5 ms·

- sit at home 24/7 - wear a mask These 2 things seem rather different in magnitude.

quantified 5y ago
Especially because a lot of outside doesn’t need a mask. If you live in a dense urban core, it might. If you live in light urban, or suburban/rural, you can mask when stepping into the store or whatever. Don’t forget that masks are to protect others at least as much as yourself.
- dv_dt 5y ago
  And wearing a mask is not just direct individual risk reduction either. Preventing spread reduces opportunities for the virus to mutate, which reduces the larger systemic risk that a new mutation is created that is even more adapted to bypassing vaccines and masks.
- akira2501 5y ago
  > Don’t forget that masks are to protect others at least as much as yourself. That seems to depend on the mask itself, some masks explicitly state that they offer no protection to the wearer and only serve to provide protection to others _from_ the wearer. This article, for me, highlights one of the major problems of this entire response. Various establishments keep trying to present a rather black-and-white binary view on these subjects. They're doing a particularly poor job of explaining the spectrum of risks and protections that are available and how to apply that knowledge to your own individual circumstances.
- mdp2021 5y ago
  > masks are to protect others at least as much as I had a different underestanding: I thought masks are to protect others, overwhelmingly, and there might also be some protecting power for yourself, in a much lesser amount. The concept is consistent with "since you can, limit dispersing the droplets". I unfortunately do not have bookmarked articles about this though. Do you have any good source (e.g. to state that masks have a protecting power for the wearer comparable to that for the others)?
  - unearth3d 5y ago
    You're correct, that is our understanding in NZ, mask wearing is almost entirely about protecting others by limiting the projection range of droplets. It works if everyone wears a mask.
  - quantified 5y ago
    Yes, 99.5% counts as “mostly”, I was just emphasizing that “I don’t want to wear a mask” is “I don’t care to protect you” not “I don’t care enough about the risk to myself too wear a mask”.
awsthro00945 5y ago
I've been seeing this a lot amongst anti-mask arguments. Antimaskers unironically equate wearing a mask to some type of life-altering, oppressive action. It's absurd. Amongst all of our social responsibilities as human being, wearing a mask is probably the easiest, most bare-minimum thing imaginable, right up there with "don't litter". And just like I don't respect people who litter, I don't at all respect people who don't wear masks in crowded places. edit: wowfunhappy deleted their comment, but previously it said that the reason they don't wear a mask is because "it fogs up my glasses and is hot and sweaty", and went on to say that such hardships "affect [them] psychologically". This is exactly what I'm referring to in the first sentence of my comment. Absurdity.
- asdfasgasdgasdg 5y ago
  I can accept that there may be a continuum of taste in terms of how onerous wearing a mask is. But I don't really know how it can be that bad when my six year old managed it all year last year for school.
- Wowfunhappy 5y ago
  The damn thing fogs up my classes when it's cold, and is hot and sweaty when it's warm. When I speak, I frequently have to repeat myself, and I can't casually take a sip of water or eat a snack. And while this part pertains more to other people wearing masks—I honestly feel like universal masking affects me psychologically. I have a huge amount of trouble recognizing people's faces when their masks are on—I didn't even recognize my sister when I ran into her on the subway—and I'm not able to read anyone's expressions. I'm not an anti-masker, and I wore one diligently throughout 2020 and early 2021, but I'm just not willing to do it forever! Wearing a mask is by no means torturous, but I really do think it is life-altering. Similar to social distancing, masks change every single interaction I have with others. I'm aware that masks protect others in addition to myself, but where does my responsibility end? I wear a mask on public transit, and I'll wear a mask any time someone asks me to put one on. But I'm not going to wear one otherwise, and I'm significantly less likely to go into a store if there's a sign on the front that masks are required. I think I should be able to make that choice, and other people can make the opposite choice. --- Edit: Re your edit, sorry about that, I actually deleted the above comment from downthread in order to post it here instead, and our actions seem to have crossed.

Especially because a lot of outside doesn’t need a mask. If you live in a dense urban core, it might. If you live in light urban, or suburban/rural, you can mask when stepping into the store or whatever. Don’t forget that masks are to protect others at least as much as yourself.

dv_dt 5y ago
And wearing a mask is not just direct individual risk reduction either. Preventing spread reduces opportunities for the virus to mutate, which reduces the larger systemic risk that a new mutation is created that is even more adapted to bypassing vaccines and masks.
akira2501 5y ago
> Don’t forget that masks are to protect others at least as much as yourself. That seems to depend on the mask itself, some masks explicitly state that they offer no protection to the wearer and only serve to provide protection to others _from_ the wearer. This article, for me, highlights one of the major problems of this entire response. Various establishments keep trying to present a rather black-and-white binary view on these subjects. They're doing a particularly poor job of explaining the spectrum of risks and protections that are available and how to apply that knowledge to your own individual circumstances.
mdp2021 5y ago
> masks are to protect others at least as much as I had a different underestanding: I thought masks are to protect others, overwhelmingly, and there might also be some protecting power for yourself, in a much lesser amount. The concept is consistent with "since you can, limit dispersing the droplets". I unfortunately do not have bookmarked articles about this though. Do you have any good source (e.g. to state that masks have a protecting power for the wearer comparable to that for the others)?
- unearth3d 5y ago
  You're correct, that is our understanding in NZ, mask wearing is almost entirely about protecting others by limiting the projection range of droplets. It works if everyone wears a mask.
- quantified 5y ago
  Yes, 99.5% counts as “mostly”, I was just emphasizing that “I don’t want to wear a mask” is “I don’t care to protect you” not “I don’t care enough about the risk to myself too wear a mask”.

awsthro00945 5y ago

I've been seeing this a lot amongst anti-mask arguments. Antimaskers unironically equate wearing a mask to some type of life-altering, oppressive action. It's absurd. Amongst all of our social responsibilities as human being, wearing a mask is probably the easiest, most bare-minimum thing imaginable, right up there with "don't litter". And just like I don't respect people who litter, I don't at all respect people who don't wear masks in crowded places. edit: wowfunhappy deleted their comment, but previously it said that the reason they don't wear a mask is because "it fogs up my glasses and is hot and sweaty", and went on to say that such hardships "affect [them] psychologically". This is exactly what I'm referring to in the first sentence of my comment. Absurdity.

asdfasgasdgasdg 5y ago
I can accept that there may be a continuum of taste in terms of how onerous wearing a mask is. But I don't really know how it can be that bad when my six year old managed it all year last year for school.
Wowfunhappy 5y ago
The damn thing fogs up my classes when it's cold, and is hot and sweaty when it's warm. When I speak, I frequently have to repeat myself, and I can't casually take a sip of water or eat a snack. And while this part pertains more to other people wearing masks—I honestly feel like universal masking affects me psychologically. I have a huge amount of trouble recognizing people's faces when their masks are on—I didn't even recognize my sister when I ran into her on the subway—and I'm not able to read anyone's expressions. I'm not an anti-masker, and I wore one diligently throughout 2020 and early 2021, but I'm just not willing to do it forever! Wearing a mask is by no means torturous, but I really do think it is life-altering. Similar to social distancing, masks change every single interaction I have with others. I'm aware that masks protect others in addition to myself, but where does my responsibility end? I wear a mask on public transit, and I'll wear a mask any time someone asks me to put one on. But I'm not going to wear one otherwise, and I'm significantly less likely to go into a store if there's a sign on the front that masks are required. I think I should be able to make that choice, and other people can make the opposite choice. --- Edit: Re your edit, sorry about that, I actually deleted the above comment from downthread in order to post it here instead, and our actions seem to have crossed.