To be fair, the droplets were down to nanometer size that N95 masks couldn't touch.
It was Dunning-Kruger meeting wishful thinking meeting cognitive dissonance. It was more convenient to shout one narrative than dither before generating conclusive evidence. Theoretically, you could don a moon suit and be alright, but 100% lockdown of the world doesn't scale for long, although 4 weeks of a real, absolute lockdown (wasn't meaningfully enforced uniformly in the US) would've been fantastic.
To be fair, a properly fitted N95 mask is infinitely protective against an airborne virus compared to standing six feet apart, washing your hands, wiping down surfaces or wearing one of those paper masks held on by two rubber bands with open sides.
However, it is my understanding that the UK's NHS did step up their game and require their equivalent of an N99 mask for frontline medical workers.
> a properly fitted N95 mask is infinitely protective against an airborne virus
People keep saying "airborne" as if that's the only route of transmission, but we know there are three routes - droplets in the eyes, air that you breathe, and fomites that you eat.
Eyes and mouth are significant, and there's some evidence that these are more important than airborne transmission.
The swiss cheese model does not say "use masks, ignore the rest, you'll be okay". It says "here's a package of measures and if you use all of them you reduce the risk".
> People keep saying "airborne" as if that's the only route of transmission
No. I am saying "airborne" as in the WHO issued a blanket statement that Covid was NOT airborne and the domain experts who asserted that it did indeed spread that way were crackpots.
Does the WHO's statement, "FACT: #Covid19 is NOT airborne", ring a bell?
Most infections were not from "airborne" transmission, but from fomites and particles.
It's always weird when people say "show me the evidence" as if it's a win. You don't know what you're talking about, and now you want me to do extra work for you? No. Maybe do the work before you leap into the conversation.
> Most infections were not from "airborne" transmission
Restating false information is not "proof".
Even the White House has now explicitly stated the new scientific consensus that Covid is primarily airborne and started talking about the sorts of mitigations that can be successful when you finally admit how the virus is spreading.
>The most common way COVID-19 is transmitted from one person to another is through tiny airborne particles of the virus hanging in indoor air for minutes or hours after an infected person has been there. While there are various strategies for avoiding breathing that air – from remote work to masking – we can and should talk more about how to make indoor environments safer by filtering or cleaning air.
It was Dunning-Kruger meeting wishful thinking meeting cognitive dissonance. It was more convenient to shout one narrative than dither before generating conclusive evidence. Theoretically, you could don a moon suit and be alright, but 100% lockdown of the world doesn't scale for long, although 4 weeks of a real, absolute lockdown (wasn't meaningfully enforced uniformly in the US) would've been fantastic.