You hear a lot that wearing a mask "isn't a big deal." Personally, I don't mind it terribly - if anything I am more annoyed by the theater of it. Walking into a restaurant with it on and taking it off at the table is bizarre from a relative risk standpoint, and it's tedious. On the other hand, it's even more more tedious to remove it briefly every time you want to eat or drink. This is widely agreed, and so society has just given up on mask wearing at the table. Society is delicately dancing toward an equilibrium of consensus where people balance perceived safety with practicality.
Of course, the very fact that people do not strictly adhere to the mandate is evidence that there is some cost to wearing the mask, even if it's modest. We would rather not wear a mask, all things being equal, and we seek out socially approved ways we can avoid it.
More evidence that wearing a mask is dominated by social pressure as much or more than infectious risk: cloth masks. The evidence seems to be strong that they are weak at protecting people. (K)N95 masks are now widely available and affordable, unlike at the beginning of the pandemic. I periodically purchase them 10 or 20 at a time and have them shipped to me in a few days. A lot of people don't want to be bothered, though. Many people just don't care to do more than gesture at safety.
None of this is new. We lived through 9/11 and got a taste of what safetyism is. People are exhausted by constantly making objective risk assessments, lack information to make confident predictions, and are happy to perform as requested...to a point.
I wonder what the market clearing price of not wearing a mask would be. Imagine if there was a market in de-masking rights. What do you do with the auction proceeds? Well, put it into vaccine R&D, or vaccination drives, or lotteries, whatever. It would have to be kind of draconian though - you'd have to be able to enforce mask wearing on those who haven't paid. So it's probably not workable in the real world. The ethics are also complicated. You'd potentially make the pandemic worse by letting people buy the right to not wear a mask, at least in some areas. But then again, the pandemic is endogenous. The price of not wearing the mask would fall if the perceived risk of infection were higher. The elasticity there would be interesting to observe. Alas!
Of course, we could just ask people what they would pay to not wear a mask. I'd pay a few dollars a day, easily. At least I think I would. I am vaccinated, live in San Francisco where vaccination rates are high, work at home and can be very selective in my social activity. It's a warm time of year when I can do many things outside or with windows wide open. Aggregate those dollars up with everyone else, across a few years of pandemic and lingering infection. It's a meaningful value. Many people who say the masks aren't a big deal (1) seem to not apply this type of economic thinking to these questions and (2) seem to place very low value on being free of masks, and are letting their personal values color their analytical approaches.
I would love to see some cost/benefit analysis of NPIs, boosters, etc. along these lines. As far as I can tell, the public health establishment doesn't do it.
Of course, the very fact that people do not strictly adhere to the mandate is evidence that there is some cost to wearing the mask, even if it's modest. We would rather not wear a mask, all things being equal, and we seek out socially approved ways we can avoid it.
More evidence that wearing a mask is dominated by social pressure as much or more than infectious risk: cloth masks. The evidence seems to be strong that they are weak at protecting people. (K)N95 masks are now widely available and affordable, unlike at the beginning of the pandemic. I periodically purchase them 10 or 20 at a time and have them shipped to me in a few days. A lot of people don't want to be bothered, though. Many people just don't care to do more than gesture at safety.
None of this is new. We lived through 9/11 and got a taste of what safetyism is. People are exhausted by constantly making objective risk assessments, lack information to make confident predictions, and are happy to perform as requested...to a point.
I wonder what the market clearing price of not wearing a mask would be. Imagine if there was a market in de-masking rights. What do you do with the auction proceeds? Well, put it into vaccine R&D, or vaccination drives, or lotteries, whatever. It would have to be kind of draconian though - you'd have to be able to enforce mask wearing on those who haven't paid. So it's probably not workable in the real world. The ethics are also complicated. You'd potentially make the pandemic worse by letting people buy the right to not wear a mask, at least in some areas. But then again, the pandemic is endogenous. The price of not wearing the mask would fall if the perceived risk of infection were higher. The elasticity there would be interesting to observe. Alas!
Of course, we could just ask people what they would pay to not wear a mask. I'd pay a few dollars a day, easily. At least I think I would. I am vaccinated, live in San Francisco where vaccination rates are high, work at home and can be very selective in my social activity. It's a warm time of year when I can do many things outside or with windows wide open. Aggregate those dollars up with everyone else, across a few years of pandemic and lingering infection. It's a meaningful value. Many people who say the masks aren't a big deal (1) seem to not apply this type of economic thinking to these questions and (2) seem to place very low value on being free of masks, and are letting their personal values color their analytical approaches.
I would love to see some cost/benefit analysis of NPIs, boosters, etc. along these lines. As far as I can tell, the public health establishment doesn't do it.