America's Deadly Face Mask Ignorance

▼Why Inept COVID-19 Response Will Kill Thousands More + 5 Solutions▼

Coronavirus Prevention, Crisis Response & Health Security ⬆ Images Hyperlinked

MISCELLANEOUS WRITINGS | 2020 EDITION | VOLUME 34

At 400,000+ COVID-19 deaths, Michael Steele (above) may be fed up now. But this article was first published (on a different platform) back in early February, when I was pleading with Americans to wise up and take face masks seriously.

 

Back when democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden hadn't differentiated himself from the Trump Administration with a clear face mask policy stance.

 

Blog migration still in progress and some links may not work but the following is what I wrote... 

 

Looking on from China where I already survived over 3 months lockdown [and recently left], Taiwanese, Singaporeans and East Asian nations have been shocked and disgusted that insular, freer Americans, Westerners, and journalists with Internet-enabled devices still opt for ignorance and incompetent leadership.

 

I've been warning, screaming, and blogging my PSAs since January 2020. But no one listened.

 

In some cases, people offering no solutions have sought to digitally silence those of us doing so.

 

Except, nothing good happens when one refuses to deal with threats holistically and objectively.

Indeed it is foolish to be set in your ways.

 

Coffee, same channel(s), same website, same news source(s), same friends, same hashtags, same 'daily show' routines, and for the dumbest, avowedly refusing to believe any news reports except what conspiracy theorist President Trump confirms.

 

But the problem with trusting a fool with notoriously bad judgment in a pandemic is:

 

This Novel “Coronavirus may kill 100,000 to 240,000” people in the U.S. alone, according to official figures (click/tap below).

 

Same reason an intelligent person would take face masks seriously, which he isn't.

Further, waiting for the CDC or WHO (see #3 below) to tell you to wear a face mask or what to do next is unwise (see #5).

 

There are intelligent ways to lookup — not sensational stories with no value, but — how other nations and individuals are handling the pandemic so as to make adjustments specific to your situation.

 

For example, Forbes will teach you what can be learned from Nigeria's handling of COVID-19. Smug people won't.

 

Alternatively, read #iTHiNKLabs Weekly or make contact, with specific questions.

This is a a time-sensitive pandemic.

 

The virus doesn't care how smug one is, their routines, how claustrophobic one is, or sadly, how violent or (mentally) unstable the partner or roommate you have to hunker down with is.

 

High quality up-to-date (infection prevention) information and discipline, not stubbornness, is your best defense.

 

As such, apart from the infirmed who aren't spared either, the uninformed and ill-informed easily become sitting ducks — in many cases — unknowingly endangering their loved ones, as above.

 

So, wherever you are, staying safe means staying holistically and dynamically informed. Not just locally.

People in wealthy democracies in particular have been self-absorbed waiting for news outlets, face mask-free, navel-gazing “live updates” and “press conferences” as well as friends and family who didn't know better, or TV personalities to entertain them, put on a show for them, pamper them, to do the thinking for them, — while the average squander(ed) time on social media buffoonery.

 

All the while, Americans not getting the best news and leadership on the issue, wait for Trump or Dr. Fauci.

The US Surgeon General is late.

 

New York State is late. Dr. Anthony Fauci is late.

 

Governor Cuomo, who like Fauci, should have been wearing a face mask ALL along, is late.

 

The criminally incompetent Trump Administration is late.

 

Counting on their competence, or CDC/WHO timeliness, is also unwise.

Meanwhile, thousands of Americans have been dying needlessly because we wasted over 3 months treating a time-sensitive killer plague as an academic issue while in Asia Pacific, adjustments are constantly being made.

 

For example, in Hong Kong 1,200 pubs and bars have been ordered closed for two-weeks to curb spread of the virus.

 

Yet, as Harvard professor Rosabeth Moss Kanter said: “Smart leaders focus on execution first and strategy second.”

Wearing a face mask as part of an orchestrated defense requires no “experts” or “evolving advice” and delayed decisive action. Something, the inept Trump Administration couldn't wrap its head around as thousands die.

