This oughta keep people far away from me.

WAWI just attempting to stir the pot. I've agreed with Jackson on most COVID related things since day one. Which is very different than WAWI, as we've agreed on nothing. Jackson is certainly entitled to his opinion. I strongly suspect he's wrong based on what I see most doctors saying and the studies I've read, but I will say I put vastly more weight on what Jackson says than many other other anti-maskers on here. Hopefully time will tell, although I'm stunned time hasn't told already.

The disclaimer on the box speaks volumes about this lol.

Notice who makes mine.

Don't give me too much credit Josh. I'm getting frustrated by the media outlets and the propagation of nonsense that I can best attribute to it being an election year and the implications that has. I got a laugh earlier though when I was doing work up on an upcoming double jaw surgery case (you know, one of those normal 6 hour surgeries we dentists do) and the paperwork from Hunt County Regional Hospital had this interesting bit of facts. Skim down to the line just above "What do I do if I think I have coronavirus?"



People come to my office with a variety of masks all day long and I get to see more than I should. Many of my patients are using a single use disposable surgical mask to a point where there is a smudge on the outside where they've been raising and lowering it for days with their dirty hands. Technically speaking, you cannot touch the mask or you've contaminated it. Nevertheless, they are happy and feel safe running from Wal-Mart to the grocery store touching countless potentially contaminated surfaces and BECAUSE OF THE MASK, then touching their face. I see the hands go from the phone, to the mask, to the countertop, to a random ink pen, back to the phone and back to the mask a few times to raise and lower it so they can speak or breathe better. I don't think I've ever seen our population as a whole touch their faces as much as they have during the pandemic. Why can't we just exercise strict social distancing which has proven to be effective throughout history? Much too simple I guess so instead we will depend upon the infection control practices of the common man who has little to no training on the subject. I don't mean to lump everyone into one category as reality is nothing like that.

We can surely agree that the drastically ramped up testing has a lot to do with the increase in the number of positives. Also, the head of the Covid-19 Task Force for NE Texas told me that if one person tests positive in a household of seven, you document that as seven positive cases instead of one. I'm no math major but doesn't that seem weird? I'd love to hear that rationale when members of a household make you an automatic positive as we have seen that's far from reality. What about when parents test at multiple sites? Dad tests positive at CVS on his lunch hour in Plano and Mom tests positive at AA Center? That goes down as fourteen? C'mon...... That's some crazy math. What about the second test that confirms the first diagnosis? Well, that depends on if you did it at the same site or not and if it's documented properly. Otherwise, that's two positives for one person. Again, that's some crazy math.

Isn't it bizarre that you can't go cough on the test swab to see if you're positive? Or how about a cheek swab so that we know saliva gets transferred? If these asymptomatic carriers are that infectious, doesn't that seem like an inaccuracy with what's being reported? My MD buddy is a board certified ER doc and has a chain of urgent care facilities across the south and he's making crazy money during this crisis on testing alone. I'll simply say that distinctive lines that used to exist regarding a differential diagnosis and what tests were indicated in various situations have been blurred. There are big money corporate players in the hospital game so just think about that for a bit.

Don't get me wrong...... I have a few patients that a Covid-19 diagnosis could be fatal. I have two transplant patients on immunosupressives and you'd better believe we approach them with the utmost respect and caution. I also work on a lot of elderly and they deserve us taking extra precautions if we have to share the same space.

Now for the burning question many want to hear..... If someone is truly sick and they have a cloth face covering on and cough, will the face covering knock down the droplet spray? Of course it will. However..... It is my opinion that all of the face touching, space sharing, protesting, rioting and lack of hand washing are responsible for the cases that continue today (large asterisk here as who knows what this number truly is) and that it outweighs those rare, asymptomatic, highly infectious people that are supposedly walking around coughing on everyone.

I've never been one for conspiracy theories but sometimes there's a shred of truth to some of them. I hope we can all think about what we are being told and do some critical thinking for ourselves. I happen to believe social media allows the rapid propagation of misinformation at a speed where the most robust fact-checking hardly keeps pace. I'm concerned for our country and unsure what our future is going to look like. Prayer now, more than ever.

J

Notice who makes mine.

You might get more distance by creating a thread talking about how to properly use a face mask than to say they don't work.

In general, in my opinion only, you have promoted not using a mask.

You might get more distance by creating a thread talking about how to properly use a face mask than to say they don't work.

In general, in my opinion only, you have promoted not using a mask.

Can I change my vote in the poll?