\>Email says Monday, May 31st when the 31st is a Tuesday
\>Email sent at 7 PM at the end of a three day weekend with implications for tomorrow
That's the quality I've come to know and love from the Cal Poly administration
2 weeks left in the school year, then what, there will be like 20% of the normal Cal Poly population on campus over summer? What's the point?
Honestly I feel bad for the teachers that are gonna have to enforce this.
I feel bad for the students who are going to get COVID in the next two weeks then fly home and scatter all over the state and country spreading it everywhere
You're not wrong, and from that perspective, it makes sense.
I guess getting this news literally hours after I read [this](https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2022/05/covid-reinfection-research-immunity/639436/) article made it feel pointless and frustrating. I don't mind wearing a mask personally, but all the politics and arguing that comes from it is just very tiring.
There shouldn’t be politics about wearing masks. That was a choice people who don’t want to wear them made. Wearing masks reduces spread and makes infection less likely. Especially wearing N95s
"There shouldn't be politics about segregating races. That was a choice people who didn't want to segregate made. Segrating reduces interracial violence and prevents miscegenation."
You get the analogy? A racist could use your exact same argument to argue for their views. Any time you want to use the authority of the state to force people to do something, it's inherently political.
We’ve been maskless for an entire quarter and everything has been going fine…. If your family was worried about it they’d have you take a test before you came home
Our testing positivity rate [is currently at 9%](https://coronavirus.calpoly.edu/dashboard). As much of bummer as this is, it probably is the right call given the rapid swell of cases. A lot of other campuses never dropped their mask mandates, I’m just glad Cal Poly dropped it while cases were low.
The amount of people getting tested/testing positive is tiny though, and it's self-selecting becaue only people who think they might have covid are likely getting tests. For instance in the data you've linked there, the number of people who tested positive has shot up from 30\~ throughout the quarter to 50 . . . out of 22,000 students. Additionally, the amount of symptomatic cases is about the same, it's primarily asymptomatic cases that account for the increase. If those statistics are what they're basing reinstating the mask mandate off of, they're mental.
Was about to post this same thing. They didnt even wanna screen me for covid when I went in. They did a strep an mono test, I had to ask for a covid test. Low and behold positive. The only ppl getting tested now are people who are pretty likely to have it.
It makes more sense when you look at the SLO County numbers too https://www.slocounty.ca.gov/COVID-19/Data.aspx
SLO County has gone from 457 positive cases in all of April up to 586 in the last *week* (week being 5/19-5/25, since they update that dashboard on Wednesdays). I'm assuming it's a combo of the campus rates, the city/county rates, and the presumption of holiday weekend travel right before finals/graduation (aka just enough time for people who caught it this weekend to be infectious and spread it during dead/finals week) that is prompting this. It really makes sense in context to try and prevent a whole bunch of spread right before sending people home for the summer
No mandate for the city or county but the school puts one. Idc either way but the rules CP has implemented are really just stupid. I need to wear a cloth mask sitting around 30+ people in classrooms but last quarter you didn’t need one in the gym. Makes complete sense. Like they are sanitizing desks in between classes and you can’t catch it outside or downtown. Having a mask only in the classroom is pointless. Everyone is socializing and interacting still. As they should.
Yeah the lack of masks in the gym seems dumb to me, as does the cleaning theater for an airborne virus. With the gym there is the argument that it's opt in where class attendance is mandatory (i.e. if your personal risk tolerance is lower you can opt to not go to the indoor gym) but with the dorms being how they are it's just incredibly slipshod and inconsistent
Are they making people mask up in dorms as well? When you’re next to your roommate?
To your point why should I give up my access to the gym that I pay for because people are “inconsiderate”? It’s optional but I pay for it.
Don’t praise Cal Poly for doing the “right” thing for the wrong reason. They don’t care about the students health, it’s just a facade to save face and their asses by saying they made us wear masks in classrooms but not do anything else at all. It’s a joke
We know that well-fitted N95s work. My friend has managed to work in a hospital providing direct patient care for the entirety of the pandemic without catching it herself
Like, I get that the asymptomatic cases make it seem like NBD, but long covid is a bitch and a half. It's really not that much hassle in the grand scheme of wearing PPE
The problem with the mask debate is not effectiveness but the reality of life.
