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An anti-masker question I've been seeing going around Twitter is "did you wear masks before 2020?" Implying that if they're a good idea now even with covid vaccines, they would have been a good idea then against cold and flu, and if we didn't wear them, we're inconsistent or irrationally afraid.
Well no, I didn't wear masks, nor any American I knew. But it's not because we considered masks and made a decision not to wear them. It's because we never considered them at all. We didn't reject it as an option, we didn't even have it as an option.
I have a bit less excuse than most: I did know that the Japanese would wear masks when sick. But even so, when I flew from Seattle in Feb 2020 with my last cold, it never occurred to me that wearing a mask was something I could do. If someone had brought it up, probably I would have wondered where I could even find a mask, especially on short notice. If someone had handed me one and suggested I wear it on the plane to be courteous to others, quite likely I would have worn it! But without that, it wasn't even on the mental menu.
Likewise, when I was suffering through various years of hay fever, "buy masks and wear them against pollen" never occurred to me. No choice was made, it just was.
Now, though? Now I do have multiple masks -- respirators -- that are comfortable and should filter at least 90% of particles. (The material itself should be better than 99%, the uncertainty is about fit.) I'm used to wearing them. I also now know that some Californian friends *did* have N95s, for protection against wildfire smoke. I can envision using masks as protection against pollen and PM2.5 pollution. Now I'd say "if I'm on a plane and sick, why *wouldn't* I wear a mask? Or if someone on the plane is coughing behind me? If I'm walking along a busy road, why wouldn't I want to cut the particulates I'm breathing by at least 90%? Why were we so tolerant of breathing filthy air?"
Well no, I didn't wear masks, nor any American I knew. But it's not because we considered masks and made a decision not to wear them. It's because we never considered them at all. We didn't reject it as an option, we didn't even have it as an option.
I have a bit less excuse than most: I did know that the Japanese would wear masks when sick. But even so, when I flew from Seattle in Feb 2020 with my last cold, it never occurred to me that wearing a mask was something I could do. If someone had brought it up, probably I would have wondered where I could even find a mask, especially on short notice. If someone had handed me one and suggested I wear it on the plane to be courteous to others, quite likely I would have worn it! But without that, it wasn't even on the mental menu.
Likewise, when I was suffering through various years of hay fever, "buy masks and wear them against pollen" never occurred to me. No choice was made, it just was.
Now, though? Now I do have multiple masks -- respirators -- that are comfortable and should filter at least 90% of particles. (The material itself should be better than 99%, the uncertainty is about fit.) I'm used to wearing them. I also now know that some Californian friends *did* have N95s, for protection against wildfire smoke. I can envision using masks as protection against pollen and PM2.5 pollution. Now I'd say "if I'm on a plane and sick, why *wouldn't* I wear a mask? Or if someone on the plane is coughing behind me? If I'm walking along a busy road, why wouldn't I want to cut the particulates I'm breathing by at least 90%? Why were we so tolerant of breathing filthy air?"
no subject
Date: 2022-02-13 15:03 (UTC)From:(I grew up around homeschoolers who wondered if one day society would look back in horror at the *social* environment it used to condemn its children to, but now I'm wondering if it will look back in horror at the *epidemiological* environment it once condemned its children to (and, by proxy, everyone who interacted a lot with children!).)
I was getting about one cold every 6 - 9 months while working maskless in a restaurant (part-time, ~10 - 20 hours/week, with hours tending to be higher in the summer), and one every 1 - 3 years when I was a fully study-from-home student and only doing in-person stuff a couple times a week for shopping and socialising (often outside!). My last cold was January 2019: I've already broken my all-time record of 34 months between colds (November 2012 - September 2015), and fingers crossed I'll keep my streak going for a while yet.