The science is in — it is hella important to wear a face mask over your mouth AND nose to curb the spread of coronavirus. The evidence was there all the way back in May. Taiwan has 24 million people but had only 6 deaths from coronavirus in part because the people started routinely wearing face masks to prevent its spread in January. In Scotland, face masks were made mandatory on all public transport on 22 June and a month later they have had only 102 new cases of coronavirus and zero deaths for the WEEK and while YESTERDAY England had 747 new cases and 14 more deaths.
So why, in the name of all that is holy, are some people still going out without a face mask?
Two reasons: Stupidity and Selfishness.
It’s the same reasons some people violate social distancing orders. A study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found that “the limitation in one’s mental capacity to simultaneously retain multiple pieces of information in working memory (WM) for rational decision making that leads to social-distancing compliance.” That’s just a really fancy way of saying ‘dumb people don’t understand what scientists are saying about the coronavirus so they don’t do what scientists say they should do.” Smarter people can understand that the pandemic is a problem for everyone and will thus follow the scientific guidelines for safety.
Another study, which has been peer reviewed and accepted for publication in the journal Social Psychology and Personality Science, has found that people with personality traits from the so-called Dark Triad (narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy) “tended to show less interest in social distancing and hygiene.” Basically, a person who is pathologically selfish is less likely to wear a face mask or follow pandemic guidelines because they think they are too special too get sick and they just do NOT give a toss for anyone but themselves.
In sum, dumb people don’t wear face masks because they don’t understand the need for them, while any smart person who eschews a face mask does it because they are so dangerously selfish.
Then there are the twatwaffles squawking that being told to wear a face mask violates their ‘rights’. No. You have no ‘right’ to endanger other people’s health by your actions or inactions. The reason you cannot legally shit on the sidewalk or dump your garbage on someone else’s lawn is because it endangers public health. The government most certainly CAN order you to do something (or not do it) for the preservation of public health, just like it can punish you for driving while drunk. Moreover, several states made wear a face mask MANDATORY during 1918 flu pandemic, and the USA survived with it’s Constitution intact.
Therefore, get a grip and wear a face mask in public spaces or everyone looking at you will be forced to guess whether you are a psychopath … or just stupid.
For starters, wearing a mask protects the individual who is wearing it. Yeah… yeah… yeah… I know that unless you are wearing an N95 or N99 you are not REALLY protected, but I can bet that the chances of a virus being stuck in the textile is probably higher than it passing through the holes in the textitle. So, if you wear a mask, even if in theory you are wearing it to protect others, you do benefit yourself by being at least partially protected.
Also, I don’t think N95s and N99s are that scarce anymore. So go out and buy one of those, than you will not only protect the others but be really protected yourself.
Worse, still, are those who do not wear masks and have no intention of getting a vaccine for themselves and for their children.
Fact is… stupidity pays no taxes. So… we have an over supply of stupid people.