Hot take: Nate Silver effectively says that surgeons can just drop their masks

Who’s ready for a really bad analogy. As Twitchy has reported, there’s a lot of butthurt about a judge striking down the CDC’s mask mandate on airplanes and other forms of public transportation. United thinks it’s “cool if a few kids die” so that passengers and flight attendants don’t have to wear masks anymore, according to one ER doctor. These kids are going to die because there’s no vaccine yet approved for children under 5, so flying on a plane is a death wish.

As we mentioned in an earlier post, Nate Silver noted that the average American spends about five hours a year on a plane, so the lifting of the mask mandate isn’t likely to make a major difference.

The average American spends something like 5 hours per year on a plane. The mask mandate might be good or bad at the margin, but it is very unlikely to make a major difference in the overall course of the coronavirus.

— Nate Silver (@NateSilver538) April 19, 2022

Blue check Jonathan Eisen has a great analogy to prove Silver wrong. The average American spends less than five hours a year in surgery, too, so why not drop the mask mandate for surgeons?

The average American spends less than 5 hours per year in surgery. So therefore, Nate Silver proposes that surgeons, nurses, and other health care workers involved in surgeries can just drop their masks pic.twitter.com/KxdjfkldeB

— Jonathan Eisen (@phylogenomics) April 19, 2022

Yes, that’s what Silver is proposing. In the analogy, though, wouldn’t the surgeons be the ones spending less than five hours a year in surgery?

If those were remotely comparable you might have had something here. https://t.co/CyENf8T2Om

— Deisler (@Mr_Deisler) April 19, 2022

There are less nurses/doctors present, they are all professionals that wear masks properly and are sterilized, and most notably, you are cut open in a way that makes you way more vulnerable to disease.

It's beyond silly to equate surgery and public transportation.

— RhetHypo (@RhetHypo) April 19, 2022

Your bad analogy isn't an argument…

Specifically because surgeons aren't trying to prevent the airborne transmission of viruses. https://t.co/JuTzF5fn0x

— Jared A. Chambers (@C4CEO) April 19, 2022

A pandemic of bad comparisons. https://t.co/hYfh1JVq81

— Dr. Polar Bear, Ph. D (@PunditPandemic) April 19, 2022

This has to be one of the dumbest tweets on twitter https://t.co/UWgI3EE3ZW

— Bobby D (@RealSaltySlim) April 19, 2022

it's hard to fathom that anyone could say something like this, and actually mean it. you're either too stupid to understand the fundamental flaw in your comparison, or you're just a disingenuous asshole. https://t.co/7p2yP2DV5O

— Snarl Barx (@SnarlBarx) April 19, 2022

Is that really your take on this? I expected more

— Chavak the Hawk (@ChavakH) April 19, 2022

Umm – do you think Nate Silver's comment was smart? I think it was beyond inane. It deserves to be mocked. Repeatedly.

— Jonathan Eisen (@phylogenomics) April 19, 2022

Someone deserves to be mocked repeatedly.

OK, so this is the non sequitur of the month.

— nobodysbusinessbutmyown (@vfiore0) April 19, 2022

Related:

United Airlines is ‘just saying it’s cool if a few kids die’ by dropping the mask mandate https://t.co/FVNGtXtK5C

— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) April 19, 2022