The Reuters coverage (reuters.com/article/us-hea…) isn't very helpful, but the paper royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rs… seems useful. Money quote: "A key message from our analyses to aid the widespread adoption of facemasks would be: ‘my mask protects you, your mask protects me’."
Let's be fair, this is a model, and models are circular. They're a way to talk about what we don't know and to make reasoned guesses but not a way to "prove" something or even really to provide new knowledge. The crucial assumption they made here is that masks collect half of
the viral junk we spit out our mouths when we talk, laugh, yawn, yell, sneeze, or cough. That's not unreasonable. It's not the standard you'd want in a hospital for a protective mask, but for just preventing spread as people mingle about in public, it's not bad. Their model
suggests that it would be reasonable to estimate that if we would wear masks we could contribute to better control. If you have panic attacks or claustrophobia, a face shield would do it (like a personal sneeze guard). This doesn't have to be a fight about Right vs. Left or fear
and a secular apocalypse or about whose interests are best prioritized during the pandemic. It's a story about a hero's cape that you wear across your mouth and nose to protect the vulnerable. You can continue discussions about economics and social safety nets as needed.
The risks of mask wearing do not seem important outside the hospital. (ie removing masks in the hospital is a big deal, but these are settings of ongoing physical proximity with high risk of transmission, not the typical bouncing about in the community living life.) So,
if you like Reagan, #WearYourMask, if you like Obama, #WearYourMask. If you fear for the life of friends and family who serve as police, #WearYourMask. If you are a whole-hearted BLM activist, #WearYourMask. I don't see a reason why we can't liberate the mask question from our
ongoing important cultural divisions. They're weird and they look funny, and they take a bit to get used to. But then you get used to them, and then you get used to being a hero. And heroes are, well, heroic.
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