LogFAQs > #942012570

darkknight109 posted...

but it also means it's understandable that they're occasionally going to get things wrong and we shouldn't necessarily be getting super-upset about that.

And it especially doesn't mean that we should ignore what they say and make up our own understanding of the virus based on what sounds most convenient to us. Even if the experts make mistakes, they are still the best source of information and advice that we have. Anything else is going to be idle armchair speculation from people desperate for any information that might validate their hope that it's not a big deal.

streamofthesky posted...

I saw a few weeks ago someone pointing out that Japan hasn't been too bad. Despite people still packed in subways/trains and how densely populated and elderly the population is. But they ALL wear masks. It's considered normal there and they actually give a damn about protecting other people.
Here, we have an idiot reality tv reject president refusing to wear one and railing against them and his followers emulating him.

I've seen it suggested that that's why it didn't rip through China as badly as one might expect, too (though China's specific numbers are largely meaningless). East Asian countries had a pre-existing culture of wearing masks to help combat the inevitable public health consequences of their high population density, which means there hasn't been the kind of adamant resistance to mask-wearing recommendations that we're seeing in the US in particular.

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