So masks work -> P&G takes a financial hit
 

P&G reported that cold medicine sales were down 45% from a year ago.

More Masks Means Fewer Germs, Hitting P&G’s Cold-Medicine Sales

So I consider this a hard data point to support the theory of
mask wearing slows spread of virus germs
including covid and flu

the anti maskers can !@#$%^&*()

Here's upper respiratory data from a molecular diagnostic system also illustrating the impact.

Syndromic Trends

It might have something to do with social distancing in general and avoiding crowds in particular. I strongly suspect that's the case for my family.

You will also soon hear that studies are beginning to show that the masks aren't as effective as they need to be and countries in Europe are (or soon will be) requiring N95 masks or equivalent.

anti-maskers are annoying but so are rude comments.

And yet the squares are going to have festivals next month.....

Personally, I think that businesses that provide hand sanitizer stations go far in preventing the spread of viruses in general. I would love for them to continue this practice. I'm more likely to use it if it's at the entrance to a store or restaurant.

Masks maybe some of the cause and effect, but there is a better reason.

Many have not left their homes, working from home, kids not in school to transfer the cold.

Then there are the thousands upon thousands who no longer have income.
Do you buy meds, cold medicine, or feed your children.

Children always win, P&G zero.

Working for 5 months exposed 60 hours a week, wearing multiple masks at a time, didn’t help hundreds of healthcare workers. But that’s just first hand experience.
Not saying masks don’t work for those who may or may not be exposed everyday in TV.
But there is a difference when wearing a mask with a less than 5% exposure, compared to 100%.

Closely working with 186 people everyday, many still got sick, flu, colds, and yes Covid. All with more protective gear than one could imagine. And that mask didn’t save some of them.

Far more believable and likely reason for the drop in colds, etc.

I have a strong supposition that you are correct about the variables of distance, crowd avoidance, and the MANY other variables that are never mentioned, never studied in any scientific manner (I see a LOT of "follow the science", and the "studies" I have managed to find are so flawed in relation to the controls and the variables, even the how the populations were set up, just a total grade of "F" if submitted in the very first intro to research class required in any grad school ! The kind you see in the headlines of the super market check out line magazines...LOL ! Headline: "Study SHOWS".... well, you can make a study show anything you'd like it to, just like graphs, depending on the axis's, you can make a convincing graph to convince a LOT of people... LOL ! Skeptic me, but would be great to get some real scientific data...maybe someday they will laugh at us ? Washing down every grocery item we take into our homes, wearing gloves to the super market, to the mail stations, have seen two auto now with masks duct taped over the ventilation slats on the dash ? What's that about, any one know ? Have the tracing they have done shown the numbers of people contracting it due to unmasked ventilation slats in their autos is greater than the "norm" for other risks ? Feeling like a mushroom (if you know something about mushroom growing you'll get the humor...LOL !)

Absolutely. But there are those who worship at the altar of the holy mask, want everyone else to join their church and will find any lame reason to support their belief

Awesome!

So P&G cold medicine is national, and not job specific, nor age specific. The sales are rural and urban, adults and children, and represents a data point that at the national level, generalized behavioral changes have made a difference, measureable enough to be seen. Also, though not publically available information, coach k's medical center has used less than 50% of their flu vaccine supply which was ordered in Oct. And the same behaviors which have limited covid spread have limited the flu as well. Also a not well publicized point, you can't get a COVID vaccine shot if you have had any other vaccine shot, including the flu, in the prior 14 days.

I agree that its not just the mask but the whole reinforced behavioral changes which have caused the reduction, so my bad for sensationalizing one particular aspect over the other . Given the increased infectious rate of the mutations showing up however, the behaviors continuing will be needed even more to slow the spread. . .

No need to worry about Procter & Gamble. They also make Charmin and Dawn.

It occurred to me at the beginning of Covid that Dawn would be good for handwashing. I figured if Dawn could cut through that oil and save those baby ducks, Dawn could cut through the virus. (Please don’t drink it though.)

