COVID-19 is forcing us to deal with scientific uncertainty in more intimate ways. We don't know how for certain how many people are dying. We don't know how for certain how long you should wash your hands or how far to stand apart. We have to make choices anyway ... (a thread)
The face mask thing falls into this same space of uncertainty. For example, I spoke with a researcher in Hong Kong who wears masks daily, said he thinks everyone should wear masks ... and told me the data is very thin on the benefits (esp. for homemade masks) ...
When I asked him about how he deals with evidence that supports both mask wearing and not mask wearing, he told me ... it's more like there's a lack of evidence that could lead you to either conclusion. We all fill in the blanks with our personal experience, risk assessments ...
This story isn't about the evidence for or against mask wearing. Other people have written eloquently about that already. It's really about how we function in a world where science can't give us absolute answers to life or death questions. fivethirtyeight.com/features/scien…
That problem -- how we make decisions even when we don't know the "correct" answer -- isn't just sophistry or sophomoric philosophizing. It's real life. It matters. Especially right now. Otherwise, we're all gonna go crazy.
And, for the record, I haven't been wearing a mask so far. The next time I go to the store, I will be. (Thanks to my sweet mom and her ever-growing stockpile.) I don't know for certain that that's effective. I don't know for certain I'm doing everything the right way to be safe.
But I'm going to do best I can with data I have. And that's all any of us can do, right now.
Let go of needing to be "right". That's a fool's errand on a LOT of things right now. Do the best you can, with what you can. Embrace uncertainty. Give yourself a hug. Cthulu f'thagn.
Let go of needing to be "right". That's a fool's errand on a LOT of things right now. Do the best you can, with what you can. Embrace uncertainty. Give yourself a hug. Cthulu f'thagn.
(And, yes, this will be my only response to the people who misread -- or didn't read -- my story last night and yelled at me about trying to dissuade people from wearing masks.)
