# Why was the American public told not to wear face masks? **URL:** \ **Category:** The Quarantine Zone\ **Tags:** covid-quarantine\ **Created:** [March 31, 2020, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-the-american-public-told-not-to-wear-face-masks/850742 "2020-03-31T15:06:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Reginald\_Knutsen\_the\_3rd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85e7bf/32.png) [@Reginald\_Knutsen\_the\_3rd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reginald_Knutsen_the_3rd)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2020, 6:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-the-american-public-told-not-to-wear-face-masks/850742/61 "2020-04-01T06:33:43Z")
The amount of speech being propelled from rear ends in this thread is robust. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2020, 7:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-the-american-public-told-not-to-wear-face-masks/850742/62 "2020-04-01T07:24:31Z")
> [@China\_Guy](#): > > I don’t think that anyone has mentioned singapore? Singaporeans are not wearing masks, have not shut schools, have not exclusively worked from home. What they have done is extreme contact chasing and literally made tests available at practically free from thousands of locations. City States have…options. ---
**Author:** ![El\_DeLuxo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_deluxo/32/9043_2.png) [@El\_DeLuxo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_DeLuxo)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2020, 11:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-the-american-public-told-not-to-wear-face-masks/850742/63 "2020-04-01T11:37:35Z")
> [@Waymore](#): > > That’s a scary sentiment. If my choices are to live under authoritarian controls or let the virus ravage the world, then go COVID go. A society where people “need to be controlled” is not worth saving. It’s not just scary, it’s disgusting. ---
**Author:** ![El\_DeLuxo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_deluxo/32/9043_2.png) [@El\_DeLuxo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_DeLuxo)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2020, 11:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-the-american-public-told-not-to-wear-face-masks/850742/64 "2020-04-01T11:41:05Z")
> [@asahi](#): > > People need to be controlled. We need to be told how to behave. Speak for yourself. ---
**Author:** ![Great\_Antibob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Great\_Antibob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Great_Antibob)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2020, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-the-american-public-told-not-to-wear-face-masks/850742/65 "2020-04-01T12:28:27Z")
What it comes down to is that absent N95 masks used properly - which should at the moment be going to medical professionals anyway and which laypeople generally don’t use properly - the working assumption behind having lots of people use some kind of covering is that infection has spread to the extent we assume nearly everybody is infected. As mentioned above in this thread, the masks are less about _getting_ infected and more about _not spreading_ the disease yourself. But if we make this assumption of widespread infection, the best things we can have people do are stay at home, wash hands frequently, and avoid contact with other people, i.e. the same things we’ve been asking people to do anyway. So, yeah, masks might help slow transmission of the disease a bit but they’re not a magic bullet, especially if they simply give people a false sense of security. Widespread use is in the same bucket as stay at home and social distancing orders. It’s pretty simple and something people continue to push back against: stay at home, wash your friggin’ hands, and minimize contact with other people. If you do go out, sure, wear a mask if you want, but don’t expect this to offer protection for yourself - it’s to protect other people from _you_. Asia, as mentioned in the OP, is a great example of this but for different reasons. We have some nations (like Singapore) that have not implemented widespread use of masks yet still able to control spread better than many Western nations via aggressive testing, social distancing, contact tracing, etc. We have other nations (like Japan) where mask use is already common/rampant but now seeing community spread at an alarming clip and only recently implementing some distancing measures. Most likely, mask use isn’t going to hurt (unless people hoard N95 masks so medical professionals can’t get them) and may even help a little, but it also wasn’t going to be something that helped a lot in the current emergency on its own. ---
