Zvi, I read Bob Wachter's entire thread. I find what he said to be reasonable. He does not expect or urge people to follow his protocols. On the other hand, you seem to be disparaging his choices. Why does it bother you?
I can understand wanting to see people's faces, but knowing why they may be masking is impossible unless you know them very well. And to ask would be rude.
It might be a generational thing. I'm 60 and people, like Bob Wachter, who are in my age group, tend to be a lot more cautious than people in my children's age group of 28-34 or even people in their 40s.
I don't know Zvi's reason. I think mask wearing is somewhat a political thing, but stripping away all of that. (The following is my understanding and could be wrong.) I thought masks mostly help when you are sick and going out in public... so the idea of a mask was to stop you from giving the virus to someone else, and not so much as personal protective device. We in the US seem to have mostly ignored this primary use of a mask. (It doesn't fit with the American psychology...)
Now with KN95s available and new evidence, it is clear that wearing those masks in indoor settings will help the wearer reduce chances of infection and will also reduce chances of giving an infection to someone else.
To me, it's a good risk/reward to mask, but everyone has their own calculus based on age, health, proximity to vulnerable loved ones, and how often one has to be in inside settings outside of home, i.e., what is the mask-wearing sacrifice.
To wearer not wear a mask as a political statement seems highly irrational to me.
Oh the way everything splits along political lines looks irrational to me. Irrational things happen all the time. If we could have adopted a more eastern idea, that you wore a mask when you thought you might be contagious, but you needed to go out and so you wear a mask.. which sorta signals, I think I might be contagious, stay away.
Instead we are the wild west americans, we guard ourselves first. Imagine going to the same gathering and only the people who thought they might be sick wore masks. That seems the ideal behavior to me.
I don't know Zvi's reason, but this feels like a case of the old apocryphal Voltaire quote*. "I do not agree with your COVID precautions, but I will defend to the mild-discomfort your right to make them."
He doesn't agree with the guy's precautions. That doesn't mean he thinks the guy should be forced to not make them, or that the guy is significantly harming anyone but himself. If Bob is also not advocating for people to follow his example, that's fine! But it doesn't eliminate the disagreement.
* since the original quote is fictitious, I took the liberty of fictitioning it a bit more.
I can confirm that findcovidcare.com works to get Paxlovid quickly. I used it on separate occasions for both myself and my wife. All I had to do was fill out an easy form and submit payment. Within a day, they'd sent the prescription to the pharmacy nearest me to pick up. I hesitate to call it telemedicine, because I never needed to talk to anyone.
Hmm, I don't see it anymore either. Maybe the powers that be decided they weren't doing their proper job of keeping Paxlovid out of the hands of the people who wanted it, and put a stop to it?
I used findcovidcare.com to get Paxlovid prescribed and shipped to me in late June, though it took 2 days because I submitted my request in the evening outside of their business hours. It does look like they have since removed the "Online consultation and prescription" option from their website. https://web.archive.org/web/20220604012938/https://www.findcovidcare.com/
The reason not to get more monkeypox testing done is that putting forth too much effort might cause Public Health to go berserk and ruin everyone's lives for the third year in a row. Best to ignore it completely.
I had success with getting Paxlovid through callondoc.com when a family member was sick, resting in bed, and I thought it unwise to rouse her to go visit a doctor in person.
They accepted a picture of a positive rapid test for diagnosis and didn't require a video visit. They took a few hours to deliver on the prescription, and the original pharmacy had closed by the time they sent it over. But they were flexible enough to transfer the prescription to a 24 hour pharmacy, for free.
Damn – that blog post about Jane Street is fascinating! It made me revise my (very old) estimates about how valuable working for them might have been to me. (I still suspect the time cost of working there is/are too high, both now but also years ago when I first hear/read of them.)
Today I realized covid was officially over for me when I was at the grocery store and subconsciously licked my finger to open a produce bag. Haven't done that since early 2020!
Probably a bad choice but it was exhilarating to have totally stopped thinking about covid.
> Otherwise, the desire to mimic drinking means you’re optimizing in all the wrong places.
I call bullshit.
If you don’t find the company of sweaty binge-drinking teleprompter-assisted chansonniers worthy of optimization, you live in the fog on a false summit of life for which no number of derivatives will illuminate your soul’s journey to the apex.
Put another way—if you’re sober, go out to karaoke, and obviously drink water (even if you tip very well and sing with nearly-blacked-out abandon), you’re still an outsider.
If you go to karaoke and inconspicuously drink non-alcoholic beer poured in a pint glass or sip club soda in a short glass with a tiny straw and a lime slice, you have a fighting chance of passing with the in-group.
Zvi, I read Bob Wachter's entire thread. I find what he said to be reasonable. He does not expect or urge people to follow his protocols. On the other hand, you seem to be disparaging his choices. Why does it bother you?
+1 - wearing a mask is not that hard, Wachter is talking specifically about one-way masking. It also seems useful for trying to avoid catching colds.
Being around people who hide their faces is generally off putting and unpleasant. Doubly so if they do so for no good reason.
I don't begrudge people their lifestyle choices, but face to face interaction is much preferred.
I can understand wanting to see people's faces, but knowing why they may be masking is impossible unless you know them very well. And to ask would be rude.
