Stranger Danger! wrote:
We wear them in exceptionally low risk situations, like walking in the park and going to the store, but not in what everyone knows are high risk situations, like visiting with your family.
Perhaps this is why cases are exploding, even as mask usage approaches 100% in public.
You're not going to catch covid from a stranger, you're going to get it from your own family and friends.
I said this exact same thing to a friend months ago when we were running. First of all, disclaimer - like many here on this thread, I wear my mask when it's mandated and have no problem doing so. I think covid is real and my life has been altered like it has been for all of us, but I'm okay with that.
That being said the lack of information on what it takes to spread and catch covid is kind of comical when you consider that it's been the number one global issue for almost 8 months now and there are thousands of people working round the clock either reporting numbers, studying it and/or looking for a vaccine.
The reality that people are walking round outside, sometimes alone and wearing masks under the assumption that they might (I guess?) "walk into a secret hidden cloud of covid aerosol waiting around the corner for them which is just waiting to fly into their nostrils and mouths all at once" (?!?!?!) is beyond tragic - showing how misinformation and fear can drive people to madness (like wearing a mask driving your own car). Do people believe that if one, just one covid-19 "aerosol droplet" enters their body they are going to catch it? Do people believe it one touches their skin it will permeate the skin barrier and enter their bloodstream? I mean these sound ludicrous but seem plausible to entertain.
What environments create the concertation needed to catch it? How long do I need to be exposed in those environments? At what stage of someone's contagiousness will it actually infect? None of these sorts of questions should be there to justify stupid actions (like going to church for 90min and sitting in a congregation of strangers who are singing hymns for half of it). But what they can do is stop paranoia and fear around harmless situations like walking in a park or walking down the sidewalk.
I see this scenario ever time I run. Usually a couple or group 100 yards away walking with masks around their necks, talking. In theory even if they had covid they are entering their infection to the environment in some way (by breathing and talking with no mask). When we are 10 yards away they pull up their masks as to either protect themselves from me or me from them as if it's this instantaneous 1 second of interaction as we pass that matters. Even more comical is when they stop and turn their heads for a split second which actually makes this instantaneous direct interaction even longer. What about the next 100 yards I have to run through of their "maskless" breathing and talking. I don't wear a mask when I run so what about the next 100 yards for them? Or 500 yards? Or mile? I couldn't care less - I know I am not going to run through a minefield of their germs and suck something up that makes me sick, to me that's an idiotic hypothesis to get to - but their logic makes zero sense and has no factual basis.
Why would this matter? Why does it matter if people do this - drive their cars with masks on, walk outside with masks they pull up over their face as people walk or run by? They are happy and being overly safe isn't an issue is it? Except you pointed out exactly why it is an issue. As humans our altruism does have boundaries and conditions. We expect that certain actions we take should be reciprocated or afford us other actions. Like you said, the same people that wear masks walking the street or in parks or on bikes, are the ones that believe because they do their part for the pandemic this way that it's fine for them to meet their families and friends in far more compromising situations like at coffee shops and bars, or a family gathering, or church. After all, they couldn't possibly be infecting anyone because of the precautions they have taken in other aspects of their lives right? Except that is completely flawed logic.
As you mention - despite mask use being at an all time high, case numbers are skyrocketing - how could this possibly be? I believe it is the above. Self-righteous and ill-informed misuse of masks from a self-righteous and ill-informed population of people.
