What contributes or not contributes to the spread of a virus among a population is based on conjecture, loose observations and inferences since these are impossible things to measure in isolation(like masks) but ofcourse the only thing that objectively really helps is to reduce the amount of 'contact moments' between people. If you live in a household where someone has covid than a mask isn't going to help. Italy was hit hard predominantly because their population is of advanced age. They will put someone of 90 years old on a respirator.
Protestors were mostly young people who were unlikely to get serious symptoms if they caught coronavirus. But if they live in a household with someone who is older or of weaker health then they are the ones who get sick.
That's what a lot of this pandemic has been, conjecture. And i think that's why so many people grew quickly frustrated with it. Masks don't work, Masks work, Actually you need to Double Mask or even triple mask. Or actually it doesn't matter at all if you wash your dirty ass hands. Full lockdown, partial lockdown, semi full lockdowns, close businesses but leave some businesses open arbitrarily.
I think the worst thing that happened was the flippy floppy messaging. Which in-part is fair while they tried to figure this fucking thing out. But at the same time the mass public can only react to what they see and I wonder if letting a bit more research into C-19 would have been beneficial before they started locking people down and shutting shit up. Because while it would have given the virus a little more time for free reign, it would also have let medical and government officials more ability to figure out the best course of action. Instead you had a knee-jerk response that didn't work and only upset people because they saw it wasn't working.
If they had come out and said, "Look, we need to totally lockdown for three weeks. Nothing is to be open except emergency services, and limited grocery stores for home delivery only." Then give the public a date like two weeks so they could stock up their homes with food for the lockdown time, and also assure people of a rent/utility payment freeze. I think that would have been cheaper than a shitload of lame stimulus checks, as well as shutting down people's lives for extended periods of time.
Of course that didn't happen so it doesn't really matter. Shit played out the way it did and I'm still not convinced that mask's did shit. I wore the same disposable mask for months, because i only wore it to go into stores when i had to, otherwise i didn't wear it. My grandparents didnt wear them, I don't really think they slowed the spread of shit. I think if you had prolonged contact with someone who got it, then you got it mask be damned.
If anything the mask's sole purpose was symbolic. To make the people feel like they had some power over the virus or faux protection. Which I guess is fair enough, but at some point the mandate had to go away.
Will there be more Covid? Yeah probably. But medical treatments have improved, there is a vaccine, and as time continues the virus will become less and less of a big deal.
Maybe we'll get lucky and this will force employers to finally give people proper sick days. Because work culture pressures people to come to work unless they are literally dying, but when a cough can infect the whole office, maybe they'll actually start being more willing to make sick people stay home.
