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Imagine 3 people. 1 of them masks, and makes 1 trip. The other 2 don't mask, and make 2 trips each. 1/3 of distinct people are masking, but only 1/5 of your *encounters* with the people will find one of them masked.
Flipping things, imagine 2 mask, making one 1 trip each; 1 doesn't mask, and makes 2 trips. 2/3 of the people mask, but only 2/4 of the trips are masked.
What does this mean in practice? I don't think it means you're any safer -- unmasked encounters are still that -- but it means that the number of individuals who choose to mask may be higher than it looks, because the people who choose to mask are likely also choosing to make fewer trips.
(Is that true? Am *I* making fewer trips? Yeah, though it varies. I've taken public transit a lot less than I used to. I second guess getting health care. I feel like I'm not very dissuaded from grocery store trips -- but I've been used to stores with mostly masking, and open doors. Here back in the US, with 50% masking... well, I trust my Aura, but I also tend to go mid-day with fewer people[1]. A really big crowd is deterrent, especially if I show up with a lower-grade mask, as when I found myself at a busy Trader Joe's the other day. OTOH there's not much effect on my simply going for walks.)
[1] And perhaps more masks at that hour. The Safeway where I've been counting 50% masking, looked more like 1/6 at 6 PM tonight, though I didn't stick around long enough to count for sure. Perhaps mid-day gets more of elderly or the work-from-home types who are also more masking.
I took BART Monday. One car was 3/11 masked when I got on, 5/12 when I got off; coming back was 2/5, then 1/2. Not many people on it. Again, this is mid-day, not rush hour, whatever that's like these days.
Flipping things, imagine 2 mask, making one 1 trip each; 1 doesn't mask, and makes 2 trips. 2/3 of the people mask, but only 2/4 of the trips are masked.
What does this mean in practice? I don't think it means you're any safer -- unmasked encounters are still that -- but it means that the number of individuals who choose to mask may be higher than it looks, because the people who choose to mask are likely also choosing to make fewer trips.
(Is that true? Am *I* making fewer trips? Yeah, though it varies. I've taken public transit a lot less than I used to. I second guess getting health care. I feel like I'm not very dissuaded from grocery store trips -- but I've been used to stores with mostly masking, and open doors. Here back in the US, with 50% masking... well, I trust my Aura, but I also tend to go mid-day with fewer people[1]. A really big crowd is deterrent, especially if I show up with a lower-grade mask, as when I found myself at a busy Trader Joe's the other day. OTOH there's not much effect on my simply going for walks.)
[1] And perhaps more masks at that hour. The Safeway where I've been counting 50% masking, looked more like 1/6 at 6 PM tonight, though I didn't stick around long enough to count for sure. Perhaps mid-day gets more of elderly or the work-from-home types who are also more masking.
I took BART Monday. One car was 3/11 masked when I got on, 5/12 when I got off; coming back was 2/5, then 1/2. Not many people on it. Again, this is mid-day, not rush hour, whatever that's like these days.