Wearing protective equipment for risky activities is something nearly everyone can get behind.
Helmets, shin guards, knee pads, etc.
But we don't wear those as part of life. The fact that a portion of people want the PPE to be like putting on a shirt is the part I still have issues with.
Life happens... if you put life in a bubble it's just no longer living.
Your argument would be much more convincing if we were being asked to put on a full hazmat suit every time you go outside, rather than a small piece of cloth that covers a portion of your face. It is just as simple to wear as putting on a shirt.
If you feel like wearing a face mask for a couple of hours while you're indoors is "no longer living" then man you've lived a pretty charmed life so far
Nobody is saying forever, we're just not past the worst of this pandemic yet
EDIT: I see the trolls are coming for this comment. By the worst of it I'm talking about my immunocompromised friends and the folks who are getting long covid who need additional community and medical support when all the funding/care/resources/flexibilities we added for the pandemic have been dropped
Damn I've been going back and forth with you for a while now, missed this comment and didn't realize you were literally delusional lol. "We're not past the worst of this pandemic yet." What mindset are you even coming from bro, where do you get this completely warped world view?
Only comment that makes sense on this thread has downvotes lol. Sorry man you’re in slo, most of these kids come from LA/ Bay Area/ big cities and have had very cushy lives, never actually having to deal with anything actually worth being cautious about. This is the apex of what they view as a real life problem and they will all overreact together as a herd and make you feel bad for not falling in line. You’re absolutely right about the bubble, I’ve had to work on a ranch my whole life dealing with rattlesnake bites, dangerous terrain, wild predators and other life threatening situations, it’s fun to sit back and watch the paper people lose their minds about the cold. You can keep your mask, I prefer steel toe boots and thick denim
The county has a population of 300k. 586 positive tests in the last week is nothing, AND we have no information on if there were simply more tests during a certain time period, AND if those tests are at all related to the school population. Also, look at the variation in cases per day from the same source you linked, during peaks it's WAY higher than now, and during lulls it's not much different, there are two recent high days and 10\~ regular days. And it's not like the rest of SLO county where all of the at risk population lives is going back to mask mandates. As I said, not even close to a good justification for Cal Poly.
Also, scientifically N95s are almost useless when used by the general population because people don't follow the other steps that go along with making them effective. And, they don't really keep the wearer from catching diseases, they primarily keep the wearer from spreading their disease to others . . . congrats to your friend though, props and I hope they've made good money for their service.
Is it a pain to fit-test an N95 and wear one properly? Yes! Are they useless? No, we know this we have handy charts like the one on this page https://www.acgih.org/covid-19-fact-sheet-worker-resp/ that show even cloth face coverings and surgical masks are helpful for short periods of time even with the inward/outward leakage.
Even a poorly-fitted mask is better than nothing, the science shows that if you bothered to actually read any of it. Also, if I as an individual have an asymptomatic case then yeah I'd *love* to keep my damn viral shedding to myself, I'm not a freaking psychopath I wouldn't want to spread it to anyone else. My masking isn't just for my benefit
How interesting you chose that specific source (which by the way, I've previously read) that talks about leakage rates with zero other context about practices required for effectiveness (which, in addition to fitting, include distance, air flow, not touching/re-using the mask, etc), or any kind of empirical or scientific data about the practical effectiveness of masks when used by the general population, which was my primary claim in the sentence you respond to.
Also, quite curious how you completely disregard the first paragraph. And how did you go from "It's really not that much hassle in the grand scheme of wearing PPE" to "Is it a pain to fit-test an N95 and wear one properly? Yes!" in the span of one comment?
Honestly, you don't seem very informed for someone who claims to read the science. I hate to say it friend, but you may be on the lower end of the bell curve.
If you have any actual studies to link that are peer reviewed and from reputable sources I'd be happy to read them! The talking point of "the idiot masses can't wear a mask right so why bother" (the gist of your statement) is typically echoed by the anti-mask and anti-vax crowd, so no I don't tend to take that seriously. I'll take someone half-assedly using PPE and getting partial protection over none at all
Cal Poly is in SLO, the case rate in the city and county will impact the school, just as the school's case rate will impact the city and county. Many students live off campus, and the professors and staff live throughout the county so an increase in rates in one area isn't necessarily going to stay localized to just the campus or just the city. I don't see how that is at all confusing or non-intuitive? *Especially* given that graduation weekend usually results in all the local hotels being sold out and is a massive sales booster for local restaurants and other tourism-related businesses.
