The Irrationality of the Governing Elite, and of Markets.
The Irrationality of the Governing Elite, and of Markets.
Two headlines: “Wall Street ends sharply lower as “coronavirus surge outweighs recovery hopes” and “Newsom charges ahead as California virus cases reach new record”.
Note the phrases, “”coronavirus surge” and “virus cases reach new record”. In each case the error is made of confusing an increase in the “number of new cases” and the increase in the “known number of new cases”.
If you cannot distinguish between the two, you should not have any political power. If you can distinguish between the two, and continue to abuse political power, you are a despot.
If, as an investor, you react negatively to the term “coronavirus surge”, you have made a similar error.
It is intuitively obvious to the most casual observer that, as more tests are performed for any condition that exists in a given population, more positive results will be found. Let’s take, as an example, the common “cold sore”. Out of 320,000,000 people, if the percentage of people with cold sore is (say) .1%. If 10,000 people are tested, 10 people will be found to have cold sores. If someone starts screaming “pandemic”, and demands more testing, more testing will occur. If an addition 10,000 people are tested the next day, the number of “known” cases of cold sores doubles overnight.
Oh My God!! It’s a Pandemic and it is overtaking our population at a horrendous rate!!
As governor of California, Gavin Newsom has dictated that everyone shall wear “a mask” while in public. Newsom did not dictate that everyone had to wear a mask that was effective, while in public.
Many individuals may be seen, in Safeway, Smart & Final, Save-Mart, Raley’s, etc. wearing masks sewn up by friends and associates out of fabric commonly found at Hancock’s or Joann or made from a dress bought at a rummage sale. No testing as to effectiveness can ever have been done on such varied fabrics. Wearing such a “mask” serve two purposes. They serve the purpose of deluding the wearer that they are safer … for none of us are ever really “safe” from anything.
The mask also serves the function of “signaling virtue”. “I wear a mask because I “care about you”. The person, who does not wear a mask, “doesn’t give a shit about you”. Therefore, I am virtuous, and that person is not.
How do the different types of masks work?
Surgical masks
Also called a medical mask, a surgical mask is a loose-fitting disposable mask that protects the wearer’s nose and mouth from contact with droplets, splashes and sprays that may be a bio-hazard. A surgical mask also filters out large particles in the air. Surgical masks may protect others by reducing exposure to the saliva and respiratory secretions of the mask wearer.
At this time, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has not approved any type of surgical mask specifically for protection against the coronavirus, but these masks may provide some protection when N95 masks are not available.
N95 masks
Actually a type of respirator, an N95 mask offers more protection than a surgical mask does because it can filter out both large and small particles when the wearer inhales. As the name indicates, the mask is designed to block 95% of very small particles. Some N95 masks have valves that make them easier to breathe through. With this type of mask, unfiltered air is released when the wearer exhales.
Health care providers must be trained and pass a fit test to confirm a proper seal before using an N95 respirator in the workplace. Like surgical masks, N95 masks are intended to be disposable. However, researchers are testing ways to disinfect N95 masks so they can be reused.
Some N95 masks, and even some cloth masks, have one-way valves that make them easier to breathe through. But because the valve releases unfiltered air when the wearer breathes out, this type of mask doesn’t prevent the wearer from spreading any virus that may be present in the wearer’s respiratory system. For this reason, some places have banned them.
Cloth masks
While surgical and N95 masks are in short supply and must be reserved for health care providers, cloth masks are easy to find and can be washed and reused.
Asking everyone to wear cloth masks can help reduce the spread of the coronavirus by people who have COVID-19 but don’t realize it. And countries that required face masks, testing, isolation and social distancing early in the pandemic seem to have had some success slowing the spread of the virus.
Cloth masks are cheap and simple to make. Instructions are easy to find online. Masks can be made from common materials, such as sheets made of tightly woven cotton. The CDC website even includes directions for no-sew masks made from bandannas and T-shirts. Cloth masks should include multiple layers of fabric.
How to wear a cloth face mask
Cloth face masks should be worn in public settings where social distancing measures are difficult to maintain, such as in grocery stores, especially in areas of significant community-based transmission.
Here are a few pointers for putting on and taking off a cloth mask:
Place your mask over your mouth and nose.
Tie it behind your head or use ear loops and make sure it’s snug.
Don’t touch your mask while wearing it.
If you accidentally touch your mask, wash or sanitize your hands.
Remove the mask by untying it or lifting off the ear loops without touching the front of the mask or your face.
Wash your hands immediately after removing your mask.
Regularly wash your mask with soap and water in the washing machine. It’s fine to launder it with other clothes.
Finally, here are a few face mask precautions:
Don’t put masks on anyone who has trouble breathing, or is unconscious or otherwise unable to remove the mask without help.
Don’t put masks on children under 2 years of age.
Don’t use face masks as a substitute for social distancing.
SO! WHAT AM I SAYING HERE? I AM SAYING THAT GAVIN NEWSOM’S DICTATE THAT YOU MUST WEAR A “MASK” WHILE IN PUBLIC IS A POLITICAL STUNT.
© Copyright 2020 Alan J. Pedersen All rights reserved.
question? What about those with breathing issues like asthma? Or COPD or sleep apnia?
I thought these people are exempt…oh and children under 2?
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Agree!! Newsom is an ass who’s hungry for power. That’s all he is, the scrotum-face. AND, legally, no governor has the right to issue a MANDATE, for that is actually a legislative edict. But yay on the media, as it loves to promote whatever is “wished for” by the asses they kiss… and yay to the lambs that choose to follow and remain in ignorance.
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Just waving — nice to see you here. Hope you & Carol are staying safe & sequestered, we share the risk of being (ahem) old.
@ghostdancer I had made FB friends in Florida, Washington state, Scotland, Israel, and Sausalito, and have no way to connect with them. It never occurred to me to connect by email. Also, I wanted to suggest that Maui Jim se an animation short titled ”
KAPAEMAHU”.
. It was
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