Conversation

Daniel Lemire
@lemire
Our choices with respect to masks and WHO are... they were right back then (masks are useless), they were wrong (masks are useful), or they were lying purposefully to mislead. People insist that authorities were lying... I prefer to think they were wrong. 1/
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Natalie Christie Peluso 🧠 she/her
@nataliepeluso
Replying to @StuartJRitchie and @MWStory
Great piece, although I personally continue to flinch whenever anyone suggests the WHO didn't recommend masks because they don't work. Global PPE shortage was insane in March & there was a clear motive to preserve what they had for hospitals. Plus clear evidence China used them.
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Chad Orzel
@orzelc
Replying to
@lemire
This choice seems oversimplified. The actual argument (as I recall it) was that whatever benefit might be conferred by masks was not enough to justify taking them away from front-line medical personnel who needed them.
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Daniel Lemire
@lemire
Replying to
@orzelc
You remember incorrectly. They were stating outright, without ambiguity, that the masks were not effective. It was stated again, and again, and repeated in very clear terms. I remember because I challenged these claims. I thought that they could not know.
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Daniel Micay
@DanielMicay
Replying to
@lemire
and
@orzelc
It didn't make any sense. How could masks only work for health care workers? It's clear to me that the authorities on these topics were lying, and I won't trust them as sources of information in the future. It was a lesson learned based on many aspects of how they handled this.
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Daniel Micay
@DanielMicay
Replying to
@DanielMicay
@lemire
and
@orzelc
Taiwan didn't rely on different scientific facts. They took a different approach to governance. It was never unclear that masks were useful. It's still not clear how much different types of masks help, but it wasn't ever in doubt that they would almost certainly reduce spread.
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