Emily
Editor, Senior Moderator
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/04/are-outdoor-mask-mandates-still-necessary/618626/
Are Outdoor Mask Mandates Still Necessary?
Governments need to give Americans an off-ramp to the post-pandemic world. Ending outdoor mask requirements would be a good place to start.
April 19, 2021
Derek Thompson
Staff writer at The Atlantic
Last week, I covered my nose and mouth with close-fitting fabric like a good citizen and walked to a restaurant in Washington, D.C., where I de-masked at a patio table to greet a friend. I sat with my chair facing the entrance and watched dozens of people perform the same ritual, removing a mask they?d worn outside and alone. It seemed like the most normal thing in the world. Until, suddenly, it seemed very weird.
...
Outdoor mask mandates might also turn people off from obeying better rules. ?Given the very low risk of transmission outdoors, I think outdoor mask use, from a public-health perspective, seems arbitrary,? Muge Cevik, an infectious-disease and virology expert at the University of St. Andrews, in Scotland, told The Washington Post. ?I think it affects the public?s trust and willingness to engage in much higher-yield interventions. We want people to be much more vigilant in indoor spaces.?
...
Julia Marcus, an epidemiologist at Harvard Medical School, spoke with several male mask skeptics last year for a piece in The Atlantic. When she explained that masking wasn?t as important outdoors, the men became more amenable to wearing them indoors. By connecting rules to reasons, she got them to see the value of covering their nose and mouth when it actually mattered. Last week, Marcus told me that she?s baffled by the notion that the best way to get people to wear masks inside is to mandate that everybody wear one when they?re alone outside. ?We don?t recommend condom use when people are enjoying themselves alone to get them to wear condoms with their sexual partners,? she said...
Are Outdoor Mask Mandates Still Necessary?
Governments need to give Americans an off-ramp to the post-pandemic world. Ending outdoor mask requirements would be a good place to start.
April 19, 2021
Derek Thompson
Staff writer at The Atlantic
Last week, I covered my nose and mouth with close-fitting fabric like a good citizen and walked to a restaurant in Washington, D.C., where I de-masked at a patio table to greet a friend. I sat with my chair facing the entrance and watched dozens of people perform the same ritual, removing a mask they?d worn outside and alone. It seemed like the most normal thing in the world. Until, suddenly, it seemed very weird.
...
Outdoor mask mandates might also turn people off from obeying better rules. ?Given the very low risk of transmission outdoors, I think outdoor mask use, from a public-health perspective, seems arbitrary,? Muge Cevik, an infectious-disease and virology expert at the University of St. Andrews, in Scotland, told The Washington Post. ?I think it affects the public?s trust and willingness to engage in much higher-yield interventions. We want people to be much more vigilant in indoor spaces.?
...
Julia Marcus, an epidemiologist at Harvard Medical School, spoke with several male mask skeptics last year for a piece in The Atlantic. When she explained that masking wasn?t as important outdoors, the men became more amenable to wearing them indoors. By connecting rules to reasons, she got them to see the value of covering their nose and mouth when it actually mattered. Last week, Marcus told me that she?s baffled by the notion that the best way to get people to wear masks inside is to mandate that everybody wear one when they?re alone outside. ?We don?t recommend condom use when people are enjoying themselves alone to get them to wear condoms with their sexual partners,? she said...
