# Why not wear masks forever? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [November 8, 2020, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-not-wear-masks-forever/925019 "2020-11-08T00:31:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2020, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-not-wear-masks-forever/925019/62 "2020-11-11T16:12:58Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > I agree that sick people ought to try to isolate, but people who are only a little sick often have legitimate reasons to be out, at least a little bit. And while some of us have the ability to work from home when we are a little sick, some people don’t, and US workers tend to have crappy sick leave, and I would prefer it if the cashier who is feeling a little under-the-weather, but doesn’t have obvious symptoms and doesn’t want to burn a sick day, wears a mask. You touched on an important substantial issue here: inadequate sick and family leave. I’d rather pass a law, with teeth, mandating federal sick leave, than basing our public health policy on mutual mask-scolding. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2020, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-not-wear-masks-forever/925019/63 "2020-11-11T16:15:50Z")
Why “mask-scolding”? Why not just “wear a mask to protect others”? I live in the northeast. Most people I see are wearing masks. We have a mask mandate at the moment, and I saw a neighbor walk his dog in a mask. No one scolding anyone. I hope we can stop wearing masks when people who feel healthy walk their dogs. But I hope we can continue wearing masks when they seem helpful. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2020, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-not-wear-masks-forever/925019/64 "2020-11-11T16:20:05Z")
> [@HMS\_Irruncible](#): > > sick people have no businesses being around others and should stay at home. That’s not practical for many people, myself included. When I had a heart attack and had a stent put in, my doctor discharged me from the hospital the day after stenting. He said I should avoid stress and return in a week when he would likely “send me back to work”. The thing is, my business only generates income when I’m present. So, to “avoid stress” I went right back to work. My doctor freaked out a bit when he found out, but he wasn’t going to finance my convalescence. When I’m sick, but able to walk around, I go to work. Wearing a mask I can decrease the risk to others. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2020, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-not-wear-masks-forever/925019/65 "2020-11-11T16:35:53Z")
> [@HMS\_Irruncible](#): > > Things are different in emergencies. Interestingly, North Dakota refuses to put a mask mandate in place but are ok with sending nurses who are sick back into hospitals. It might not be an emergency for them if they simply had a mask mandate which would mitigate the number of sick people running to the hospital. It boggles the mind. ---
**Author:** ![Trom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/958977/32.png) [@Trom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trom)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2020, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-not-wear-masks-forever/925019/66 "2020-11-11T20:40:36Z")
Human beings are social animals that evolved over millions of years. Facial expressions are a huge part of interpersonal communication. We’re hardwired to want to see each other’s faces. Toddlers need to see their teachers smile. Young adults want to be able to smirk at the attractive person on the other side of the bar. I can’t imagine the stars of Hollywood blockbusters having to pull their masks to the side for the kiss at the end. No visible emotions in the crowd after a team wins a championship? No one I know likes wearing a mask, myself included. It’s something people are willing to do now due to the pandemic - which is good. However, like taking our shoes off for TSA at the airport, I worry that wearing a mask will become part of the security theater on the other side of this. I really hope that doesn’t happen. ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2020, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-not-wear-masks-forever/925019/67 "2020-11-11T21:11:10Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > That’s not practical for many people, myself included. When I had a heart attack and had a stent put in, my doctor discharged me from the hospital the day after stenting. He said I should avoid stress and return in a week when he would likely “send me back to work”. > > The thing is, my business only generates income when I’m present. You’ve just told me a story in which a person was forced to return to work after a major heart procedure because otherwise he’d go broke. You conclude that people can’t stay home when they’re sick; I conclude something’s wrong with either the size or frequency of their sick pay. I’m willing to wear a mask for now, but after the pandemic is done, I’m done with masks. When we’re not in a pandemic, the proper public health answer is for sick people to stay home. ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2020, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-not-wear-masks-forever/925019/68 "2020-11-11T21:15:02Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > Interestingly, North Dakota refuses to put a mask mandate in place but are ok with sending nurses who are sick back into hospitals. > > It might not be an emergency for them if they simply had a mask mandate which would mitigate the number of sick people running to the hospital. > > It boggles the mind. As I said… things are different in emergencies. Or to be more precise, we should treat emergencies as emergencies while the emergency is ongoing, otherwise the emergency will never end. If it does end, then we should return to normality. ---