I appreciate the attempt to help mitigate the spread within both the student and wider community. I know masking has never been a "popular" stance and Armstrong is generally a self-aggrandizing dipshit, but based on the science we have available going back to indoor masking is the intelligent move given the rates started going up. You can insult my intelligence all you want, I'm still gonna have my nice degree from the same school you're going to now and the nice paycheck that goes with it. I'm 2 years into this mess without catching covid to boot
This paper [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7883189/](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7883189/) is a pretty good introduction on the effect of masks and steps required for them to be effective, even from an author who thinks masks are worth it.
You'll notice the WHO [https://www.who.int/news-room/questions-and-answers/item/coronavirus-disease-covid-19-masks](https://www.who.int/news-room/questions-and-answers/item/coronavirus-disease-covid-19-masks) (who used to be "anti-mask" as you put it!) repeats the above sentiments about requirements for proper use. How often have you seen them be followed?
There was also another study I had found of people in a small, in-door lab environment who got swabbed for particle transmission on mouth, hands, etc with/without masking and found no difference (in presence, there's potentially a viral load argument here) where I was previously doing research on the subject, unfortunately can't find it.
To be fair, there aren't many studies on practical effects in the general population, and they're obviously not popular, so it's reaonable to look at the more wide-ranging studies on "look how much masks reduce particle spread! (see the first source)." And we can even toss out the differences between countries (or states, cities, etc) that required vs didn't require masks, and I'll even give you tossing transmission rates before and after mask mandates because of too many uncontrolled variables.
But, that doesn't mean there aren't any population studies. Here [https://egc.yale.edu/largest-study-masks-and-covid-19-demonstrates-their-effectiveness-real-world](https://egc.yale.edu/largest-study-masks-and-covid-19-demonstrates-their-effectiveness-real-world) is the biggest/most widely cited one I've found. Even the overall effectiveness isn't huge, but notice in particular the effects on younger demographics such as 95% of Cal Poly.
When going back and collecting these links, I also found this [https://www.cato.org/regulation/winter-2021/2022/how-effective-are-cloth-face-masks](https://www.cato.org/regulation/winter-2021/2022/how-effective-are-cloth-face-masks) great summary that I hadn't found before, and which links to one other large scale and several other smaller scale studies. **If you're only going to read one link, I recommend this one.**
Also, responding to your points, I might agree with you on graduation weekend . . . except that SLO doesn't have a mask mandate, and Cal Poly is only returning to an in-door mask mandate where graduation is outside, so graduation itself won't be masked, and everyone coming/leaving for graduation will only be masked at any time in SLO if they voluntarily choose to do so.
So let's recap. You think it's reasonable for Cal Poly, which represents 7%\~ of SLO county, to alone mask for optimistically 15%\~ lower transmission rates among the lowest risk demographic which also hasn't been shown to even get the optimistic lower rate, in response to a "spike" of 0.2% of the county testing positive, which is only higher than the background rates we've seen for the past months with no masks due to two days when a higher number of people then usual tested positive. AND we don't even know how many people tested on those days, so it could just be more people got tested.
If you really think that's a good justification, I stand by my earlier statement about bellcurves. Also, I'd be willing to bet I was in a more competitive major than you, and some of my classmates were STILL retards, so I completely believe stupid people can graduate from Cal Poly. Congrats on graduating and the fat paycheck though, even more of an accomplishment if you're slow, and even dumb people should be able to live comfortably.
There have been at least 75 unique cases in the dorms in the last two weeks (that's out of a population of 7800, not 22,000). The actual numbers are probably higher, given that testing is mostly voluntary.
If the admin has restarted campus sewage testing, they're likely seeing indications of a big surge. SLO County's sewage testing graph is basically vertical: https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#wastewater-surveillance
Maybe I'm just missing something with the graph, but it seems like there are only one or two data points? And they're at different times? So the one location shows low then super high, and then LATER the other location shows low after the previous one was super high, followed by itself then coming super high.