**Author:** ![Waymore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/919ad9/32.png) [@Waymore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Waymore)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2020, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-the-american-public-told-not-to-wear-face-masks/850742/66 "2020-04-01T14:15:18Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > So far as murder is concerned, you are under authoritarian control. If you murder someone, you go to jail. > > Asahi has not suggested anything more. Or do you view the laws against murder as being an excessive infringement on your personal freedom? Prohibitions against murder and forcing an individual to take a shot against his will are hardly equivalent. ---
**Author:** ![Waymore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/919ad9/32.png) [@Waymore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Waymore)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2020, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-the-american-public-told-not-to-wear-face-masks/850742/67 "2020-04-01T14:18:43Z")
> [@velomont](#): > > If it takes “authoritarian controls” to keep people from tearing down police tape so that they can congregate in a out of bounds park, or to keep people from enduring the hardship of sitting in their living rooms for a few weeks, or to keep people two metres away from others, that’s not a problem with our society, that’s a problem with really lazy, entitled people who don’t give a shit about others. “really lazy, entitled people who don’t give a shit about others” _are_ our society. And if, as you state, these people who make up our society are really lazy and entitled, so much so that they’re willing to endanger others due to a little boredom, then that society doesn’t merit saving. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2020, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-the-american-public-told-not-to-wear-face-masks/850742/68 "2020-04-01T14:39:18Z")
> [@Waymore](#): > > Prohibitions against murder and forcing an individual to take a shot against his will are hardly equivalent. You’re right: it’s more like negligent homicide. It’s less like shooting a specific person, more like randomly firing a gun where it could hit people. I’m fine with both of those things being illegal. ---
**Author:** ![Shalmanese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2020, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-the-american-public-told-not-to-wear-face-masks/850742/69 "2020-04-01T15:40:49Z")
All of Asia has been staring on at collective horror and befuddlement at the consistent “masks don’t work” messaging coming from Western medical authorities. Cheap surgical masks have been considered an integral and cost effective way of fighting infectious diseases in Asia ever since SARS due to rigorous, evidence backed research. Here’s a [peer reviewed meta study](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6993921/) from the Cochrane Review in 2011 comprised entirely of Western scientists where the conclusion was: > [@](#): > > Nine case‐control studies suggested implementing transmission barriers, isolation and hygienic measures are effective at containing respiratory virus epidemics. **Surgical masks or N95 respirators were the most consistent and comprehensive supportive measures. N95 respirators were non‐inferior to simple surgical masks but more expensive, uncomfortable and irritating to skin.** Here’s a [New York Times Article from 2018](https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/23/well/live/face-masks-work-healthy-colds-flu-immunity-prevention.html) that claims > [@](#): > > Surgical masks also afford fairly good protection for the worried well. In an oft-cited study of 446 nurses, researchers found **surgical masks were as good, or nearly as good, at protecting the wearer against flu as respirators** , a somewhat more high-tech, masklike device used in hospitals. > > The work of Australian investigators provides further support for the value of the simple surgical mask. **They estimate that in a home setting, wearing a surgical mask decreases a well person’s risk of getting sick by 60 percent to 80 percent.** All of the evidence pre-2020, including by WHO authors, was always super pro-mask and then WHO and CDC abruptly shift gears and start claiming masks are useless as soon as it becomes clear there might not be enough for healthcare workers. It’s hard to ascribe this to anything except an intentional big lie which, unfortunately, has wasted valuable time when countries could have encouraged domestic manufacturers to produce more masks and people could have been ramping up homemade mask production. Also, there’s been very little Western documentation on how to safely reuse disposable masks. In China, [Fudan University](https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/3QYVWO4kj5qwuSHnhcM9uQ) published a study Feb 9th detailing safe ways to sterilize masks for reuse so that a limited supply of masks could be used for the duration of the quarantine and it became practical for the Chinese government to ban anyone from being outside without a mask. Viruses, unlike bacteria, can’t reproduce outside of a living host so the viral load on any object can only go down over time. In China, masks were generally considered safe to reuse after they were left hanging for 5 days so having ~5 masks per person was considered enough to get by indefinitely under lockdown. ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2020, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-the-american-public-told-not-to-wear-face-masks/850742/70 "2020-04-01T15:48:05Z")
