# Continuing to keep masking for your own reasons
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/continuing-to-keep-masking-for-your-own-reasons/941850
**Category:** The Quarantine Zone
**Tags:** covid-quarantine
**Created:** [May 11, 2021, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/continuing-to-keep-masking-for-your-own-reasons/941850 "2021-05-11T16:32:24Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)
#### Post date: [May 11, 2021, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/continuing-to-keep-masking-for-your-own-reasons/941850/1 "2021-05-11T16:32:24Z")
Food for thought. I can understand the desire for the anonymity/protection from intrusion that the face mask offers.
> **[The people who want to keep masking: ‘It’s like an invisibility cloak’](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/may/10/the-people-who-want-to-keep-masking-its-like-an-invisibility-cloak?utm_source=pocket&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=pockethits)**
>
> More than a year into the pandemic, some people prefer to keep wearing their face mask – even outdoors in public
(This may be paywalled. I accessed it for free through Pocket. I’ll quote as much relevant stuff as I can get away with.)
> She’s been fully vaccinated for three weeks, but Francesca, a 46-year-old professor, does not plan to abandon the face mask that she’s come to view as a kind of “invisibility cloak” just yet.
>
> “Maybe it’s because I’m a New Yorker or maybe it’s because I always feel like I have to present my best self to the world, but it has been such a relief to feel anonymous,” she said. “It’s like having a force field around me that says ‘don’t see me’.”
> …
>
> …some people told the Guardian that they simply prefer wearing their face masks in public. It has nothing to do with being pro-science or anti-science, liberal or conservative, they said. Instead, it’s about the fact that there are more things that can hurt them than viruses, including the aggressive or unwelcome attention of other people – or even any attention at all.
>
> “It’s a common consensus among my co-workers that we prefer not having customers see our faces,” said Becca Marshalla, 25, who works at a bookstore outside Chicago. “Oftentimes when a customer is being rude or saying off-color political things, I’m not allowed to grimace or ‘make a face’ because that will set them off. With a mask, I don’t have to smile at them or worry about keeping a neutral face.”
>
> “I have had customers get very upset when I don’t smile at them,” she added. “I deal with anti-maskers constantly at work. They have threatened to hurt me, tried to get me fired, thrown things at me and yelled ‘fuck you’ in my face. If wearing a mask in the park separates me from them, I’m cool with that.”
> …
THIS next part really struck me (my bold). If a woman (because it’s likely going to be women) chooses to wear a face mask in public or at work in a public venue, will that trigger people’s xenophobic hot buttons the way a woman in a Muslim headscarf and face veil does?
…
Who has the right to exist in public without question is one of the constant, defining struggles of any society. **For years, countries have debated and even [banned](https://www.reuters.com/article/us-france-islam-un/french-ban-on-full-face-islamic-veil-violates-human-rights-u-n-panel-idUSKCN1MX15K) Muslim women from wearing the niqab, a full-face veil, and women who wear the hijab, a head scarf, face [high rates of discrimination](https://www.aclu.org/other/discrimination-against-muslim-women-fact-sheet).** Some Muslim women [told researcher](https://theconversation.com/one-year-on-muslim-women-reflect-on-wearing-the-niqab-in-a-mask-wearing-world-154045) Anna Piela that the pandemic allowed them to feel more comfortable adopting the niqab, which they had wanted to do before.
…
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### Author:  [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)
#### Post date: [May 11, 2021, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/continuing-to-keep-masking-for-your-own-reasons/941850/2 "2021-05-11T16:41:49Z")
I’d be very surprised if this kind of sentiment (newfound sense of public anonymity?) lasts. The fewer people wear masks when not required, the fewer remaining mask wearers will continue to do so out of some false sense of security.
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### Author:  [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)
#### Post date: [May 11, 2021, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/continuing-to-keep-masking-for-your-own-reasons/941850/3 "2021-05-11T16:44:15Z")
> [@QuickSilver](#):
>
> I’d be very surprised if this kind of sentiment (newfound sense of public anonymity?) lasts.
Personally, I like wearing a mask in public. I’m fully vaccinated but haven’t altered my mask wearing at all.
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### Author:  [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)
#### Post date: [May 11, 2021, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/continuing-to-keep-masking-for-your-own-reasons/941850/4 "2021-05-11T16:47:21Z")
As am I. Fully vaccinated and all. And I cannot wait to burn all my masks. Basta!
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### Author:  [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)
#### Post date: [May 11, 2021, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/continuing-to-keep-masking-for-your-own-reasons/941850/5 "2021-05-11T16:47:23Z")
I’m not going to miss the masks. I’ve been very good about wearing mine but I don’t like wearing them. I’ll be 2+2 in 2 days and will go a lot more lax at that point outside.
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### Author:  [@SanVito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanVito)
#### Post date: [May 11, 2021, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/continuing-to-keep-masking-for-your-own-reasons/941850/6 "2021-05-11T16:56:30Z")
I would be quite happy if we kept up with mask wearing when people are unwell, as they do in some Asian countries. I haven’t caught a cold in over a year, would be quite happy for that to continue. It seems incredible that up until this pandemic, it was perfectly fine to go to work, breathe over birthday cakes, sneeze over our keyboards and cough our way through meetings.
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### Author:  [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)
#### Post date: [May 11, 2021, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/continuing-to-keep-masking-for-your-own-reasons/941850/7 "2021-05-11T16:57:08Z")
> [@kayaker](#):
>
> Personally, I like wearing a mask in public. I’m fully vaccinated but haven’t altered my mask wearing at all.
Yeah, me too. My natural expression is like Abe Vigoda with constipation. With a mask, I don’t have to put on a pleasant expression for others.
