Biden's Covid-19 mask order

Biden’s Covid-19 Mask Order misses the point.

President Biden issued a Mask order after taking office, but will it make a difference?

Since March, most of the country has been wearing a mask in public. President Biden’s Covid-19 Mask order made it federal law while on planes, trains or busses or on federal property. But is this going to help? In the Spring of 2020 most areas locked down to “flatten the curve”, which happened. The problem is that is accelerated the spread during this years flu season. If you look at areas that didn’t lock down, they had a significantly harder time with Covid February-April of 2020. Those that locked down like California now see a massive spike.

Scientists say that the “R Factor” of Covid-19 is about 5.7. This means that one infected person on average with give the virus to 5.7 others.This will change, but that is todays “estimate”. The one highlight that keeps getting overlooked is that people who do not show symptoms are significantly less likely to spread covid. People with symptoms are several times more likely to spread Covid-19.

The Math of the Mask

Being Symptomatic means you are exhaling somewhere between 12 and 20 times more virus than a person who doesn’t have symptoms. Simple math says that if the average is 5.7, and 11/12ths of that number comes from symptomatic people, the real R numbers are like 1 for people without symptoms and 30 or more for those with symptoms.

Biden’s covid-19 mask order might make people feel more comfortable going out it public but should it? Assuming a mask is 80% effective at preventing a person with symptoms from spreading the virus, then 80% of 12x (conservatively) means that a person with symptoms is still has an r factor of nearly 10! So a person with symptoms is somewhere between 8 and 15 times more like to spread the virus even with a mask properly worn the a person without symptoms.

Biden's Covid-19 Mask order makes this mandatory but will it help?
Yes, you still can spread the virus wearing a mask!

Time is the Enemy

A major foreign airline tested this theory at length. If you test positive and have no symptoms, 12 hours later you might be in a different situation. The airline found that flights over 8 hours, increased the chances of a person who didn’t have symptoms getting on the plane, and had them getting off increased significantly. They were the first to require testing within three days of flying on flights over 8 hours.

Realizing that Joe Biden’s platform is about equality and inclusion, you have to wonder if that is why we all get punished. There is a line in a movie that says “socialism is everyone sharing the wealth, communism is everyone sharing the pain.” I think we are all feeling the pain of the mask. Testing before international travel might be a good idea for now, but this is the same guy that wants open borders. You can’t fly in with Covid-19 but you can walk in? Which is it?

The Real Solution is Easy.

The real solution isn’t Biden’s Covid-19 mask order, it is staying home. When you wear a mask and have symptoms, you are still spreading whatever you have at a much higher rate than just a day or so before the symptoms appeared. Your body knows more than any test. Tests are only 80-90% accurate.

The bottom line is that if you need cold or flu medicine to go out in public without coughing or sneezing, then you need to stay home. Yes staying home is boring and you might get a case of cabin fever or your FOMO might go full panic, but you’ll save lives. That is the true cost of being in a civilized society. Everyone has to take responsibility. It’s hard to tell your boss you can’t work, but it’s time to change that thinking. If you cough near me, I am running to the nearest sanitation station. I don’t care if you are wearing a mask.

If you take cold or flu medicine maybe the only time you should leave your home is to be first in line for a Covid test. If you stay home once you show symptoms for any cold, flu or corona virus, you make your R number 0, meaning you won’t give it to anyone else. That is the real goal isn’t it?

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