The selfishness you're observing _is the point_. What's mere "social responsibility" to you is "socialism" to the far right, and is completely anathema. Performatively demonstrating that they don't care if something they're doing inconveniences or hurts other people around them is a sport. See: people in pickup trucks parking in electric vehicle spots, or rolling coal. Because "f*** your feelings."
Don't forget the surprising number of places around the world where wearing a mask was actually illegal before the pandemic. Did those laws ever actually get fixed? If not, that might be an impediment to normalisation of mask wearing for sick people.
Very supportive of this for UK too! I have advocated this idea among my medic friends a dozen or so years ago after visiting Japan on placement in medical school. Could never get much interest in it. It's hard to imagine the pre-pandemic (and early pandemic) disinterest and dismissal of masks within mainstreatm medicine.
That said, there is one better than copying what seem like good ideas from other countries and that is testing them first. For this kind of public intervention that means an RCT. The case for masks being effective is not as much of a slam dunk as you might think. And there are important questions like cloth vs surgical vs N95, only when you are sick or after meeting sick contacts etc. The value of information from large well constructed masking trials would be enormous.
Great post, but a big impediment to the mask-when-sick proposal is that people don't want to draw attention to themselves when they're sick, which is exactly what that will do. If someone is sick on the subway, they sure as heck don't want to broadcast that to the world. I agree that it would be the right thing to do, but it just ain't going to happen for many.
A selfish society needs selfish arguments. Yes, wearing a mask helps others, but it also helps the healthy wearer of a mask. Why so many bend over backwards to scant this benefit is beyond me.
I'd love for the government to provide guidelines on how we could best slow the spread of the flu and common cold with the minimum of mask wearing. If, for example, we'd all wear masks while taking public transportation during the flu season, we might significantly reduce transmission while also taking the first step in a new societal norm. Baby steps. Low hanging fruit. Bang for the buck.
And I'd be interested in hearing how Japan came to wear masks. It must have strange in the beginning.
I've often said that in America that individual rights matter more than what is good for the community as a whole and masks are a great example of that. my comfort trumps keeping the community healthy.
Wearing a mask could be the perfect compromise when you wake up feeling "meh" and don't know whether you should waste a sick day on it.
The selfishness you're observing _is the point_. What's mere "social responsibility" to you is "socialism" to the far right, and is completely anathema. Performatively demonstrating that they don't care if something they're doing inconveniences or hurts other people around them is a sport. See: people in pickup trucks parking in electric vehicle spots, or rolling coal. Because "f*** your feelings."
Countries with customary masking have very high rates of respiratory deaths (https://www.worldlifeexpectancy.com/cause-of-death/influenza-pneumonia/by-country/), including Japan.
As a crazy alternative, how about normalizing that sick people stay home?
Don't forget the surprising number of places around the world where wearing a mask was actually illegal before the pandemic. Did those laws ever actually get fixed? If not, that might be an impediment to normalisation of mask wearing for sick people.
Sometimes I don't know if it's illness or allergies?
One thing:
Circa the 1980s, Fran Lebowitz has a good bit on wearing masks in Japan: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2mszuV0Pa18&t=2145s
'Masks work' is simplistic. They are not the universal good that you suggest.
The question to ask is: what long-term effect does mask wearing have on populations?
What would be rather hilarious, given the latest CDC recommendations, is if the anti-vax started wearing masks to "prove" they didn't get a vaccine.
Very supportive of this for UK too! I have advocated this idea among my medic friends a dozen or so years ago after visiting Japan on placement in medical school. Could never get much interest in it. It's hard to imagine the pre-pandemic (and early pandemic) disinterest and dismissal of masks within mainstreatm medicine.
That said, there is one better than copying what seem like good ideas from other countries and that is testing them first. For this kind of public intervention that means an RCT. The case for masks being effective is not as much of a slam dunk as you might think. And there are important questions like cloth vs surgical vs N95, only when you are sick or after meeting sick contacts etc. The value of information from large well constructed masking trials would be enormous.
Great post, but a big impediment to the mask-when-sick proposal is that people don't want to draw attention to themselves when they're sick, which is exactly what that will do. If someone is sick on the subway, they sure as heck don't want to broadcast that to the world. I agree that it would be the right thing to do, but it just ain't going to happen for many.
A selfish society needs selfish arguments. Yes, wearing a mask helps others, but it also helps the healthy wearer of a mask. Why so many bend over backwards to scant this benefit is beyond me.
I'd love for the government to provide guidelines on how we could best slow the spread of the flu and common cold with the minimum of mask wearing. If, for example, we'd all wear masks while taking public transportation during the flu season, we might significantly reduce transmission while also taking the first step in a new societal norm. Baby steps. Low hanging fruit. Bang for the buck.
And I'd be interested in hearing how Japan came to wear masks. It must have strange in the beginning.
I've often said that in America that individual rights matter more than what is good for the community as a whole and masks are a great example of that. my comfort trumps keeping the community healthy.