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### Author:  [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)
#### Post date: [May 11, 2021, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/continuing-to-keep-masking-for-your-own-reasons/941850/8 "2021-05-11T16:59:22Z")
It would also be a fine idea if the etiquette of shaking hands with strangers never returned. This practice really should have terminated as soon as we understood the germ theory of disease.
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### Author:  [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)
#### Post date: [May 11, 2021, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/continuing-to-keep-masking-for-your-own-reasons/941850/9 "2021-05-11T17:01:28Z")
> [@SanVito](#):
>
> I would be quite happy if we kept up with mask wearing when people are unwell, as they do in some Asian countries. I haven’t caught a cold in over a year, would be quite happy for that to continue. It seems incredible that up until this pandemic, it was perfectly fine to go to work, breathe over birthday cakes, sneeze over our keyboards and cough our way through meetings.
No kidding!
I can see myself wearing a mask if I have any cold symptoms at all.
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### Author:  [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)
#### Post date: [May 11, 2021, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/continuing-to-keep-masking-for-your-own-reasons/941850/10 "2021-05-11T17:03:57Z")
Remember when this bit was funny?:
[ ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J6NeJ5l_9Oc)
Kidding. Still funny.
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### Author:  [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)
#### Post date: [May 11, 2021, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/continuing-to-keep-masking-for-your-own-reasons/941850/11 "2021-05-11T17:04:06Z")
> [@Riemann](#):
>
> It would also be a fine idea if the etiquette of shaking hands with strangers never returned.
I haven’t shaken a hand since the pandemic began. The few times someone has proffered a hand I’ve looked at them like they were nuts.
I will fist bump if I absolutely have to.
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### Author:  [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)
#### Post date: [May 11, 2021, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/continuing-to-keep-masking-for-your-own-reasons/941850/12 "2021-05-11T17:06:30Z")
This I agree with. I’m pretty much done with the handshake. But I was dropping that about 5 years ago and COVID just confirmed that I was going to make a strong effort to no longer shake hands.
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### Author:  [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)
#### Post date: [May 11, 2021, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/continuing-to-keep-masking-for-your-own-reasons/941850/13 "2021-05-11T17:11:03Z")
I bite my lips and shred my inner cheeks out of anxiety. At least when I have a mask on, other people don’t have to see it. Also, I don’t want to be mistaken for a Republican.
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### Author:  [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)
#### Post date: [May 11, 2021, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/continuing-to-keep-masking-for-your-own-reasons/941850/14 "2021-05-11T17:22:07Z")
Aren’t handshakes kind of a minor risk compared to breathing in the same air someone breathes out (the reason masks were required)? I thought we’d concluded that the whole hand washing thing was a red herring when it comes to COVID?
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### Author:  [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)
#### Post date: [May 11, 2021, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/continuing-to-keep-masking-for-your-own-reasons/941850/15 "2021-05-11T17:23:44Z")
With this particular pathogen, perhaps. But many others can be spread by physical contact like shaking hands. The issue is that we frequently touch our faces with our hands following contact.
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### Author:  [@Mikkel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mikkel)
#### Post date: [May 11, 2021, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/continuing-to-keep-masking-for-your-own-reasons/941850/16 "2021-05-11T17:24:32Z")
It’s nice to wear a mask in sub-zero temperatures, it is much easier to breathe than the old way of wearing a scarf over the mouth and nose.
I, too, have not had a cold the last year. I may go on wearing a mask in winter, both for preventing getting ill and to stop icicles forming in my beard.
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### Author:  [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)
#### Post date: [May 11, 2021, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/continuing-to-keep-masking-for-your-own-reasons/941850/17 "2021-05-11T17:25:46Z")
It is still considered a fairly major contributor to transferring flues as far as I know.
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### Author:  [@elbows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbows)
#### Post date: [May 11, 2021, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/continuing-to-keep-masking-for-your-own-reasons/941850/18 "2021-05-11T18:03:26Z")
I thought your vaccine protects you from catching it, but doesn’t keep you from spreading it if you’ve been unknowingly exposed. You don’t manifest symptoms and you don’t get sick, but, without a mask couldn’t YOU be the spreader regardless?
So I thought you’d still want to wear your mask to protect the unvaccinated.
Am I wrong?
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### Author:  [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)
#### Post date: [May 11, 2021, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/continuing-to-keep-masking-for-your-own-reasons/941850/19 "2021-05-11T18:20:35Z")
> [@What\_Exit](#):
>
> It is still considered a fairly major contributor to transferring flues as far as I know. -
That’s why I never shake hands with a chimney sweep.
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### Author:  [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)
#### Post date: [May 11, 2021, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/continuing-to-keep-masking-for-your-own-reasons/941850/20 "2021-05-11T18:24:44Z")
> [@elbows](#):
>
> I thought your vaccine protects you from catching it, but doesn’t keep you from spreading it if you’ve been unknowingly exposed.
This has consistently been very poorly reported in the press.
It is (obviously, when you think about it) much more difficult to study relative rates of transmission _from_ people who have been vaccinated, than to study whether vaccinated people are getting sick themselves. So _we don’t know_ to what extent vaccination reduces transmission, especially with new strains circulating. But it is certainly _likely_ that a vaccine that is so successful at preventing disease will also reduce transmission significantly.
Careful scientists prudently saying _we don’t know if X is true_ is consistently poorly reported to imply that it means _we know X is false_.
So your conclusion is right - it’s prudent for vaccinated people to keep wearing a mask for the time being. But that’s not because we have any reason to believe than vaccination is ineffective at reducing transmission. We just don’t have firm data yet.
This study just started:
[https://www.coronaviruspreventionnetwork.org/covid-prevention-news-releases/prevent-covid-university-study/](https://www.coronaviruspreventionnetwork.org/covid-prevention-news-releases/prevent-covid-university-study/)
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