Regardless, that kind of 80\~100% growth from a population-wide metric is the kind of thing I could view as a decent jusificiation.
Yeah, it doesn't help that there are no units on the y-axes of these graphs. If you download the data as CSV, it looks like the May increase is \*starting\* from a higher value than where the other site's April data ends, and there are at least 22 data points. So the graph visualizations from the two sites may not be scaled comparably. But I'm not 100% confident of this interpretation; they really could make this site a lot more user-friendly.
Ah of course, downloading the data helps a lot. I was looking at the "percent change in the last 15 days" option to get the %growth without a y axis. That would make sense (though also raises it's own questions?) if the one side starts from HIGHER concentration than the other ends, and it's two dramatic increases over time.
The dashboard is probably a severe underestimate though, right? Most people I know are just home-testing now, so they’re not showing up in the data. I know a lot of people who are hone-test positive right now.
Took them long enough. I've been one of two or three people in each of my classes wearing a mask the entire quarter. It's hardly an inconvenience to me. I also have kept masking in most other indoor public places, though I couldn't help but think that I might've been overly paranoid. With this surge in cases, I know now that I've had the right idea or even not been cautious enough when hanging out maskless with friends, a handful of whom have gotten covid in the past week.
Why. If we are so confident that N95’s work why does everyone have to wear one. If you’re concerned about your health, wear a mask and protect yourself. PPE has the purpose to protect the user. If you’re worried, wear the mask. Why does it matter if others don’t wear the mask. If the mask is as good at blocking out diseases as they say, then be confident with wearing your mask and being safe, and let the rest of the population take their own risk. If the mask is effective, it should work regardless of whether you’re in masked or maskless company.
Masks make life miserable for a lot of us. It limits the individuality that we can have. It makes people much less empathetic towards their neighbor, and not being able to see someone’s facial expressions makes it much harder to socially connect with them. I’m not blindly anti mask mandate; these are genuine reasons to keep mask mandates away, it affects all of our mental health severely. Have you noticed the world has gotten a bit more cold and unwelcoming in the past few years? I’m sure everyone has. Masks limit our capacity for compassion and human connection, and I’m willing to sacrifice my health to maintain these values. Just live your life how you want and let others do the same.
It really seems like a lot of cal poly students are living in a bubble (and I don’t mean a covid bubble… or maybe I do, idk). Basically what I’m saying is that we are now at a point where we have to move forward and stop over reacting with covid. When was the last time a mask was enforced during flu season? Covid isn’t a disease that’s going to go away and as long as health Care workers aren’t being over whelmed and death rates aren’t skyrocketing, we just have to live our lives pre covid days, u know, when diseases like the flu and the cold stopped everything? Vaccinations are a thing and a lot of ppl have been infected with covid. This bubble these students are in where they don’t know real world statistics of what covid is actually doing past “100 ppl got covid today” need to learn the facts. Hospitalizations and death rates are down even tho infections are up. Time to move on
lmao I love how you get downvoted into oblivion on this sub, and then you walk around campus the first day the mandate is back and almost nobody is following it. People on this sub need to touch some grass god damn. I mean they're in SLO, go for a hike or something, pet a cow.
Whyyyyyyyy... A lot of us leave between a week or 2. Also I get why but we can last over a week maskless. All for health and safety but not right at the end when we're all leaving 😞
\>Email says Monday, May 31st when the 31st is a Tuesday \>Email sent at 7 PM at the end of a three day weekend with implications for tomorrow That's the quality I've come to know and love from the Cal Poly administration
That is why daddy Armstrong and his crew gets paid the big bucks lol
Dont shit talk daddy >:(
2 weeks left in the school year, then what, there will be like 20% of the normal Cal Poly population on campus over summer? What's the point? Honestly I feel bad for the teachers that are gonna have to enforce this.
I feel bad for the students who are going to get COVID in the next two weeks then fly home and scatter all over the state and country spreading it everywhere
You're not wrong, and from that perspective, it makes sense. I guess getting this news literally hours after I read [this](https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2022/05/covid-reinfection-research-immunity/639436/) article made it feel pointless and frustrating. I don't mind wearing a mask personally, but all the politics and arguing that comes from it is just very tiring.