[QUOTE=CoachKandSportsguy;1890687]P&G reported that cold medicine sales were down 45% from a year ago.

More Masks Means Fewer Germs, Hitting P&G’s Cold-Medicine Sales

So I consider this a hard data point to support the theory of
mask wearing slows spread of virus germs
including covid and flu

Absolutely, there is always more logic to the story...not just flimsy dirty useless masks, that people spend more time touching and adjusting, then touching something else...but they can believe whatever they want...

By now everyone should be carrying one in their bag. Leaving the house nowadays should be......mask-check, sanitizer-check.....plastic gloves- maybe.

I think staying in the house for the rest of your life will guarantee you will not catch a cold or virus, maybe. We will knock on your door every few years to check if you are still alive. Have fun!

I was wondering why NyQuil has been so heavily advertising, and curious why they’d spend so much money when people were distancing, masking up and washing. It’s not a product like beer, where you’re trying to attract more customers by saying hey come try me I’m delicious. It’s just a competitive marketing share war because only so many people are going to get colds, this year 2020 colds less 55%

Masks do work
 

My daughter is a medical worker and my cousin is a head nurse of an ER in a major hospital. Both have told me that the number of flu cases are way down and both believe it is absolutely due to the wearing of masks.

Or maybe it’s because people are no longer congregating in offices, etc. Mask wearing is not the only reason, it’s one reason.

No way is this hard data. You have no idea what other factors come into play. Social distancing for one. People learning to be more diligent with hand washing is another. I’m sure there care more.

Even medical workers have opinions that are not based on solid research. Seems they forgot what they learned in their research classes. Shame on them.

Healthcare workers were forced to wear the same mask for several days because of a shortage of supplies. Disposable masks were meant to be worn ONCE per individual patient contact, then disposed. Wearing one mask all day while treating many different patients is going to render the masks much less effective. Add to that, being in an environment with the viral load through the roof, it’s a wonder more workers haven’t died.

I can see it now. We've got to continue wearing masks forever to reduce the threat of the common cold.....

Using this THEORY is not 'hard data'. Cause and effect is not even close to be proven by this one. My guess; I'd say it's more likely that the reduction in colds is due to kids not attending school. So, maybe we should ban schooling for all children to protect the overall health of the populace.......

I'm a believer in science, I'm sure they know more than all the rest.

Contract tracing of MA health care workers have found that the vast majority, but not all, of infections were passed by community spread, which means not in the hospitals.

Which means people were not being socially distant and were being in lengthy enough close contact to assume a viral load big enough to infect when not at work.

But of course, everyone can't wear protective gear at a hospital level everywhere all the time, either.

So there is a middle ground of some prevention to try to reduce the transmission rate to extinguish the virus.

Interesting observation regarding schools. RSV is a common illness in children and also way down.

Curious cold viruses are showing relatively small reductions.

Syndromic Trends

If masks are keeping everyone from catching the FLU then it's interesting to know that COVID is way up lately. Kind of argues the point that masks are reducing the FLU. I agree with the poster that suggested that everyone is staying home, distancing and washing their hands. Of course, I have never had the flu so what would I know.
Anyone that is counting on the placebo mask to save them, should perhaps rethink that idea and instead do the other things that will keep you safe such as staying away from others; the source of infection. If you are counting on others to protect you, it is my opinion that common sense is being ignored.
Like I said, if masks are preventing the flu then it proves that masks are not working for COVID because we have more infections than before.

Because COVID is orders of magnitude more contagious than flu.

Masks are a risk reduction method, not fully preventative.

Science changes every day, kind of like politicians. Common sense along with a bit of statistical data and past evidence works as my science, NOT a bunch of "experts" that depend on politics and gov funding that influences their so-called "expert" statements.

