Those protests happened because new lockdowns were introduced in the EU at that time and the Labour party was calling for harsher restrictions again despite all evidence from South Africa suggesting that Omicron is nothing but a super mild cold and people already being double jabbed anyway. People were terrified of another lockdown and that is why they went protesting to offer a counter voice to opposition party MPs who tried to instil another wave of fear.
I never went to any protest, not just this but in general, but I was very pleased that there were huge protests in the UK and elsewhere at that time, because I had enough of restricting my own life for the sake of others.
As long as you realise just how selfish your last sentence is. Presumably you never expect anyone to even help you out at any cost to themselves, no matter how small?
I expect my family and friends to help me out. I don't expect the entire world around me to dance to my tune because of a fear I hold. When I was 10 years old nobody stopped smoking around me in indoor places, so now the same people who smoked all their life and ate themselves obese are afraid of my fresh super healthy fit breath? Sorry, not my problem and I honestly couldn't care less. On my list of priorities that is as far down as it could possibly be. And I don't think I'm selfish, I'm human. Everyone is selfish. It's selfish of those people to demand huge sacrifices on healthy young folks because of their own shortcomings. I'm happy to take a vaccines, which I did 3x against COVID, because it has no impact on my life, if anything it helps me, but I am not going to restrict my freedoms and lock myself at home, stop working, stop seeing family and friends and stop living life because of others.
Wow! We're talking about wearing a face mask for a short amount of time in very specific situations here, a tiny inconvenience which has proven benefits for a broad swathe of the population (not just the old). No one's asking you to lock yourself at home and not see friends and family. Wearing a mask on a plane is going to reduce the chances of those more stringent measures being put back on the table.
Also, not everyone is selfish, you're projecting the way you see the world onto other people.
> Also, not everyone is selfish, you're projecting the way you see the world onto other people.
Uncalled for. You might consider that to impose your views on others could easily be considered far more selfish than someone unwilling to participate in an activity, even one with such unimpeachable, proven benefits.
Because it had too few participants, or happened when the overall infection rate in society was too low. The number of infected in both groups were too small to conclude anything confidently.
If I remember correctly the group without masks were infected about 20% more than the group with masks, but since the absolute numbers were too low is could have been due to random chance.
> A total of 3030 participants were randomly assigned to the recommendation to wear masks, and 2994 were assigned to control; 4862 completed the study.
That's more than enough people.
> or happened when the overall infection rate in society was too low
The study was conducted in April and May of 2020, there were clearly enough infectious people in the population[2] to warrant the study showing some importance.
> The number of infected in both groups were too small to conclude anything confidently.
From the study:
> Infection with SARS-CoV-2 occurred in 42 participants recommended masks (1.8%) and 53 control participants (2.1%)
> Although the difference observed was not statistically significant, the 95% CIs are compatible with a 46% reduction to a 23% increase in infection.
Don't you think it's strange that proven benefits are so hard to substantiate in a randomised controlled trial? These proven benefits can't be proven or shown to be beneficial across thousands of people, during a pandemic?
That's not going to fly with me, especially since every other RCT done on masks prior to the pandemic failed to show efficacy against influenza, even in clinical environments.
Maybe we could rerun the study now, while the highly infectious Omicron variant is running rampant, which apparently masks and vaccines are rubbish at preventing.
It's almost as if the proven benefits aren't proven and hence, not benefits.
Forgive the sarcasm but if people want to make bold claims then I suggest I may be able to poke holes in their case by mocking it, as I would with people knocking on my door claiming the apocalypse is nigh, or those telling me to change my behaviour because of whatever other pie in the sky belief they hold. When they come back with the RCT that shows the efficacy of masks - something, I might add, that should be possible in a pandemic - then there'll be something to discuss. Otherwise, the criticisms of the study, which weren't given before it was published I might add, are all quibbles.
The absence of proven benefits is the issue. It is unscientific to mandate behaviour without proven benefit.
The issue for me, and I'm reading it in a lot of these comments is that there is no endgame. The times I've been asked "where is your mask?" I've never had an empirical answer to "when does it stop?"
I never went to any protest, not just this but in general, but I was very pleased that there were huge protests in the UK and elsewhere at that time, because I had enough of restricting my own life for the sake of others.