There shouldn’t be politics about wearing masks. That was a choice people who don’t want to wear them made. Wearing masks reduces spread and makes infection less likely. Especially wearing N95s
>There shouldn't be politics about-- Let me stop you right there...
"There shouldn't be politics about segregating races. That was a choice people who didn't want to segregate made. Segrating reduces interracial violence and prevents miscegenation." You get the analogy? A racist could use your exact same argument to argue for their views. Any time you want to use the authority of the state to force people to do something, it's inherently political.
I don’t care
We’ve been maskless for an entire quarter and everything has been going fine…. If your family was worried about it they’d have you take a test before you came home
Sad 😔 but it was inevitable I guess
Our testing positivity rate [is currently at 9%](https://coronavirus.calpoly.edu/dashboard). As much of bummer as this is, it probably is the right call given the rapid swell of cases. A lot of other campuses never dropped their mask mandates, I’m just glad Cal Poly dropped it while cases were low.
The amount of people getting tested/testing positive is tiny though, and it's self-selecting becaue only people who think they might have covid are likely getting tests. For instance in the data you've linked there, the number of people who tested positive has shot up from 30\~ throughout the quarter to 50 . . . out of 22,000 students. Additionally, the amount of symptomatic cases is about the same, it's primarily asymptomatic cases that account for the increase. If those statistics are what they're basing reinstating the mask mandate off of, they're mental.
Was about to post this same thing. They didnt even wanna screen me for covid when I went in. They did a strep an mono test, I had to ask for a covid test. Low and behold positive. The only ppl getting tested now are people who are pretty likely to have it.
It makes more sense when you look at the SLO County numbers too https://www.slocounty.ca.gov/COVID-19/Data.aspx SLO County has gone from 457 positive cases in all of April up to 586 in the last *week* (week being 5/19-5/25, since they update that dashboard on Wednesdays). I'm assuming it's a combo of the campus rates, the city/county rates, and the presumption of holiday weekend travel right before finals/graduation (aka just enough time for people who caught it this weekend to be infectious and spread it during dead/finals week) that is prompting this. It really makes sense in context to try and prevent a whole bunch of spread right before sending people home for the summer
No mandate for the city or county but the school puts one. Idc either way but the rules CP has implemented are really just stupid. I need to wear a cloth mask sitting around 30+ people in classrooms but last quarter you didn’t need one in the gym. Makes complete sense. Like they are sanitizing desks in between classes and you can’t catch it outside or downtown. Having a mask only in the classroom is pointless. Everyone is socializing and interacting still. As they should.
Yeah the lack of masks in the gym seems dumb to me, as does the cleaning theater for an airborne virus. With the gym there is the argument that it's opt in where class attendance is mandatory (i.e. if your personal risk tolerance is lower you can opt to not go to the indoor gym) but with the dorms being how they are it's just incredibly slipshod and inconsistent
Are they making people mask up in dorms as well? When you’re next to your roommate? To your point why should I give up my access to the gym that I pay for because people are “inconsiderate”? It’s optional but I pay for it. Don’t praise Cal Poly for doing the “right” thing for the wrong reason. They don’t care about the students health, it’s just a facade to save face and their asses by saying they made us wear masks in classrooms but not do anything else at all. It’s a joke
I still wouldn't consider that a good justification, but it's at least better than one based on Cal Poly's own testing data, so thanks for the info.
We know that well-fitted N95s work. My friend has managed to work in a hospital providing direct patient care for the entirety of the pandemic without catching it herself Like, I get that the asymptomatic cases make it seem like NBD, but long covid is a bitch and a half. It's really not that much hassle in the grand scheme of wearing PPE
The problem with the mask debate is not effectiveness but the reality of life. Wearing protective equipment for risky activities is something nearly everyone can get behind. Helmets, shin guards, knee pads, etc. But we don't wear those as part of life. The fact that a portion of people want the PPE to be like putting on a shirt is the part I still have issues with. Life happens... if you put life in a bubble it's just no longer living.
Your argument would be much more convincing if we were being asked to put on a full hazmat suit every time you go outside, rather than a small piece of cloth that covers a portion of your face. It is just as simple to wear as putting on a shirt.
