made, it seems like globally as cases continue to go up, deaths are declining, so it seems like we're learning something.

You are going to need to provide a citation about the WHO saying masks aren't effective. That doesn't appear to be true. [1]. Web searches couldn't find that.

[1] https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2...

Straight from their website: https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2...

> "Does WHO recommend wearing medical masks to prevent the spread of COVID-19?"

> "Currently, there is not enough evidence for or against the use of masks (medical or other) in healthy individuals in the wider community. However, WHO is actively studying the rapidly evolving science on masks and continuously updates its guidance."

The WHO reference:

https://www.who.int/images/default-source/health-topics/coro...

The Dr. Fauci reference:

https://youtu.be/PRa6t_e7dgI

WHO is not giving out the best advice these days.

That Fauci statement was from 3/8 before shit really hit the fan in the US and he was trying to preserve supply for healthcare workers. Fauci is wearing a mask now in public.

Cloth face masks are a good idea in indoor public spaces... it is about reducing the load of virus I would expel into a closed space if I am infected and don't know it yet. Also, it reduces the distance particles travel from my mouth when breathing or talking. These two things together reduce the risk for those around me in enclosed spaces. It also provides some moderate reduction in aerosol I inhale. This has been studied and well documented.

We know now that transmission through common surface contact is minimal... not zero, but very low compared to aerosol transmission. The risk of touching your face more is not significant enough to offset the benefit of wearing a mask. I probably touch my face more without a mask on. That being said, it is important that your mask be comfortable so that the need to adjust it is minimal.

I wear a mask at work and wash my hands and mask with warm very dish-soapy water for 20-30 seconds when I get home. I also wash my hands regularly during the day. Soap is very effective at inactivating most all virus; commonly wrecking their surface proteins (that they need intact to get into cells) or even destroying the capsid shell.

FWIW: We are also running ozone generators at night where I work in the high traffic areas to provide a 2-3 log reduction of active surface virus (should any exist). I don't recommend doing this unless you really know what you are doing... exposure to high concentrations of ozone is really bad for you (read, can kill you if exposure is bad enough).

Yes, I agree, when there was a big shortage of tests and ppe they said reserve ppe for first responders (docs, emt, hosp workers) and tests for really sick. Now we have more information and more medical masks.

That forbes article says 42% of deaths are from 0.6% of the population, i.e. really old people. So what, do they not matter to you? Even if you believe that stat, 58% of the deaths are people that matter to even you. Your link has no support for the idea that cv19 is some conspiracy to control people. Why do you think it's because people want to control you via destroying the economy and killing 100s of thousands of americans?

About the same number of people globally are dying from COVID daily as from alcohol related causes (~5000) I read.

It just seems weird that nobody would describe (explicitly or implicitly) the elimination of all alcohol related deaths as insignificant.