Wearing masks is why Corona has barely been an issue in China. CMC fnord! ---
**Author:** ![Shalmanese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2020, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-the-american-public-told-not-to-wear-face-masks/850742/71 "2020-04-01T15:49:23Z")
[Sup China](https://supchina.com/2020/02/11/all-the-hilariously-aggressive-coronavirus-banners-found-in-china/) has published a collection of translations of the public health messages placed around China to help communicate about the lockdown and they’re aggressively blunt and non-negotiable about the importance of masks: > [@](#): > > 省小钱不戴口罩, 花大钱卧床治病 > Save pennies not wearing a mask, Spend a fortune getting treatment on your sickbed > > 口罩还是呼吸机, 您老看着二选一 > A surgical mask or a breathing tube, It’s your call > > 神仙也要戴口罩，疫情不是开玩笑 > Even Chinese gods have to wear masks, The epidemic is no joke > > 不戴口罩就出门，这个杂种不是人 > You are a piece of garbage if you go out without wearing a mask > > 戴口罩总比带呼吸机好，躺家里总比躺ICU强 > Wearing a mask is undeniably better than being hooked up to a breathing tube, Lying at home is better than being placed in the ICU ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2020, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-the-american-public-told-not-to-wear-face-masks/850742/72 "2020-04-01T17:22:54Z")
Masks are required by my school for us when we are teaching. There are also now legally required for any public transportation. Taiwan has enough for the professionals and although they are still rationed here, it’s easier to get them. We had a bunch so we are good. If nothing else, they help me remember to not touch my face, including my eyes, nose and mouth. ---
**Author:** ![Settimo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eada6e/32.png) [@Settimo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Settimo)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2020, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-the-american-public-told-not-to-wear-face-masks/850742/73 "2020-04-01T19:18:58Z")
> [@Mama\_Zappa](#): > > There’s been quite a lot of buzz in the past 24 hours that suggest everyone should wear masks in public - even if it’s a simple homemade one. The US really seems to be dithering over the mask thing, and I’d wish they’d just recommend it (non-N95, just some kind of covering, like a surgical mask). Even if 99 non-contagious people have to put up with one, it doing little good for each, for the sake of the one person strolling around infected but pre-symptomatic, mildly symptomatic, or completely asymptomatic, emitting viral droplets. OTOH ISTR the jury’s a bit out over whether wearing a mask makes you touch your face less, or more–if you’re constantly adjusting your mask, then it might be more. ---
**Author:** ![filmore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/7993a0/32.png) [@filmore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/filmore)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2020, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-the-american-public-told-not-to-wear-face-masks/850742/74 "2020-04-01T19:36:02Z")
> [@Settimo](#): > > OTOH ISTR the jury’s a bit out over whether wearing a mask makes you touch your face less, or more–if you’re constantly adjusting your mask, then it might be more. From a practical sense, I wonder if having a mask on really significantly changes how often a specific person touches their face. If someone ends up touching the mask a lot, I question how diligent they are about not touching their face in general even without a mask. ---
**Author:** ![Waymore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/919ad9/32.png) [@Waymore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Waymore)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2020, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-the-american-public-told-not-to-wear-face-masks/850742/75 "2020-04-01T21:12:31Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > You’re right: it’s more like negligent homicide. > > It’s less like shooting a specific person, more like randomly firing a gun where it could hit people. I’m fine with both of those things being illegal. Recklessly discharging a firearm into a crowd of people and forcing a person to be vaccinated against his will are hardly the same thing. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2020, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-the-american-public-told-not-to-wear-face-masks/850742/76 "2020-04-01T22:10:32Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > You’re right: it’s more like negligent homicide. > > … There’s this thing called “science” that the anti-vac crownd need to look into. ---
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2020, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-the-american-public-told-not-to-wear-face-masks/850742/77 "2020-04-01T23:18:56Z")