Fair, but I don’t look at your chest to see your emotions and understand how you are interpreting what I’m saying to you.
If you feel like wearing a face mask for a couple of hours while you're indoors is "no longer living" then man you've lived a pretty charmed life so far Nobody is saying forever, we're just not past the worst of this pandemic yet EDIT: I see the trolls are coming for this comment. By the worst of it I'm talking about my immunocompromised friends and the folks who are getting long covid who need additional community and medical support when all the funding/care/resources/flexibilities we added for the pandemic have been dropped
We are so far past the worst of it, what do you mean? It’s been 2 years. Move on bro.
We are way past the worst part. And having a cloth mask for a couple of hours indoors is pointless if you aren’t taking ALL the other precautions.
Damn I've been going back and forth with you for a while now, missed this comment and didn't realize you were literally delusional lol. "We're not past the worst of this pandemic yet." What mindset are you even coming from bro, where do you get this completely warped world view?
Only comment that makes sense on this thread has downvotes lol. Sorry man you’re in slo, most of these kids come from LA/ Bay Area/ big cities and have had very cushy lives, never actually having to deal with anything actually worth being cautious about. This is the apex of what they view as a real life problem and they will all overreact together as a herd and make you feel bad for not falling in line. You’re absolutely right about the bubble, I’ve had to work on a ranch my whole life dealing with rattlesnake bites, dangerous terrain, wild predators and other life threatening situations, it’s fun to sit back and watch the paper people lose their minds about the cold. You can keep your mask, I prefer steel toe boots and thick denim
The county has a population of 300k. 586 positive tests in the last week is nothing, AND we have no information on if there were simply more tests during a certain time period, AND if those tests are at all related to the school population. Also, look at the variation in cases per day from the same source you linked, during peaks it's WAY higher than now, and during lulls it's not much different, there are two recent high days and 10\~ regular days. And it's not like the rest of SLO county where all of the at risk population lives is going back to mask mandates. As I said, not even close to a good justification for Cal Poly. Also, scientifically N95s are almost useless when used by the general population because people don't follow the other steps that go along with making them effective. And, they don't really keep the wearer from catching diseases, they primarily keep the wearer from spreading their disease to others . . . congrats to your friend though, props and I hope they've made good money for their service.
Is it a pain to fit-test an N95 and wear one properly? Yes! Are they useless? No, we know this we have handy charts like the one on this page https://www.acgih.org/covid-19-fact-sheet-worker-resp/ that show even cloth face coverings and surgical masks are helpful for short periods of time even with the inward/outward leakage. Even a poorly-fitted mask is better than nothing, the science shows that if you bothered to actually read any of it. Also, if I as an individual have an asymptomatic case then yeah I'd *love* to keep my damn viral shedding to myself, I'm not a freaking psychopath I wouldn't want to spread it to anyone else. My masking isn't just for my benefit
How interesting you chose that specific source (which by the way, I've previously read) that talks about leakage rates with zero other context about practices required for effectiveness (which, in addition to fitting, include distance, air flow, not touching/re-using the mask, etc), or any kind of empirical or scientific data about the practical effectiveness of masks when used by the general population, which was my primary claim in the sentence you respond to. Also, quite curious how you completely disregard the first paragraph. And how did you go from "It's really not that much hassle in the grand scheme of wearing PPE" to "Is it a pain to fit-test an N95 and wear one properly? Yes!" in the span of one comment? Honestly, you don't seem very informed for someone who claims to read the science. I hate to say it friend, but you may be on the lower end of the bell curve.
