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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 mas

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”.

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”.