World Leading Mask Compliance Doesn't Matter

'Not wearing masks is like not wearing pants'

It’s hard to believe that after two years of government policies completely failing to prevent the spread of COVID, there hasn’t been universal acceptance that attempting to control a highly infectious respiratory virus is nearly impossible.

Nearly every country that was once praised for their “response” to COVID has seen their numbers rise dramatically over time.

The mitigation commands — mask mandates, vaccine passports, mandatory vaccinations, lockdowns and lockdowns for the “unvaccinated” have all been disastrous blunders; hopeless flailing borne out of a desire to “do something” and to coerce desired behavior.

So it should come as no surprise that Hong Kong has joined the long list of jurisdictions to see their much praised policies collapse.

Equally unsurprising is that media and Twitter promoted experts have yet again ignored the ramifications of Hong Kong’s startling increases.

Media reports have consistently attempted to credit masking and other interventions with stopping COVID, but Hong Kong provides a brilliant example of premature celebration.

Back in May 2020, Vox published an article with the unequivocal headline: “How masks helped Hong Kong control the coronavirus,” with the subtitle “New research shows that universal mask-wearing may help slow the spread of Covid-19.”

The article contains so many misguided assumptions about the spread of COVID that it’s stunning to see it hasn’t been retracted, but it helpfully summarizes how often experts have seemingly been making it up as they go during the pandemic:

If any city in the world was likely to experience the worst effects of the coronavirus, Hong Kong would have been a top candidate. The urban area is densely populated and heavily reliant on packed public-transit systems, and it has very few open spaces. Moreover, a high-speed train connects Hong Kong to Wuhan, China, where the coronavirus originated.

Hong Kong, it seemed, was doomed.

But almost as soon as the outbreak first began in the city, millions of residents started wearing masks in public. One local told the Los Angeles Times that the government didn’t have to say anything before 99 percent of the population put them on.

Experts now say widespread mask usage appears to be a major reason, perhaps even the primary one, why the city hasn’t been devastated by the disease.

“If not for universal masking once we depart from our home every day, plus hand hygiene, Hong Kong would be like Italy long ago,” K.Y. Yuen, a Hong Kong microbiologist advising the government, told the Wall Street Journal last month.

"99 percent of the population put them on.”

“Experts now say widespread mask usage appears to be a major reason, perhaps even the primary one, why the city hasn’t been devastated by the disease.”

“If not for universal masking once we depart from our home every day…Hong Kong would be like Italy,” said an expert government advisor.