It might be a generational thing. I'm 60 and people, like Bob Wachter, who are in my age group, tend to be a lot more cautious than people in my children's age group of 28-34 or even people in their 40s.
I am rarely purposely rude, but I am against normalizing mask wearing as a prophylactic. That’s what Mr. Watcher is aiming for.
I assume everyone who is wearing a high-quality mask has AIDS and/or is in chemotherapy. It helps me dislike them less.
I assume everyone sho is wearing a cloth mask is stupid and political and I feel like they deserve ridicule.
I know too many healthy, vaccinated people that insist on masking themselves and their children in the grocery store.
I don't know Zvi's reason. I think mask wearing is somewhat a political thing, but stripping away all of that. (The following is my understanding and could be wrong.) I thought masks mostly help when you are sick and going out in public... so the idea of a mask was to stop you from giving the virus to someone else, and not so much as personal protective device. We in the US seem to have mostly ignored this primary use of a mask. (It doesn't fit with the American psychology...)
Now with KN95s available and new evidence, it is clear that wearing those masks in indoor settings will help the wearer reduce chances of infection and will also reduce chances of giving an infection to someone else.
To me, it's a good risk/reward to mask, but everyone has their own calculus based on age, health, proximity to vulnerable loved ones, and how often one has to be in inside settings outside of home, i.e., what is the mask-wearing sacrifice.
To wearer not wear a mask as a political statement seems highly irrational to me.
Oh the way everything splits along political lines looks irrational to me. Irrational things happen all the time. If we could have adopted a more eastern idea, that you wore a mask when you thought you might be contagious, but you needed to go out and so you wear a mask.. which sorta signals, I think I might be contagious, stay away.
Instead we are the wild west americans, we guard ourselves first. Imagine going to the same gathering and only the people who thought they might be sick wore masks. That seems the ideal behavior to me.
I don't know Zvi's reason, but this feels like a case of the old apocryphal Voltaire quote*. "I do not agree with your COVID precautions, but I will defend to the mild-discomfort your right to make them."
He doesn't agree with the guy's precautions. That doesn't mean he thinks the guy should be forced to not make them, or that the guy is significantly harming anyone but himself. If Bob is also not advocating for people to follow his example, that's fine! But it doesn't eliminate the disagreement.
* since the original quote is fictitious, I took the liberty of fictitioning it a bit more.
Yep. I think those who say he's being reasonable don't fully appreciate what he's giving up on here de facto.
I think Bob is aware of the trade offs.
I can confirm that findcovidcare.com works to get Paxlovid quickly. I used it on separate occasions for both myself and my wife. All I had to do was fill out an easy form and submit payment. Within a day, they'd sent the prescription to the pharmacy nearest me to pick up. I hesitate to call it telemedicine, because I never needed to talk to anyone.
I'm obviously being dense, but I don't see anything on that website except test kits.
Hmm, I don't see it anymore either. Maybe the powers that be decided they weren't doing their proper job of keeping Paxlovid out of the hands of the people who wanted it, and put a stop to it?
I used findcovidcare.com to get Paxlovid prescribed and shipped to me in late June, though it took 2 days because I submitted my request in the evening outside of their business hours. It does look like they have since removed the "Online consultation and prescription" option from their website. https://web.archive.org/web/20220604012938/https://www.findcovidcare.com/
The reason not to get more monkeypox testing done is that putting forth too much effort might cause Public Health to go berserk and ruin everyone's lives for the third year in a row. Best to ignore it completely.
I had success with getting Paxlovid through callondoc.com when a family member was sick, resting in bed, and I thought it unwise to rouse her to go visit a doctor in person.
They accepted a picture of a positive rapid test for diagnosis and didn't require a video visit. They took a few hours to deliver on the prescription, and the original pharmacy had closed by the time they sent it over. But they were flexible enough to transfer the prescription to a 24 hour pharmacy, for free.
Damn – that blog post about Jane Street is fascinating! It made me revise my (very old) estimates about how valuable working for them might have been to me. (I still suspect the time cost of working there is/are too high, both now but also years ago when I first hear/read of them.)
Today I realized covid was officially over for me when I was at the grocery store and subconsciously licked my finger to open a produce bag. Haven't done that since early 2020!
Probably a bad choice but it was exhilarating to have totally stopped thinking about covid.
> Otherwise, the desire to mimic drinking means you’re optimizing in all the wrong places.
I call bullshit.
If you don’t find the company of sweaty binge-drinking teleprompter-assisted chansonniers worthy of optimization, you live in the fog on a false summit of life for which no number of derivatives will illuminate your soul’s journey to the apex.
Put another way—if you’re sober, go out to karaoke, and obviously drink water (even if you tip very well and sing with nearly-blacked-out abandon), you’re still an outsider.
If you go to karaoke and inconspicuously drink non-alcoholic beer poured in a pint glass or sip club soda in a short glass with a tiny straw and a lime slice, you have a fighting chance of passing with the in-group.
I have been known to go to karaoke. When I do, I drink water. It goes great. No one cares.
Re: Hanson, there actually are services that charge based on score improvement and provide refunds if the promised increase isn’t realized.
https://twitter.com/ageofinfovores/status/1554490035516342277?s=20&t=FJdp2RTdsb_LG1v58esYzg
Wife, who is pregnant, just tested positive for Covid. What's the latest on whether she should take Paxlovid?
Yes.