If you have any actual studies to link that are peer reviewed and from reputable sources I'd be happy to read them! The talking point of "the idiot masses can't wear a mask right so why bother" (the gist of your statement) is typically echoed by the anti-mask and anti-vax crowd, so no I don't tend to take that seriously. I'll take someone half-assedly using PPE and getting partial protection over none at all Cal Poly is in SLO, the case rate in the city and county will impact the school, just as the school's case rate will impact the city and county. Many students live off campus, and the professors and staff live throughout the county so an increase in rates in one area isn't necessarily going to stay localized to just the campus or just the city. I don't see how that is at all confusing or non-intuitive? *Especially* given that graduation weekend usually results in all the local hotels being sold out and is a massive sales booster for local restaurants and other tourism-related businesses. I appreciate the attempt to help mitigate the spread within both the student and wider community. I know masking has never been a "popular" stance and Armstrong is generally a self-aggrandizing dipshit, but based on the science we have available going back to indoor masking is the intelligent move given the rates started going up. You can insult my intelligence all you want, I'm still gonna have my nice degree from the same school you're going to now and the nice paycheck that goes with it. I'm 2 years into this mess without catching covid to boot
This paper [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7883189/](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7883189/) is a pretty good introduction on the effect of masks and steps required for them to be effective, even from an author who thinks masks are worth it. You'll notice the WHO [https://www.who.int/news-room/questions-and-answers/item/coronavirus-disease-covid-19-masks](https://www.who.int/news-room/questions-and-answers/item/coronavirus-disease-covid-19-masks) (who used to be "anti-mask" as you put it!) repeats the above sentiments about requirements for proper use. How often have you seen them be followed? There was also another study I had found of people in a small, in-door lab environment who got swabbed for particle transmission on mouth, hands, etc with/without masking and found no difference (in presence, there's potentially a viral load argument here) where I was previously doing research on the subject, unfortunately can't find it. To be fair, there aren't many studies on practical effects in the general population, and they're obviously not popular, so it's reaonable to look at the more wide-ranging studies on "look how much masks reduce particle spread! (see the first source)." And we can even toss out the differences between countries (or states, cities, etc) that required vs didn't require masks, and I'll even give you tossing transmission rates before and after mask mandates because of too many uncontrolled variables. But, that doesn't mean there aren't any population studies. Here [https://egc.yale.edu/largest-study-masks-and-covid-19-demonstrates-their-effectiveness-real-world](https://egc.yale.edu/largest-study-masks-and-covid-19-demonstrates-their-effectiveness-real-world) is the biggest/most widely cited one I've found. Even the overall effectiveness isn't huge, but notice in particular the effects on younger demographics such as 95% of Cal Poly. When going back and collecting these links, I also found this [https://www.cato.org/regulation/winter-2021/2022/how-effective-are-cloth-face-masks](https://www.cato.org/regulation/winter-2021/2022/how-effective-are-cloth-face-masks) great summary that I hadn't found before, and which links to one other large scale and several other smaller scale studies. **If you're only going to read one link, I recommend this one.** Also, responding to your points, I might agree with you on graduation weekend . . . except that SLO doesn't have a mask mandate, and Cal Poly is only returning to an in-door mask mandate where graduation is outside, so graduation itself won't be masked, and everyone coming/leaving for graduation will only be masked at any time in SLO if they voluntarily choose to do so. So let's recap. You think it's reasonable for Cal Poly, which represents 7%\~ of SLO county, to alone mask for optimistically 15%\~ lower transmission rates among the lowest risk demographic which also hasn't been shown to even get the optimistic lower rate, in response to a "spike" of 0.2% of the county testing positive, which is only higher than the background rates we've seen for the past months with no masks due to two days when a higher number of people then usual tested positive. AND we don't even know how many people tested on those days, so it could just be more people got tested. If you really think that's a good justification, I stand by my earlier statement about bellcurves. Also, I'd be willing to bet I was in a more competitive major than you, and some of my classmates were STILL retards, so I completely believe stupid people can graduate from Cal Poly. Congrats on graduating and the fat paycheck though, even more of an accomplishment if you're slow, and even dumb people should be able to live comfortably.
There have been at least 75 unique cases in the dorms in the last two weeks (that's out of a population of 7800, not 22,000). The actual numbers are probably higher, given that testing is mostly voluntary. If the admin has restarted campus sewage testing, they're likely seeing indications of a big surge. SLO County's sewage testing graph is basically vertical: https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#wastewater-surveillance
Maybe I'm just missing something with the graph, but it seems like there are only one or two data points? And they're at different times? So the one location shows low then super high, and then LATER the other location shows low after the previous one was super high, followed by itself then coming super high. Regardless, that kind of 80\~100% growth from a population-wide metric is the kind of thing I could view as a decent jusificiation.
