Uh, maybe because we have half a brain?! Fear mongering and shaming in full force…
Why do some people refuse to wear masks? Defiance, misguided thinking
May 31, 2020 4 am
Two unmasked chat while waiting to cross the street.
2of3Two unmasked chat while waiting to cross the street.Photo: Nick Otto / Special to The Chronicle
Two people take a selfie on the Embarcadero as woman jogs past them.
3of3Two people take a selfie on the Embarcadero as woman jogs past them.Photo: Nick Otto / Special to The Chronicle
In February, as awareness of the coronavirus grew, Stanford behavior scientist BJ Fogg took a precaution traveling through Los Angeles International Airport: He wore a mask.
“I was one of like three people in the whole airport that was wearing one, and I felt really odd,” Fogg said. “Now, I think it’s flipped. The norm, at least there, has probably shifted.”
In a few months, masks went from a rare to routine sight in much of the U.S. Health officials now recommend their use in public settings: According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, wearing a cloth face covering may slow spread of the virus that causes COVID-19 by preventing droplets from infected people from being transmitted to others.
Mask-wearing is increasingly mandated by businesses and jurisdictions, and some believe the rules should be broader. Jeremy Howard, a research scientist at the University of San Francisco, co-wrote an open letter signed by more than 100 scientists urging governors to require masks in public.
Two unmasked chat while waiting to cross the street.
2of3Two unmasked chat while waiting to cross the street.Photo: Nick Otto / Special to The Chronicle
Two people take a selfie on the Embarcadero as woman jogs past them.
3of3Two people take a selfie on the Embarcadero as woman jogs past them.Photo: Nick Otto / Special to The Chronicle
In February, as awareness of the coronavirus grew, Stanford behavior scientist BJ Fogg took a precaution traveling through Los Angeles International Airport: He wore a mask.
“I was one of like three people in the whole airport that was wearing one, and I felt really odd,” Fogg said. “Now, I think it’s flipped. The norm, at least there, has probably shifted.”
In a few months, masks went from a rare to routine sight in much of the U.S. Health officials now recommend their use in public settings: According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, wearing a cloth face covering may slow spread of the virus that causes COVID-19 by preventing droplets from infected people from being transmitted to others.
Mask-wearing is increasingly mandated by businesses and jurisdictions, and some believe the rules should be broader. Jeremy Howard, a research scientist at the University of San Francisco, co-wrote an open letter signed by more than 100 scientists urging governors to require masks in public.
“Pretty much every state also requires that you wear pants in public,” Howard said. “A mask is much more important from a hygiene point of view. If you don’t wear pants, you’re probably not going to kill anybody. But if you’re not going to wear a mask, you absolutely might kill people.”
The idea is that people who have the virus and don’t know it or are asymptomatic are less likely to emit droplets and infect someone if they’re wearing a mask. While, at least in the Bay Area, it seems most people wear masks when going into grocery stores, banks, post offices and for curbside pickup, it’s clear not everyone is on board.
Objections to mask rules range from high-profile confrontations at stores and protests to walking through the grocery aisles without a mask or with one dangling around the neck. Reasons for resistance can be just as varied.
“I can only guess at what those are,” Fogg said. “But some might be to show defiance, to make a political statement, to somehow express or feel like they are free and can do whatever they want.”
A HuffPost/YouGov survey released last week found that 8% of Americans self-reported feeling judged negatively for wearing a face mask in public, while 23% felt they were judged positively and 54% felt they were not judged at all. In the poll, 8% said they see wearing a mask as a sign of weakness.
“Which is really weird,” said Howard, the USF researcher. “Like, there’s so many total badasses that wear masks — whether they be ninjas, military in the desert, welders, whatever.”
A recent study conducted by researchers in Berkeley and Britain found men surveyed were more likely than women to identify wearing a mask as “shameful, not cool, a sign of weakness, and a stigma.” The survey, of 2,459 people mostly ages 25 to 54, also found that overall men were less inclined to wear masks than women.
more:
https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/Why-do-some-people-refuse-to-wear-masks-15304985.php