PLACEBO FIXATION
Last week I spoke at the Libertarian Party National Convention in Orlando so I have a flight update to share. Tomorrow I'll share what I talked about at the convention. And for the record, I am not a member of the Libertarian Party--I'm not a member of any political party; they all get squirrely around the edges.
Anyone with an ounce of science background, I want you to appreciate this narrative. Anyone in the medical profession, please tell me if my perception of sanitation is right or wrong.
So I walk up to the TSA podium. The TSA agent has on a mask. I have on a mask. The whole idea of masks is to keep them clean, or at least as sterile as possible. She has on gloves and she's been handling dozens of plastic drivers' licenses before I step up to the podium.
My mask, which I've worn now on several flights and stuff in my pocket between times, obscures my face so she can't identify me with my driver's license. My hands have been on the steering wheel of the truck driving over to the airport, on my luggage, on my cell phone.
She can't speak to me through her mask so she pulls it down over her mouth--with the gloves that she's handled dozens of plastic drivers' licenses--and asks me to remove my face mask so she can match me up with the plastic driver's license she now holds in her gloved hands that have touched dozens of passengers before me.
So I reach up with my unclean hands and pull off my filthy face mask that has been to California and back and hanging on the wall in my house between trips. She decides I'm the guy on the plastic driver's license, scans it into her gizmo, pulls her face mask back over her face, and hands me back my plastic driver's license.
I juggle my luggage and the plastic driver's license and my face mask, trying to get it all put back together before I get to the security conveyor where I place my luggage on the belt that handles thousands of other people's luggage that has been in their houses, touched by their hands, handled after the TSA agent's plastic driver's license interchange from thousands of other passengers and face masks popped on and off with filthy fingers . . . . You get the picture.
Folks, we are doing far more contamination fumbling around with face masks through this contorted theatrical exhibition than if we just went through like normal without grabbing our faces multiple times and handling things that have been contaminated with others grabbing their faces multiple times. If we titled this whole process "How To Keep Things Clean" it would be sillier than a Laurel and Hardy gig.
If there's one thing worse than doing nothing, it's doing bad and feeling good about it. Fortunately, nobody is requiring that a face mask actually cover your face. So I kept mine well under my nose and everyone was happy. It's all about symbolism over substance. I'm hoping my little freebie cotton square lasts for a year; I don't know how dirty it can get before anyone says anything, but as long as I can keep it under my nose and breathe, I guess I can live with the placebo.
Are there places where masks are important? Yes, in hospitals, nursing homes, where the whole environment is compromised with sickness. But under normal day-to-day circumstances I haven't seen any evidence that they do anything except irritate, divide, and probably send our hands to our faces more than normal.
The $164 airfare for the trip was certainly nice. If I need to wear a cloth napkin under my chin to knock airfares in half, I guess that's a small price to pay. The whole face mask thing is creating sanctimonious people on one side and irritation on the other. Let's all be one big happy family.
Are you aware of any scientific study measuring efficacy of masks as currently worn and used that demonstrates reduced Covid-19 infections?