**Author:** ![Oredigger77](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/oredigger77/32/3181_2.png) [@Oredigger77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oredigger77)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2020, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-not-wear-masks-forever/925019/69 "2020-11-11T21:36:40Z")
> [@HMS\_Irruncible](#): > > You conclude that people can’t stay home when they’re sick; I conclude something’s wrong with either the size or frequency of their sick pay. I believe you are confused about the difference between a small business and a job. A job provides sick time when you own a small business a lot of the time there is just a single revenue generating person and everyone else works to support them. I worked the day of my shoulder replacement and I was back at work the next morning. If I didn’t earn money I wouldn’t have any and I would have had to lay off my secretary. Currently, my business is structured so that everyone is a revenue earner but they don’t get paid if they don’t work which in my opinion is better than they don’t get paid if I don’t work. Of course, this is a reason I voted to support paid family medical leave here in Colorado since it will even cover independent contractors as long as they pay into the system though from my understanding if I use it I would still take a major pay cut during the period of use since they cap you at $1,100 per week. ---
**Author:** ![snoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/43a26b/32.png) [@snoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snoe)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2020, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-not-wear-masks-forever/925019/70 "2020-11-11T22:01:15Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Although, funny thing is, some healthy people in Japan do wear masks. Because of sick people wearing them, they became common enough to be unremarkable. And so Japanese celebrities took to wearing masks in public, to hide their identity (much like American celebrities do with sunglasses). And much like sunglasses, because celebrities were wearing them, masks became fashionable. A pre-pandemic show I saw on NHK (Japan state TV) featured person-on-the-street interviews with ordinary Japanese folks trying to explain the popularity of masks to foreigners. Some of the young women interviewed said a mask was handy if they had a pimple, or just didn’t feel like putting on full face makeup for work. And both men and women talked about how masks allow you to be more socially invisible when they wanted to. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2020, 12:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-not-wear-masks-forever/925019/71 "2020-11-12T12:03:59Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > Fogging is caused by unfiltered air escaping around your mask when you exhale. And a similar amount of unfiltered air comes the other way when you inhale. For me, fogging tends to be caused simply because the top edge of the mask occupies some of the space between my face and the lower edges of my glasses - impeding the flow of air that would normally stop them fogging up just from condensed perspiration from the skin around my eyes. It was a problem the first day or two that I wore masks, then it just seemed to go away without any adjustment or anything. Now when I wear a mask, I seldom experience any issues from fogging other than those which would occur without a mask (coming in from a cold dry place to a warm, humid place, for example) ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2020, 12:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-not-wear-masks-forever/925019/72 "2020-11-12T12:09:21Z")
> [@HMS\_Irruncible](#): > > You conclude that people can’t stay home when they’re sick; I conclude something’s wrong with either the size or frequency of their sick pay. I’d love it if I got sick pay. Where do I sign up? As Oredigger pointed out, there are people who don’t get paid when they don’t work. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2020, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-not-wear-masks-forever/925019/73 "2020-11-12T14:13:00Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > … > As Oredigger pointed out, there are people who don’t get paid when they don’t work. And in a public health emergency, that’s a flaw of both the normal US system and the US emergency response. Other countries did step up and pay folks just like you to lock your shop’s door and stay home. And to pay any employees you have so they stay home too. That the US government failed in their duty to manage the threat competently is not your fault. But you certainly suffered for it. Just to be clear, were I in your shoes I’d have stayed open too. It was the sensible individual decision and I don’t fault you for making it. The problem comes when all these legitimate individual decisions result in the societal bad outcome of “lockdowns” that are just big enough to create widespread economic mayhem, while being far too small / porous to be effective at stopping the virus. It’s almost like somebody powerful who hates the USA is doing this deliberately. ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2020, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-not-wear-masks-forever/925019/74 "2020-11-12T15:53:49Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > I’d love it if I got sick pay. Where do I sign up? > > As Oredigger pointed out, there are people who don’t get paid when they don’t work. And as I pointed out, that’s a problem that should be remedied. I believe what we need to control disease in this country is aggressive legislation to safeguard public health, extending beyond the narrow scope of medicine and addressing reasons people get exposed. That means more stimulus, more federally mandated sick leave. Normalizing permanent mask-wearing… to me this just seems to normalize our country not having its shit together, with feckless leaders doing nothing and blaming bad outcomes on citizens apathy or entitlement. ---
