Day 131: Not Fantastic

RTE reports that an Irish virus expert has made a bit of a splash about masks:

The Director of the UCD National Virus Reference Laboratory has told the Dáil's special Covid-19 committee that the evidence around the use of cloth masks is "not fantastic".

Dr Cillian De Gascun told the committee the uptake of masks had not been very large, but added that there was not great evidence that the virus was stopped by non-medical grade or cloth masks.

He said that while medical grade masks worked very well, inappropriate mask use could be potentially harmful and could increase the risk of transmission.

A brave Redditor produced a nice collection of references in reaction to the news, but another Redditor's more humorous response also deserves attention:

Covid Rule No. 1
You can go to a bar and have a drink.
But only if the bar sells food and you have food with your beer.
The only logical reason for this :
Food prevents the spread of C19
​
[...]​
​
​ Covid Rule No. 3
You can go to a hardware store but homeware stores are not allowed to open. However, if the hardware store also sells homeware, that store is allowed to open and you are allowed to purchase homeware from that store.
The only logical reason for this :
You can contract C19 from homeware, but the presence of hardware wards off C19 like crucfixes warn off vampires.

Doubtless due to our rigorous warding off of vampires, Massachusetts' cases are up only a quarter of a percent again today. It's also cities and towns day, and except for the usual tiny towns and a tad bit of activity in the Fall River area (up 8% over the week compared to the state average of 2%), things are looking very quiet:

(Pop out.)