listen, i don't doubt that masks, if worn sensibly by a substantive amount of the population, would reduce the spread of the disease. i would argue that, unless we want to commit to wearing masks all of the time, it's just a stop-gap measure. but, i don't doubt the abstract premise.

like it was with social distancing, though, the way we're doing the mask thing actually has the potential to make it worse.

i was handed masks by two different store attendants on friday, a gift i refused on both occasions. i'm asthmatic, you see. but, the way the masks were handed out seemed to me more likely to spread the disease than prevent it's spread, given that these attendants were in high traffic areas and the masks were just handed to me loosely, after the actual masks had been pawed all over by these employees. so, i'm in essence being asked to put this device on my face that's been grab-handed all over by somebody at a heightened risk. no thank you.

i'm seeing reports about handing out masks at drive thrus. well, the whole fucking point of the drive thru is that people are isolated in their cars; if you send a guy around with masks, you're just creating a transmission vector.

and, of course, people are going to, in truth, do things like reuse masks and put them in their pockets and stuff, which is just going to make things worse, as their masks act like a wet mop in pulling virus particles out of the air.

i don't really see the utility of mask-wearing at this time. transmission rates in this community seem to be low to non-existent, and i've been self-isolating for months. i would consider that to be a drastic step, and i'm not nearly concerned enough to take it.

but, is a push to use masks in this way likely to be effective? i worry that the pro-active approach mandated in the public health law may have the effect of increasing spread, even if the voluntary recommendation, itself, is reasonable for those that are responsible about it.