 The response to COVID-19 by the United States government has been largely laughable, and I think that every other country around the world, citizens in other countries, are looking at us and just laughing at us rightfully so because we are a bunch of morons, right? Currently what's happening is you have a lot of states reopening their economies, sending everyone back to work when COVID cases are spiking. So the new strategy apparently is just to pretend like it's not a thing. If you pretend as if COVID-19 doesn't exist, then apparently it'll go away, except it doesn't work like that. I wish. So I mean, we failed and sure you can fault government for that, but you also have to fault the people to a degree for one, being stupid and two, buying into the capitalist mindset that it is worth endangering our lives to save the economy, to save capitalism. So that's where we're at. We've all laid out our priorities and the winners in this debate ultimately will be the capitalists who think that we should sacrifice ourselves, risk our own asses to reopen the economy because that's just more important than people dying and getting sick due to COVID-19 having long term damage to their health due to COVID-19 if they catch it. But in spite of all of that, not to be a doomer, because I feel like I've been a doomer a lot lately, there is some good news with regard to COVID-19. We may have a breakthrough when it comes to COVID-19 treatment because a drug known as dexamethasone, which is a steroid, has been successful in saving the lives of many patients with COVID-19. And the better part about the story is that it's actually a relatively cheap solution and it's widely available. And on top of that, you know, as this pandemic continues, we are going to learn more about what works and what doesn't work. And currently, for some reason, there is a nationwide debate about the efficacy of masks, right, which that really shouldn't be a debate. But again, I blame government for that for not actually being clear about whether or not we should wear masks. But I mean, regardless, you know, you see all of these viral videos popping up of Karen's refusing to wear masks because, you know, either Liberty or they have some type of underlying medical condition, regardless, here's, you know, a snippet of what's been happening across the country. I can't let you in the store without a mask. OK, so where's the regulations that state that? The regulations? Yeah. Because you're discriminating against me now. Do you know that? Put your hands on me. Well, you got to wear a mask, bro. I don't even know what it is, bro. I'm just going to show my 3,000 follower Instagram feed, mostly locals. Hi, everyone. I work for Costco and I'm asking this member to put on a mask because that is our company policy. So either wear the mask. And I'm not doing it because I woke up in a free country. Like, that's all I want to do is cry because you can't see people's faces. You can't make human connection. Absolutely insane. So we don't even have a choice anymore. So they're literally calling the police on me because I am not putting this mask on. It's unhealthy for me. I don't want to breathe my own CO2. So nobody wants to wear masks. But a lot of us are because if we wear masks, then that stops us from spreading germs to other people if we have COVID, but we don't know for asymptomatic, right? So it's not to protect yourself, right? You're not wearing a mask for self-interested reasons. You're wearing a mask so that way you protect other people. So it's incredibly, you know, I think inappropriate to not want to wear a mask in public because I don't know where you've been. I don't know how careless you've been acting. So wear a mask, be polite, except that's not really what we've seen. Regardless, I've got bad news for the Karens because apparently wearing a mask actually is very effective at stopping the spread of COVID-19. Who would have thought? So according to Faith Karimi of CNN, no cases of coronavirus have been linked to two Missouri hairstylists who saw 140 clients last month while symptomatic, county health officials said. Both stylists worked at the same great clips location in Springfield. The clients and the stylists all wore face coverings and the salon had set up other measures such as social distancing of chairs and staggered appointments. The Springfield Green County Health Department said this week of the 140 clients and seven coworkers potentially exposed, 46 took tests that came back negative. All the others were quarantined for the duration of the coronavirus incubation period. The 14 day incubation period has now passed with no coronavirus cases linked to the salon beyond the two stylists, county health officials said. During the quarantine, those who did not get tested got a call twice a day from health officials asking whether they had symptoms related to COVID-19, said Catherine Wall, a spokeswoman for the Springfield Green County Health Department. This is exciting news about the value of masking to prevent COVID-19, said Clay Goddard, the county's director of health. We are studying more closely the details of these exposures. Including what types of face coverings were worn and what other precautions were taken to lead to this encouraging result. So this tells you that wearing a mask is really important. It works. Now, here's the thing about masks. It only works if everyone wears a mask. So if you go to a storm and not 100% of the people there are wearing masks, well, it's not going to be as effective. And sure, this doesn't necessarily mean that wearing a mask will save us and stop the spread of COVID-19, definitely, because this is just one anecdote. But it tells us that if you do want to reduce the spread of COVID-19, then if we all wear masks, then we're going to be better off. But yet you see people freaking out across the country about masks. And all of a sudden, it's this debate. And if you watched Joe Rogan, I think he said something a couple of weeks ago that it's not masculine to wear a mask or whatever. I mean, why are we having this conversation? I mean, it's a fucking pandemic, people. Can we just wear a mask for a couple of months? Like, I don't think people realize, as frustrating as the lockdown on quarantine is, that if we all just stayed the fuck home for a couple of weeks and all wore masks and followed protocols properly, we would be done with this shit. But because people are fucking idiots, because people are refusing and now there's a contingent of the population that just thinks it's a hoax, well, it's going to persist longer. It's not going to go away, you know, if we just wish it away or pray enough. That's not the way this fucking thing works. It's a pandemic and a pandemic has a very specific key set of things we can take precautions we can use to make sure we minimize its spread. But because Americans are fucking stupid, we're choosing to just pretend like it's not a thing. I mean, this is incredibly frustrating to me because you have a lot of people who are doing everything in their power to social distance, to stay home, to wear masks. But it's the idiots who don't follow these guidelines. It's the idiots who won't stay home, who think that it's a hoax or something that prolong this pandemic for everyone else, right? We're only as strong as our weakest links. But I mean, this is America. So everything is a political issue. Everything becomes a partisan issue, right? At the beginning of this pandemic, everyone was all in agreement that this is a real thing, first of all, which is important to establish. And second of all, that, you know, staying home, social distancing, you know, not touching your face, washing your hands properly. These are all things that we have to do to stop COVID-19. And now, you know, just give us a couple of months and we absolutely take this issue and turn it into a partisan issue to where if you are wearing a mask to the grocery store, you're making some sort of political statement. When it's not a fucking political statement, it's a pandemic, a pandemic, you know, a virus. It doesn't give a shit if you are Republican or a Democrat. It's a pandemic. So I mean, I don't know what else to say. If you don't wear a mask, you are risking everyone else. It's not like you are saying, well, I'm just going to take chances and not wear a mask. No, it's it doesn't work that way. By not wearing a mask, you are potentially endangering other people. You, if you are asymptomatic and you've been exposed, could potentially kill someone if you don't want to wear a mask. So it's not going to be a 100 percent guarantee. You know, you're not going to definitely stop the spread of COVID-19 if you wear a mask, but will it reduce the spread of COVID-19? Yes. And I think that that's common sense. We shouldn't necessarily need studies like this to tell us that. Nonetheless, here we are. So we're talking about it. Wear a mask, stop complaining. It's not that big of a deal. We don't like wearing masks. I don't like wearing masks, but I do it because that's what we have to do during a fucking pandemic. Jesus, people put on a mask. And I'm not doing it because I woke up in a free country. It's unhealthy for me. I don't want to breathe my own CO2.