All of mcsimilian's Comments + Replies

If the policy makers really thought that this was anything other than a mild pandemic, they'd advocate (and probably mandate) for everyone to wear effective PPE. What is actually happening is that most of them (with a few lukewarm exceptions like California) are telling the public NOT to wear potentially more effective PPE. This was the case even after the PPE supply was replenished and before vaccines were widely available. Now that relatively effective vaccines are available, there's even less incentive for this policy to change. Even in Germany, almost everyone seems to be wearing masks with ear loops. That kind of mask doesn't provide adequate protection, because ear loops don't have enough tension to provide an adequate seal between the skin and the mask. Regardless of rhetoric, official policies and public behavior indicate that almost no one really thinks this is a severe or even a medium-threat level pandemic. I tired nasal filters a long time ago and found that they restrict breathing too much. Also, I'm not sure how effective the seal would be.

How strongly do those inhibit breathing?

Stuff like this (respirators and maybe even helmets with UV-based filtering) that can end any pandemic already exists. The problem is that there seems to be little motivation to use these things during a mild pandemic like this one.