Thread by @owasow

If folks want to drive in same direction as other traffic on public roads, they are free to do so. Those who don’t want to drive in the same direction as traffic on the right side of the road shouldn’t be shamed into it, and govt should not mandate it.

https://twitter.com/govkristinoem/status/1319368175218118656

Using variation in timing across different regions of Ontario, economists found mask mandates increased “self-reported mask-wearing by 30 percentage points”and “may have reduced new weekly Covid cases by as much as 25%.” nationalpost.com/news/canada/ma…

Study finds “if the U.S. had introduced a uniform national mask mandate for employees of public-facing businesses on April 1, the number of deaths in the U.S. would likely have been 40 percent lower on June 1.” news.mit.edu/2020/masks-man…

Small study in Germany found early mask mandates “can reduce transmission by ~40%.” One town “adopted habitual use of face masks notably earlier, around April 6. The study says that after face masks were introduced, cases in the town fell to almost zero.” thehill.com/changing-ameri…

Study released Friday estimates that United States is trending towards “perhaps 500,000 deaths by March 2021.” However, “Universal mask use could prevent nearly 130,000 deaths from Covid-19 through next spring.” nytimes.com/2020/10/23/hea…

“Dr. Murray and his colleagues showed that mask use, in particular, has a considerable impact, cutting down the risk of infection at both an individual and population level by about half.” nytimes.com/2020/10/23/hea…

“Masks are an effective and inexpensive tool to stem the spread of the virus... The fact that we continue making masks such a political issue is really upsetting,” he added, “because quite frankly, I don’t want to see people die.” nytimes.com/2020/10/23/hea…

John Stuart Mill, a key author of the Western concept of freedom, wrote that liberty (or freedom) means “doing as we like, subject to such consequences as may follow, without impediment from our fellow creatures, as long as what we do does not harm them…” nytimes.com/2020/10/17/opi…

Update from South Dakota: @govkristinoem’s faith in common courtesy may not be working out as promised.

https://twitter.com/jmhorp/status/1320191416874733568

How it started How it’s going

Since April, @govkristinoem ”emphasized personal responsibility over government mandates… Within weeks of Rally that drew nearly half a million bikers, the Dakotas, Wyoming, Minnesota & Montana were leading nation in new coronavirus infections per capita” washingtonpost.com/health/2020/10…