>I ask because I see simple things like mask wearing to be something that a lot of people seem to have a big problem with, whereas it seems to be something that confers clear benefits while having very little downside aside from some minor discomfort for some people.
I'm someone who was strongly anti-mask (and I still am), but I've softened that stance a bit. People should wear a mask if they want; they should learn how to do it properly; we probably don't have enough evidence yet to compel people to wear mask, but it's not a burdensome requirement so I guess it doesn't matter if it's law; please do remember deaf people often need to see your mouth to communicate.
It's weird how masks in the US are super polarising, and have become signs of political alliance.
But there's genuinely not much evidence that masks worn by members of the public when they're walking about do much to protect them from getting or transmitting the virus. There's a plausible mechanism of action (they trap droplets), but there are also plausible mechanisms of harm (they don't trap that many droplets; they embolden ill people to go outside; the could cause people to reduce their social distancing). In the UK I see a few people wearing masks and every single one of them has done weird things - taken the mask off to cough; taken the mask off to spit(!!!), taken the mask off smoke; left the mask on while speaking on a mobile phone (etc etc).
> The approach a lot of places seem to be taking is to forgo "significant precautions" and simply approach reopening as something where, as long as you do it slow enough in a phased approach, maybe things will just turn out fine. As if the virus can be tricked if we're sneaky enough about returning to normal.
I completely agree. We need a plan to come out of lockdown. That plan needs to include stuff like protecting the very vulnerable, test track and trace programmes to monitor the virus, clear guidance about social distancing in services and workplaces (how are cinemas ever going to re-open?), and it needs to be informed by science of virology and epidemiology. But at the moment (at least in the UK) we've got a less coherent mishmash of unclear advice that no-one can follow.