All of the non-pharmaceutical interventions were effectively useless:
At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, more than 40% of Americans were untruthful about whether they had the virus or were ignoring safety precautions, a nationwide survey shows.
Source: More than 40% of Americans lied about COVID-19 risk during pandemic, study shows
The World Health Organization published a large report in 2019, pre-pandemic, where they concluded most non-pharmaceutical interventions
- Work only briefly at the start of a pandemic
- They did not work very well
- Or, most of them did not work at all
- And most are not sustainable for more than weeks.
So of course, public health adopted all of them.
At best, NPIs might delay a pandemic by days or a week but they will never stop a pandemic of a highly contagious respiratory disease.
Pandemics end through immunity – either from vaccination, having the disease, both, and/or the virus mutates to less virulent form.
But at least public health destroyed the economy, put millions out of work, and destroyed children’s education.
Reminder – if you wear a proper and effective mask (e.g. N95) worn properly, replaced and disposed of properly, in conjunction with other protocols, you may delay the onset of disease. Since SARS-CoV-2 will never go away, you will have to continue doing this for the rest of your life – otherwise, you will eventually get Covid-19.
Keep in mind – if you are in a room with virus in the air, then that virus is all over not just the outside of your mask, but your hair, face, skin and clothing. Until you have removed that too and washed your elf thoroughly, you remain at risk of transferring those viral particles to your hands and face. A surgical mask, as shown by studies, is an ineffective barrier – as illustrated by the moment I put one on and my glasses were completely fogged up as my exhalation vented upwards (and out the sides) of the surgical mask.
We wish there were simple NPIs that would have made a difference.
Disclaimer – I am a brain injured idiot and nothing I write should be taken seriously. I do not have a blue check on Twitter or sufficient initials after my name to be an authority on anything.
