Again what masks do best is reduce transmission, so it is very tough to come up with anything close to precise and accurate numbers since not everyone being exposed equally will catch the virus equally or as often. But studying the trending (which is about the only study method which can be applied here with any level of accuracy)
clearly shows a significant difference between similar areas and situations where mask usage is high versus where it is low. They clearly are effective in reducing transmission
but that takes a near-universal level of use to have a very significant difference. It's an all or nothing decision where anything less than all isn't going to have much effect. And in doing trending studies it is very important that you're considering only very alike situations; it will not tell you anything to relate sparsely populated and cold Greenland to densely populated and tropical Malaysia for an example. And if you look more than superficially at what almost all the organizations involved here are now saying, you will see where
they have done just this to reach their conclusions, which are most certainly correct.
Mask usage can make a very big difference where it's universal, so that is what we all should be doing everywhere ![Cool :cool: :cool:](https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f60e.png)
And regards this, it is only
part of the solution so we must be equally vigilant regards everything else we should be doing like social distancing and disinfecting
Yes, that hotspot map of my state is accurate and it is a sad reflection on what people here are like
![Crying :cry: :cry:](https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f622.png)
For awhile there was high mask use and much social distancing, but now this has diminished considerably. Many (maybe most?) people here seem to think that this is mostly over and that they aren't likely to be affected, partially because the Governor has reopened things and partially because even how deadly this disease can be, very few people actually know someone who has or has had it. So they think it's safe to go back to 'normal' now, and in doing this they are creating the spike in cases we've now got. Of course it's alweays 'someone else' at fault in their minds. I even know a few people (NOT my friends) who think that the whole pandemic is fake or overblown and is an effort by (
fill in the blank with whoever you suspect most) to condition people for the coming enslavement of us all
![Laugh :LOL: :LOL:](https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f606.png)
Sad to say that we have a very high percentage of excessively stupid people living here which is easily noticed in taking a drive almost anywhere in my State. Glad I've got cams all around but they don't prevent my being affected by the rampant stupidity of others I live with
And worse for me is that I'm in the area on the upper left where things are now the worst and still rising at the highest rates yet seen in this State
![Mad :mad: :mad:](https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f621.png)
Makes me want to beat the crap out of our Governor who has blindly followed our President into not looking at anything unpleasant and to plugging his ears to things he doesn't want to hear. Very childish to do this and while it can be an understandable response in children it is totally unacceptable behavior for adults. Especiall;y adults in leadership positions. Worse is that only the Governor has the authority to make lockdown and re-opening decisions in my State. All the local leaders in this area clearly see what is happening and want a better response but are not being allowed to do it. We clearly are not going to do well in reopening things given the current methods and regulations we have in place here. I equate the refusal to allow a proper local response to being the same as accessory to murder, for it is beyond obvious that not allowing us to steer our own fate locally is needlessly killing people
TBH I expected that we'd end up in this worst-case-scenario here compared to the rest of the State because we're directly between the two largest cities in this part of the world- Atlanta GA and Charlotte NC- and as would be expected there's a huge amount of people and goods passing between them with many stopping here for fuel or food as they travel. Also we're now an "inland port of entry" where immigrants and goods first enter the US, opening yet another door to possible infections. Plus our own population travels locally more than in most other areas ofvthe State due to how business and residential growth has occurred here. And in that growth, our local downtown Greenville has seen a huge and continuing boom in the numbers of new residences being built, possibly more than in the entire rest of the State combined, coupled with an equal boom in small intimate businesses downtown catering to food, drinking, shopping, and entertaining which are socially intimate by their very nature. That which has built us economically here is exactly the very thing most against us regards this pandemic
![Devil :devilish: :devilish:](https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f608.png)
We are totally unlike most of the State in this yet the government refuses to make any distinction for that nor will allow us to do that for ourselves. In short, we're completely and totally screwed, and unfortunately that includes me.
I totally expect that if I am able, I will be writing a quick goodbye to my friends here when- not if- I catch this disease so needlessly and preventably because such is my normal luck and nobody here where I live is doing anything to lessen that chance at all.
Phil