I don’t understand how wearing personal protective equipment is a signal of a virtue other than self preservation? It struck me as a strange statement in a pandemic that taking safety measures is a political statement. I’m sure that some were trying to make a political statement but in my personal experience folks were just worried about their elderly, sick, and selves and doing their best to use the only tool provided to feel safe. This doesn’t sound like virtue signaling as described in the article.

The people intentionally flouting public health mandates in some cases I’m sure genuinely had medical reasons to not. But most didn’t do it because they simply didn’t want to, and found comrades in others that denounced the mandates. This side was most certainly political and the lack of a mask was a public and obvious way to signal their beliefs against what they felt was oppression. And public health mandates are genuinely oppressive, which is why Supreme Court law has had to be settled (over a hundred years ago) that they’re allowed in a country with liberty at its core.

But I don’t think the two sides are symmetric. One is complying with the law of the land and acting in self preservation which requires only acquiesce, the other is resisting it and trying to build a consolidated movement around their cause. The first can’t reasonably be a form of virtue signaling, while the second may very well be.

You sure are making a lot of assumptions about me. I'm not even sure what the problem you're referring to here is. I was just impressed by what a concise, convincing argument in favor of masks you inadvertently made!