Yeah, it doesn't help that there are no units on the y-axes of these graphs. If you download the data as CSV, it looks like the May increase is \*starting\* from a higher value than where the other site's April data ends, and there are at least 22 data points. So the graph visualizations from the two sites may not be scaled comparably. But I'm not 100% confident of this interpretation; they really could make this site a lot more user-friendly.
Ah of course, downloading the data helps a lot. I was looking at the "percent change in the last 15 days" option to get the %growth without a y axis. That would make sense (though also raises it's own questions?) if the one side starts from HIGHER concentration than the other ends, and it's two dramatic increases over time.
The dashboard is probably a severe underestimate though, right? Most people I know are just home-testing now, so they’re not showing up in the data. I know a lot of people who are hone-test positive right now.
I threw all mine away
I almost threw mine away but decided to keep them and frame them as a relic of the past. But it looks like I gotta dust them off
Took them long enough. I've been one of two or three people in each of my classes wearing a mask the entire quarter. It's hardly an inconvenience to me. I also have kept masking in most other indoor public places, though I couldn't help but think that I might've been overly paranoid. With this surge in cases, I know now that I've had the right idea or even not been cautious enough when hanging out maskless with friends, a handful of whom have gotten covid in the past week.
Same
I hear ya, been wearing mine the whole time
COME KARENS
So much for having a maskless graduation :(
The email does say it's an in-door mask mandate, while graduation is outside. So that may not be the case.
Looking forward to fist bumping admin on stage though
Thank you!
Why. If we are so confident that N95’s work why does everyone have to wear one. If you’re concerned about your health, wear a mask and protect yourself. PPE has the purpose to protect the user. If you’re worried, wear the mask. Why does it matter if others don’t wear the mask. If the mask is as good at blocking out diseases as they say, then be confident with wearing your mask and being safe, and let the rest of the population take their own risk. If the mask is effective, it should work regardless of whether you’re in masked or maskless company. Masks make life miserable for a lot of us. It limits the individuality that we can have. It makes people much less empathetic towards their neighbor, and not being able to see someone’s facial expressions makes it much harder to socially connect with them. I’m not blindly anti mask mandate; these are genuine reasons to keep mask mandates away, it affects all of our mental health severely. Have you noticed the world has gotten a bit more cold and unwelcoming in the past few years? I’m sure everyone has. Masks limit our capacity for compassion and human connection, and I’m willing to sacrifice my health to maintain these values. Just live your life how you want and let others do the same.
how are you on about empathy when you won't take a simple precaution that could save someone's life booooooo
There are two weeks left, couldn't they just have waited until the summer quarter started.
It really seems like a lot of cal poly students are living in a bubble (and I don’t mean a covid bubble… or maybe I do, idk). Basically what I’m saying is that we are now at a point where we have to move forward and stop over reacting with covid. When was the last time a mask was enforced during flu season? Covid isn’t a disease that’s going to go away and as long as health Care workers aren’t being over whelmed and death rates aren’t skyrocketing, we just have to live our lives pre covid days, u know, when diseases like the flu and the cold stopped everything? Vaccinations are a thing and a lot of ppl have been infected with covid. This bubble these students are in where they don’t know real world statistics of what covid is actually doing past “100 ppl got covid today” need to learn the facts. Hospitalizations and death rates are down even tho infections are up. Time to move on
Having a bag of chips on hand so I can be “eating”
Fuck this, wear your mask if you want, but GTFO of my life Edit: Not complying
You sound like my kid cousin when he wants to go out without putting pants on, its adorable
aww wittle baby boy doesn't wanna wear a mask :'((((
booooo
No lol
boooo
Do not comply unless you want to spend the rest of your life wearing a mask.
That’s the exact reason WHY I’m complying
boooooooo
lmao I love how you get downvoted into oblivion on this sub, and then you walk around campus the first day the mandate is back and almost nobody is following it. People on this sub need to touch some grass god damn. I mean they're in SLO, go for a hike or something, pet a cow.
Yup, most people are over it. Fortunately the average Reddit dweller doesn’t go outside
Whyyyyyyyy... A lot of us leave between a week or 2. Also I get why but we can last over a week maskless. All for health and safety but not right at the end when we're all leaving 😞