Should You Wear a Mask If You’re the Only One Doing It?
It is less and less common to see masks when you go outside. If you live in a place where people once knew how to disguise themselves, chances are that only a few still do it. If masks were rare in your area, I bet you haven’t seen a masked face in a long time. But the pandemic is not over, and many people who have avoided the virus for more than two years are now getting sick with a cough. So is it worth it to wear a mask again, even if no one else is doing it? Yes, I would say so.
Your risk of contracting COVID is still very high
Nearly a year ago, the CDC released a set of recommendations based on what transmission is like in each county. They said if there are more than 50 new cases per 100,000 people a day, then the transmission is “substantial” and we should all be masked. If the number of cases rises to 100 per 100,000, then the transmission rate is “high”. But then they changed the definitions. Today, my county has 237 cases per 100,000 people, and according to the current CDC map, our risk is only “medium.” This is a classic case of moving goalposts.
The new criteria, adopted earlier this year, are based on hospitalization. Overnight, our predominantly red (“high”) country was replaced with a predominantly green (“low”) map. It’s true that case data is becoming less useful as more people get tested at home, and these cases are usually mild enough to never make it into any official reporting system. But the overall effect is to look like our risk is lower than before. Is not.
Something similar happens when a municipality or federal agency stops enforcing mask-wearing rules. A federal rule required masks to be worn on public transportation, including at airports and on planes, until a lawsuit blocked it earlier this year. I flew recently and I would say that over 90% of my fellow travelers were not wearing masks at all. (Individual airlines could have continued to enforce the mask rule on their own, but the rule has always been controversial with some passengers, to the point of being dangerous for staff , and so it was probably easier to drop the issue.)
Cases of COVID reportedly spiked among TSA employees just after the federal mask rule was lifted. COVID is still very much.
The masks still work
But the facts about wearing a mask have not changed. If everyone in a room is wearing masks, that room is safer for someone without a mask who happens to be there. But even if you’re the only one wearing a mask, say on an airplane, your mask still protects you.
Cloth masks provide a small degree of protection. Loose surgical masks are perhaps a little better. But the best protection is a well-fitting N95 mask or similar. I still wear it when I go shopping or when I travel. (I recently contracted COVID, but I got it from a family member who is not as conscientious about wearing a mask.)
As many of us will know, you can get vaccinated and revaccinated and still get COVID. Your illness will likely be much less severe than that of an unvaccinated person, but getting sick isn’t fun and it’s still a gamble when it comes to complications like prolonged COVID.
It sucks that we can no longer rely on protection from others. But high quality masks are still available and they still work. If you’re worried about contracting COVID – and you probably should be – it’s a good idea to keep your mask on.