**Author:** ![Ranch\_Dip](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranch_dip/32/5238_2.png) [@Ranch\_Dip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranch_Dip)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2020, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-not-wear-masks-forever/925019/75 "2020-11-13T01:15:37Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > moisture condenses in the mask and drips down my lip and chin Surgical masks don’t do this if you can get them. They have an absorbent inner layer. ---
**Author:** ![Bootb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e19b73/32.png) [@Bootb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bootb)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2020, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-not-wear-masks-forever/925019/76 "2020-11-13T01:28:32Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > Why “mask-scolding”? Why not just “wear a mask to protect others”? I’m acquainted with a handful of people who point to the early days of the pandemic, when the CDC advised the general public NOT to wear masks. They say, “Even the CDC admits that masks don’t do anything.” The mere fact that the advice has changed since then means diddly-squat to those people. They have their narrative, and they’re sticking to it with more vigor than a drowning man clings to a plank. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Bredin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/96bed5/32.png) [@John\_Bredin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Bredin)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2020, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-not-wear-masks-forever/925019/77 "2020-11-14T21:06:24Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > So…when this pandemic is finally over, why not have everyone wear masks anyway, **forever**? If you want a picture of the future, imagine store clerks and customers saying “Eh?? What?” to each other — forever. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![jaycat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jaycat/32/3015_2.png) [@jaycat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jaycat)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2020, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-not-wear-masks-forever/925019/78 "2020-11-14T23:08:32Z")
> [@Fiendish\_Astronaut](#): > > even before Covid I would see asian students wearing masks on most days. You see this a lot on the Boston subway too. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2020, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-not-wear-masks-forever/925019/79 "2020-11-15T00:59:28Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > As Oredigger pointed out, there are people who don’t get paid when they don’t work. When I worked for Radio Shack, I didn’t get paid when I did work! ---
**Author:** ![I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/i_love_me_vol.i/32/521_2.png) [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Love_Me_Vol.I)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2020, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-not-wear-masks-forever/925019/80 "2020-11-15T02:13:29Z")
> [@lobotomyboy63](#): > > Before my first trip to Europe some years ago, a fellow traveler said to me “When you’ve been there a couple days, blow your nose and see what comes out.” So I did. Wow, black specks in my kleenex. Here’s a map from 2016. I can see why in some places around the world, masks might reduce other illnesses. For me, your post didn’t explain things so well. What were the black specks? Why were they there? Is this different in Europe than where you live? Why? What does the map mean? What are the colors representing? Relative Black Speck Incidence by location? How did it show that: “some places around the world, masks might reduce other illnesses” ---
**Author:** ![lobotomyboy63](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobotomyboy63/32/2900_2.png) [@lobotomyboy63](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lobotomyboy63)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2020, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-not-wear-masks-forever/925019/81 "2020-11-15T02:31:42Z")
> [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](#): > > For me, your post didn’t explain things so well. > > What were the black specks? Why were they there? Is this different in Europe than where you live? Why? > > What does the map mean? What are the colors representing? Relative Black Speck Incidence by location? How did it show that: “some places around the world, masks might reduce other illnesses” When you go to the source, the title says: > Map of the day: Global air pollution levels The description says: > From the [World Health Organization](http://maps.who.int/airpollution/), a look at the state of Mother Earth’s air, revealing where the atmosphere has the highest concentrations of suspended particulate matter: The black specks, apparently, were suspended particulates of air pollution. If air pollution causes disease or aggravates conditions (like asthma), filtering some of those specks out by wearing a mask would seem likely to help. And yes, where I live (USA) I never see black specks when I blow my nose. That’s why my fellow traveler pointed it out. Or am I not understanding your questions correctly? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-not-wear-masks-forever/925019.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-not-wear-masks-forever/925019.md?page=5)