I'm gonna have my little rant here and now. Don't want to read it, don't.
Ask every DDS and MD you know, then ask every one you have access to. I asked every person in the medical field which I can make contact without appointments. None, not one, has ever had or even directly heard of another DDS or MD they know personally or professionally having a patient die of the flu. There isn't even a statistical silo for the flu. There is one for Flu and Pneumonia.
I'm all for getting facts and getting the bs out of the fact stream. Getting back to solid facts and getting the opinions back into the opinion bag and out of the fact bag. But you must also get your own opinions out of your own fact bags. That is hard.
Get the difference between fact and assumptions on the facts and the opinions formed from those assumptions straight.
I had a phone call with a person in the midwest, we used to talk for an hour every Thursday. We've sent each other trinkets that we have, don't need, and would help the other.
When I asked the virus was out there, the very first thing he said to me:
"I don't want to get into a political discussion with you. I don't want to rupture our friendship."
Now THAT told me all I needed to know about how bad things have become. A health issue is a political issue.
Whether you wear a mask or not is a politcical statement. Washing your hands is a radical act. Putting your nose inside a piece of cloth has become a dividing issue. I remember when putting your nose in a piece of cloth was a radical act for real. Because you were also wearing a white robe and a pointed hat burning a cross or holding a rope. Committing evil and calling it good. That was a real problem.
This is a smurfety smurf smurfing mask. WEAR THE DAMN THING. It's not gonna kill you. It's not gonna even hurt you. It won't even personally cost most of you as it's a legitimate supply that you get and deduct as a write off.
If you think it's stupid, fine. I don't care. I'm not suggesting you're stupid for not wearing one. I'm suggesting you don't care if my wife, my grandmother, my mom die. You and your family are all very healthy? That just means you won't have as great a chance of having a bad time with this or any other virus. That's you. I'm happy that you have that gift of health.
Do you unplug your brake lights because it doesn't help you? It's costing you energy to run them, you're a good driver, you know what you're doing, and you have great hunks of sturdyness around you if something goes wrong...
If you are not wearing a mask when you get within 6-10ft of me or my wife, I'll ask you to step away. If you do not I do.
Don't like it? I'm not terribly interested if you like it. I am not letting your lack of concern kill her.
Am I overreacting? Yeah, probably some. Why? I have to overreact as some jerk wants to uncover his or her face and think it's nothing because it has a good chance of being nothing for them.
Get the idea that we do things as a community, as a county, as a state, as a country that have direct benefit to you only in that it protects all of us. We don't build an ICBM to protect just your house. We don't have ambulances and crews ready to save and help people with them just for your fam ily. So get with the program and protect everyone else, even if it costs you a funny looking tan line. Anyone who looks down on you for protecting someone else needs to look in their likely well maintained firearms collection and realize they really don't mean to help anyone by using those either. Ever. Oh! I'm wrong? You'd take up arms with the chance of disfigurement or death to help someone but you won't put on a mask.
If that's your logic, you need to realize the rest of humanity are just as much wanting to protect themselves from things that you cannot shoot as you are of the desire to protect yourself from the things that can be shot. ANd guess what. I own guns, and I wear masks. It's not one way or the other.
We care about our neighbors?
Until we have to wear a mask to make sure they don't spend a week or two in a hospital and unable to work for a month. That little piece of cloth.
It's the same answer to why do we still have venereal diseases. People will not protect each other and by doing so fail to protect their entire community.
Have at me. I really don't care. I have a well seated opinion based on many facts about how respiratory diseases happen.
Doesn't happen to you or anyone you know? I'm really happy that is so. Truely. Would it be too much to ask that we all get that chance?