I’ve identified 4 views on mask (and social distancing). These arguments are beside the point that people with health problems are exceptions. Any of these views could have exceptions. Just as well, some people don’t want exceptions. These are beside the points being made.
1. They work, you should wear them.
This is the typical advice/mandates from politicians, media, and some medical experts. The point of this view is that the masks and social distancing slows the spread of the virus. Some have stretched this view to mean it can stop the virus but that was never supposed to be the case.
2. They don’t work, you should wear them
Sure, no one is openly advocating this view, I hope, but, this is the basic point you get from people that say things like, “It’s just a mask”, “It’s not that hard to wear a mask”,”Just wear it.” Perhaps a better way to word the argument is that it doesn’t matter if it works, just wear it because some “authority” said so. This is just blind authoritarianism and is often resorted to by people when they are losing the position stated in point 1.
3. They don’t work, we shouldn’t have to wear them.
This is the most common anti-mask position. It is often a retaliation to the other 2 positions. There is plenty of evidence that the masks don’t seem to make any difference in stopping the spread. But remember that wasn’t the original point. It was to slow the spread. The virus, if you have it, stays closer to you instead of shooting out several feet when you talk, cough, or sneeze. However, if you don’t have it then it is still pointless. Remember it’s about you not spreading the virus to other people. The masks, admittedly – from the 1st points position – don’t prevent you from getting it.
4. They work, you shouldn’t wear them.
This view might seem strange the way it’s written but, it is the basic herd immunity view. The point is the masks do help, at least a little, in slowing the spread. Since the virus is already thoroughly spread all we are doing is prolonging the virus and preventing herd immunity. On the other hand, we currently already basically have herd immunity (high cases, low deaths/symptoms). It just took a lot longer than it needed to get there. Some deaths from the virus may be because, we tried to slow the virus instead of letting it come and go like Sweden. Another point is that the purpose of coughing and sneezing is for your body to get rid of toxins. It can’t be good to cough or sneeze in your mask and then just leave it smearing all over your face all day.
A side note on herd immunity
There is a lot of misinformation about herd immunity. It is quite difficult to find info that is accurate and thorough enough. Almost all the stuff I’ve seen, if it gets stuff right at all, conveniently leaves stuff out so that people will jump to the wrong conclusions about it.
Some key things left out:
*You can easily have herd immunity within a household or small area then it spreads to the entire country. It doesn’t have to be the entire country all at once like some media outlets will have you believe.
*When viruses spread they aren’t just spreading pure viruses. If it spreads from someone with antibodies/proteasomes there will be damaged viruses in the mix that people with weaker immune systems will be able to fight. Viruses can be damaged other ways outside other people like sanitizer then, be defeated by people with weaker immune systems.
Conclusion
Viruses will do what they do and herd immunity will do what it does. The question is: At what rate should they do their thing. Slowing the spread means slowing herd immunity. It’s possible that the wrong rate in either direction will lead to more deaths. It should also not be assumed that the same rate needs to be applied throughout the world. In an area like where I live, there have only been few deaths out of the whole multi-county area but one city like New York is the leader of the world in deaths. The people in my area tend to be very anti-mask and get away without wearing them rather easily. In New York it’s a rather opposite situation.