Ooo, scary! Masks are magical? More like a placebo in most cases around here, if you look at what and how anyone is wearing theirs. Granted, common sense suggests that masks do help. So does one's sleeve, washing hands and distancing. But, common sense also says that COVID did not do away with the flu. The Flu just got grouped into the COVID category is more probable. Children brought the flu home with them from school and they are not in school. Folks are washing their hands more than before and staying their distance. All of that will help. But, don't for a minute think that the flu is not still there.
I agree that masks help. Masks are also a good replacement for some folks' security blanket.

Not correct, diagnostic tests are very specific for upper respiratory viruses, and they are significantly reduced. But, be wary of a rebound once COVID comes under control.

https://www.talkofthevillages.com/fo...696-post2.html

https://www.washingtonpost.com/healt...8Xx8Pu_OlTOPuw

Those that are not working or struggling to feed their children aren’t supporting P&G

The test for COVID is not a sure thing. They turn the test over up to 40 times or until they get a positive reading. If they run the test 10 times and get a positive, then they are satisfied. If it goes 40 times without a positive, then they declare it negative for COVID. They have also had many, many false positives and negative results. I have had over a dozen family members infected with the virus. My daughter had ALL the symptoms, that her husband and daughter had that had tested positive and she tested negative. My other daughter had a fever and said she had lost her sense of smell and taste, was told to stay home from work, tested positive for COVID and three days later tested negative. Many folks with symptoms of the FLU have tested positive for COVID. The COVID test was not originally created for this kind of test, if you read up on how it originated. Kind of like a polygraph test, where some folks are told they are lying and aren't and some folks fool the test and are lying. The test is not 100%.
We may be lowering the FLU infection rate due to being careful, but it's not gone. And I am sure that many have the FLU and think it is COVID and eventually get well and carry on with their lives, thinking that they have survived the virus.
Sorry, but the mask is NOT going to be a permanent clothing accessory.

Australia had an unusually light flu season due to increased mask-wearing. More direct proof that masks work.

Australia is also an island with completely closed boarders - no one traveling in or out of the country.
More likely that is the reason...

Nope, you cannot attribute mask wearing as the sole reason for a light flu season. It might be a contributing factor, but so would closed borders, isolation at home, social distancing, closed schools, living in a bubble, wearing a hazmat suit, using a decontamination unit when entering your home, etc.

This thread is in the Investment Forum, but it is starting to jump the track.

Getting back to P&G, I am surprised the stock has not split recently. The last split was in 2004. It was a two-fer like it always has been. (And, yes, I understand splits.) PG has a long history of stock splits.

Procter, a candle maker, and Gamble, a soap maker, met when they married two sisters. P&G was born in Cincinnati in 1837 and the rest is Cincinnati history gone global to 80+ countries.

PG has paid a dividend almost since its incorporation, and more importantly, the dividend has been increased for 64 consecutive years. The percentage of the increase, of course, varies.

Some might find PG to be a boring stock. It usually does not take investors on a rocket ride. But the dividend check has a history of coming through -- and has for a very long time.

Anyway, I think Procter and Gamble will be OK. That "hit" was not really a hit. More of a dip.

(I thought maybe the stock dip was because I have not been buying as many Crest White Strips as usual -- what with wearing a mask and all. I still use them but probably not as often as when I had an actual social life. It is good to know I was not totally responsible for the drop in stock price.)

Boomer

NyQuil is advertising heavily, recently, for the same reason it advertises heavily this time of year, every year: It's cold and flu season.

Find a niche and fill it. (Find a nose and stick it.)

According to yesterday’s Cincinnati Business Courier, Procter and Gamble has a new nasal swab and has announced its licensing to Rhinostics — a Massachusetts company that is bringing Covid at-home testing to market.

The nose knows.

The cases of seasonal influenza are way down as well. It's not just masks. It's the hand washing, sanitizing and social distancing as well. And don't forget there are some people that refuse to leave their homes and venture outside at all.