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Comment by zzleeper | Hacker News Reader

It is indeed quite silly that people are thinking about policies as "quarantine for everyone" vs "let people roam the streets while coughing".

Wearing masks has zero cost in terms of GDP and unemployment. Why the heck aren't we mandating those?? Even in 1918 people were not allowed to step on a tram/metro without a mask.

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Judging from people's reaction to the "end of the lockdown" here, I think Costco's leading the charge and making it OK for other businesses to require masks and enforce distancing has been, effectively, better public health policy than what we're getting out of our state government. Outside those places there's a clear "well guess the danger's over, let's all get really close and spit on each other and all touch the same stuff" attitude and pattern of behavior. It's insane—now's the time to be more cautious when out and about, than during the lockdown! Especially seeing how people are acting, it's gonna get worse before it gets better. I reckon my odds of catching it in a given store outing now are significantly higher than during the lockdown, but people aren't acting that way.

Part of what was so effective about changing american minds about smoking were the public ads that decried it.

If we want to change peoples minds about wearing a mask we need to campaign to change minds which goes all over. It's not about losing your freedom it's about being safe. I don't think legal requirements will do it. It'll just stir up the anti-government people. Whereas if we make it about looking dumb if you don't wear a mask then we'll be better off.

Also as a side benefit, making masks more acceptable in public may help us thwart facial recognition software in stores which I'm game for.

It has definitely crossed my mind more than once since this started that now is exactly the time to bust out some old-school WWII-propaganda-style slogans. Posters and everything. Shit, get WB to make some new cartoons about masks and social distancing, mimicking that style. That'd go viral like crazy.

From Neal Stephenson's Cryptonomicon, describing Britain during WWII (all emphasis mine):

"The British gas masks have a squat round fitting on the front to allow exhalation, which looks exactly like the snout of a pig, and no woman would be caught dead in such a thing if the models in the gas mask posters were not such paragons of high-caste beauty."

But maybe he invented this -- I've never seen a copy of such a poster. (Edit: I've found at last something related, just a photo, not a poster, and a "South African": (1) ) What's certain is that there were mask "issues" around 1918 in the US, at the time of another pandemics:

https://www.history.com/news/1918-spanish-flu-mask-wearing-r...

1) https://www.alamy.com/a-female-of-the-south-african-air-forc...

I don't buy the freedom argument. I can't wander around outside naked nor can I wander around with an open container of alcohol (some communities allow this - most don't and mine is in the most category) - yet few people are seriously complaining about that yet those behaviors have far less of an impact on my health than people wandering around without face masks. No, there's a belligerence at play here and there's a certain high-ranking federal officer encouraging that belligerence in part by famously refusing to wear a face mask. Face mask wearing has now become a gang sign: if you're wearing a face mask then you're one of them. That's how insane things have become in the United States and we're suffering badly as a result.

I'm not making the freedom argument. I'm suggest we sidestep the freedom argument by working to convince people it's a good idea to wear masks rather than telling them they have to wear masks.

Also, all legal requirements are backed up by some sort of punishment. A regulation put in place to wear a mask might affect different groups more than others. If you can't afford to get a mask because the supply is low, then you get fined or go to jail. I don't like regulation where I think a campaign would be much more effective.

Really people are frankly being delusional narcissistic morons who think their motivated reasoning and wanting something changes reality.

The sad thing aside from the literal thousands of needless deaths is that they could do more reengineeeing to arrange things to be safe and productive at a lower capacity (say hair dressers by appointment with masks and a clean up sequence between customers) but they largely prefer an illusion of normality even though it will just prolong the disease, measures and boost expenses.

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