I'm not sure of the source for this, I've been reading a lot this week... Someone with more knowledge could expand on this, but I understand that wearing a m

I'm not sure of the source for this, I've been reading a lot this week... Someone with more knowledge could expand on this, but I understand that wearing a mask in south east Asia is a social signal that the wearer is aware that they are contagious and are using the mask not for their own protection, but for those around them. This makes sense with surgical masks that are designed to keep things _in_ not out. Culturally this is counterintuitive to the west where we typically value the individual over the collective. (Probably an over-broad generalization)