[conspire] Stanford Hospital badly needs N95 face masks

[Rick Moen]

Regular subscribers will remember that, in the very recent past, our
on-again/off-again participant from Brooklyn (1) posted an ignorant 
defence of stockpiling N95 face masks even though he has no symptoms nor
evidence of infection, and then (2) ignored and blew off my citation of 
expert pleas that people -=do not=- do that, because the masks are
desperately needed by medical staff and don't even do any good for
healthy people.  I strongly urged that he donate any he currently has,
with no further delay, to working medical staff, and also apologise for
not having done so until now.

Our on-again/off-again participant from Brooklyn then concluded that I
'just like to argue' and appeared to consider hoarding N95 masks a right
vouchsafed by one of the lesser-known parts of the Constitution.  (Hey, 
phony sense of entitlement, much?)


Roll forward to to today.


Stanford Hospital, one of the leading medical facilities on the West
Coast, is now pleading to the public:  They are out of N95 masks, and
are pleading with members of the public, if you set them aside for the
prior-years' wildfires or out of coronavirus concern, or for any other
reason, to please make them available to front-line workers at the
hospital who desperately need them.

Please e-mail Ariel Seidman <aseidman at gmail.com>, if you can provide any.


This situation is, frankly, appalling.


As to attitudes such as that of our on-again/off-again participant from
Brooklyn, I'm thinking not-very-nice, uncharitable thoughts about the 
infinitesimally small moral stature inherent in that position, and
thinking it's going to be really difficult to justify, when the full
accounting is done.

I like to say:  If moral decency were personally convenient, it'd be a 
whole lot more popular.