That makes sense. Given that 1) the biggest impact of face masks is to protect others and 2) it looks like many/most infected people are asymptomatic, facemask use would have to be nearly universal to make a difference, but I think social pressure might make that possible* - especially after the second lockdown.
If, as result, we can slow the cycle down, we might both A) lower the number of infections at each peak, making them more manageable by health care systems, and even B) reduce the number of lockdown/reopen cycles between now and when a vaccine and/or improved treatment arrives.
*Some places. Of course, here in the US the facemasks would almost certainly become badges of political identity, with liberals wearing them and conservatives not. But in less socially pathological cultures, it could make a real, positive impact.
]]>The Memoirs of Lady Trent series by Marie Brennan (starts with A Natural History of Dragons). I enjoy both fantasy and historical fiction, and this series combines them effectively. The animating premise seems to be, "what if, instead of being a man who studied finches, Darwin was a woman who studied dragons?" Some of Brennan's plots suffer from a slight case of Act III Contrivance (don't worry, it's not nearly as severe as Neal Stephenson's), but she really nails the "lay scientist" voice of her heroine, and the feminist edge is incisive without being strident.
Another, very different series that combined sci-fi and historical fiction was Walter John Williams' Dread Empire's fall. Williams gives us a space opera where interstellar travel faces some of the same constraints as wooden sailing fleets did during the Napoleonic wars, and in which the imperial society reflects some of the same qualities. I found myself enjoying interstellar conflict with echoes of O'Brien's Aubrey/Maturin novels.
I also read the James S. A. Corey Expanse series, and right now I'm working on Neal Asher's Polity novels. All these books are fun, but the also share a quality that bugs me a bit, which is the unlikely fact that one main character is a principal player in so many of the major turning points of human post-history. I wish these writers would take a lesson from George R.R. Martin and Iain M. Banks (PBUH): if your world-building (or galaxy-building) is strong enough--and in both these cases, I think it is--you can spread the stories around to a larger variety of protagonists.
I also re-read The Laundry Files this spring and summer to be ready for The Nightmare Stacks to drop. I just finished it and loved it, especially the twist at the end when [REMAINDER OF POST DELETED BY MODERATORS;
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