> [@DaveRaver](#): > > Was it just a “white lie” to ease demand so that hospitals wouldn’t face a shortage? That may be so, but it seems they made the crisis much worse in the U.S., and was a terrible betrayal to public health. This, quite simply, is the answer. And I agree that it was not okay, even if they had a “noble motive”. It’s going to make people very skeptical of public health recommendations. What we clearly have to do is filter everything we hear through a screen of “cui bono?” That is: could there be an ulterior motive here? What is the real truth likely to be, given various competing interests? It’s unfortunate. ---
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2020, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-the-american-public-told-not-to-wear-face-masks/850742/78 "2020-04-01T23:26:35Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Ok, some rando on a MB says “masks work”.:dubious: > > The WHO and the CDC and the Surgeon General say “they don’t”. > > Who to believe, who to believe?:rolleyes: 😕 **DD** , you’re way behind the times on this. > **[Should the public wear face masks? Experts are weighing new guidance](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/wear-face-masks-coronavirus-public-experts/)** > > Top officials are considering new guidance for public use of face masks. > [@](#): > > In an interview with “CBS Evening News” anchor Norah O’Donnell, Fauci stressed that “the primary people who need masks are the health care providers who are putting themselves in harm’s way when they are taking care of someone with a highly contagious disease.” They also need to be worn by COVID-19 patients to prevent them from infecting others. > > But since people can be infected and spread the virus without having any symptoms themselves, would asking everyone to wear masks in public offer some protection? Fauci cautioned that such a recommendation will be contingent on having an adequate supply. > > “One thing you don’t want to do is, by recommending that people in the community generally wear masks, is if it takes it away from the people who really need it,” Fauci said. "But in a perfect world, if you had an unlimited supply of masks — which we don’t — if those individuals could possibly be spreading infection and not even knowing it, [masks are] a potentially good way of preventing that. It’s not 100%, for sure, we know from studies that masks are not 100%, but we don’t want the perfect to be the enemy of the good in doing something that you could have an impact in preventing transmission. > > The consideration marks a stark change in federal messaging. In February, about a month after the first case of the coronavirus was reported in the United States, Surgeon General Jerome Adams pleaded with the public to stop buying masks for personal use. > > “Seriously people — STOP BUYING MASKS,” Adams wrote on Twitter. “They are NOT effective in preventing the general public from catching coronavirus, but if healthcare providers can’t get them to care for sick patients, it puts them and our communities at risk!” > > On Wednesday, however, he too said that the government is reconsidering its early advice, in order to “clear the air” over the the nation’s mask confusion. > > “Initially, the CDC, the World Health Organization, and my office recommended against the general public wearing masks based on the best available science at the time, in terms of whether or not it prevented the wearer from catching coronavirus,” Adams said on “Good Morning America.” “Now, we’ve learned about this disease… and we’ve learned that there’s a fair amount of asymptomatic spread.” But yeah, I was a “rando on a MB” saying the earlier advice was bullshit weeks ago. Shows what I know! :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2020, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-the-american-public-told-not-to-wear-face-masks/850742/79 "2020-04-01T23:47:47Z")
> [@SlackerInc](#): > > 😕 **DD** , you’re way behind the times on this. > > [Face masks in public? Experts are weighing new guidance - CBS News](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/wear-face-masks-coronavirus-public-experts/) > > But yeah, I was a “rando on a MB” saying the earlier advice was bullshit weeks ago. Shows what I know! :dubious: That only says that IF there was a unlimited supply of mask- \*which there ain’t, \*then “masks are] a potentially good way of preventing that.” Potentially. Maybe. But as Fauci made clear- wearing a mask doesnt protect _you-_ it protects _others_ if you are sick. Now, yes, you can be sick and not know it. But still, most non-medical people that wear masks wear them wrongly, and will have a totally false sense of security. They dont help you if you arent sick. ---
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2020, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-the-american-public-told-not-to-wear-face-masks/850742/80 "2020-04-01T23:56:51Z")
I am highly dubious of the idea that the people wearing masks are being more careless than those without them. I have not been out there in weeks (my wife has done the shopping), but my strong hunch is that the correlation would go the other way: masks would be a signifier of people who are careful in _general_. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-the-american-public-told-not-to-wear-face-masks/850742.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-the-american-public-told-not-to-wear-face-masks/850742.md?page=5)