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Comment by AnimalMuppet | Hacker News Reader

So, get lost with mask mandates. If they work, fine, I'll wear one. If we don't know yet but we suspect they'll help, I can wear one while we figure it out. But if they don't help, then no. Just no. I am not here for health theater.

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One thing the pandemic has shown is how many people are content with “health theatre” even if they know it’s BS

Do the ones that are making a stink if someone doesn't wear their mask think it's BS? It would be strange to me that someone would get wound up over of conformity without actually agreeing with its premise.

In previous pandemics in Japan and Hong Kong, people were explicitly making the argument that even if they do nothing practical to reduce spread, mask wearing has a beneficial effect of raising social consciousness. To follow literature on this, you could start with Burgess(https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22443378/).

> I am not here for health theater

That's how I've felt about restaurants, where you're supposed to wear a mask when walking to your table but don't have to while sitting. Follow the science, supposedly... </sarcasm>

At one point, in Spain, they required you needed to stand up with a mask on, and then remove it in order to light a smoke(outside of course since it's the EU).

Depending on ventilation and table layout, it makes sense. When you walk to your table, you are contaminating the air in wider area while sitting. So it is logical but how big is the effect I do not know really.

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