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Comment by eloff | Hacker News Reader

You're probably right. It worked in Japan.

It's a lot harder for the virus to make it through two masks (the one on the sick person is the especially important one) and it seems if you don't get a exposed to a high enough viral load at the start, you don't get it nearly as bad.

I think universal mask wearing would bring R0 below 1, and the pandemic would end.

Costco requires a mask to shop in their stores (at least where I am.) If you don't have one, they will give you one (and an admonition to save it for the next visit.) I feel safer shopping there than any other store right now.

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I agree on Costco, on top of that I am also selective at where I shop based on other customer behavior.

For example, I am avoiding Walmart and hardware stores because almost nobody wears a mask, including even the staff, whereas in Target and Kroger it is 50% or higher.

Recently McDonald's actually removed the sneeze guards they had installed for some inexplicable reason and their staff stopped wearing masks, and in a related note due to increasing numbers we're likely to re-enter lock-down soon (per the state health board).

I cannot imagine any justification for EVER removing the sneeze guards, it isn't like flu and the common cold are disappearing. Let alone now.

> Costco requires a mask to shop in their stores (at least where I am.)

We went to a Costco in Toronto, Canada a couple of days ago. If you didn't have a mask on, they pointed you at a table off to the side where they had free masks, hand sanitizer, etc. Some people would accept the free mask, but others went in maskless. A staffer at the front door appeared to be keeping tally of people without masks using a sheet of paper (as opposed to the standard front door person who counts everyone going in with a little clicker thing).

I'd say about 15-20% of people in the store weren't wearing masks.

Well that's rather pointless then.

What's wrong with Western culture where people are making a political thing out of wearing a mask, I.e. Not being a dick and looking out for the health of the people around you.

What's wrong is people have lost faith in our institutions (academia, media) because they lost that trust. Now half the population believes they're total liars and do the opposite. We brought this on ourselves.

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