 

Dr. Hanns-Christoph Nägerl articulated why on the BBC (see #3 below). The same BBC accessible via the Internet, NPR, WBUR, etc.

 

Indeed iconic English scientist Michael Faraday would agree with Mastery author Robert Greene: 

 

“The need for certainty is the greatest disease the mind faces. Certainty is this generation's currency. Be certain in purpose only.”

 

So whatever happens to Boris Johnson's infection next — and every life is precious — what is missing in the West? A certainty of purpose emulating WHAT the East Asians are doing right!

The East Asians are steps ahead.

 

Their leaders, journalists and citizens (on TV or not) have been wearing face masks.

 

From Japan's Shinzo Abe (right above, left) to Mainland China (see #iTHiNKLabs Episode #116 for middle left image), to Hong Kong.

 

Why?

 

Because of the orchestrating defenses pragmatism referenced above.

 

That's the only 'certainty' that matters in a pandemic response led by competent or serious leaders. Not smug face mask debates like the ones going on mostly in the United States.

 

And if you're under lockdown and in the States and it's too late to find face masks, the below — apart from the #iTHiNKLabs master resource list featured above and below — is what you missed, and frankly should have been tuned to as you mind(ed) your business and health all along as it's grounded in pragmatism:

The 4-Part China Coronavirus Prevention Guide

 

 

It's not just an infographic. What you see above requires 3 more clicks. Some #COVIDIOTS copied my blog using the image for site decoration/clickbait oblivious of the solution I just revealed to you.

 

To dodge the virus and live, study ALL four parts. See that blog's comment section for help. Bottom line:

If you don't have face masks, stay home for at least 60 days. 90 days is even better. No joke.

 

Believe me, I have/had my own problems. But priority management is one of the lessons of this pandemic.

 

Life is hard. And the virus doesn't care who is more affluent and who isn't. Quality information and preparedness (not social media noise) is the game changer here. At least until effective vaccines arrive.

 

For, even in China, where the Coronavirus wiped out entire families that were in close contact, it is still not over, as you'll see further below, if you use the resources here to redesign a new post-COVID life:

How I Survived 90 Days Lockdown in China

 

 

Again, click or tap. It contains all the information resources you need to make the best of your specific situation, while addressing the unavailability of face masks.

 

If not, simply contact me.

 

See bottom of blog.

The Case For Face Masks: Made Simple

 

 

As above, it's not rocket science.

 

Nor is it just another climate change debate where you get to laugh in the face of evidence.

 

If you, or people around you are wasting time on that debate, East Asians taking the pandemic seriously have a right to think you have poor judgment.

 

This is where American competence failed Americans.

2020 #iTHiNKLabs Threatscape Also Debunks The WHO's Stance

 

 

As you read understand, and reconcile the above with the thousand avoidable Coronavirus pandemic deaths in the U.S. and other Western epicenters like Italy and Spain that mismanaged the crisis, you'll understand why legendary English scientist Michael Faraday said:

 

“Scientific knowledge is constantly progressing. The greatest theories of the time are eventually disproven or altered at some future point. The human mind is simply too weak to have a clear and perfect vision of reality. The idea or theory that you are currently formulating, that seems so fresh and alive and truthful, will almost certainly be shot down or ridiculed in a few decades or centuries.”

 

And why the East Asians have been strategically right to orchestrate their defenses using face masks. For:

That, Indeed, Is Why Strategy Execution Is The Ultimate IQ

 

 

Click or tap to read, and if American — focused on “social distancing” and other Trump-related local distractions all this time — to understand holistic and strategic perspectives you've been missing.

 

Finally, the latest #iTHiNKLabs Episode at the time of writing features another face mask warning by one of China's top scientists along with other Coronavirus-critical guides.

 

Reading is optional.

 

Regrets? Consequential.

 

Click or tap below.

 

For consultation, contact me here. To engage with constructive thoughts or to follow, here.

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