I wear a mask every time I leave our condo building, and I go out for walks maybe four or five times a week. Over the past month and a half, I have had some thoughts about the pros and cons of wearing a mask.
Pluses:
- For others: A mask will trap some or most of the virus as I exhale or if I cough or sneeze, thus reducing the likelihood that I will transmit the virus if I have it (I don't think I do, but who knows?).
- For me: A mask will trap some, but almost surely not all, of the potential droplets or aerosols containing the virus if I'm near someone who has the virus. When I go walking, I wear a mask made from a T-shirt (see this and this) into which I insert a triple layer of paper towels and a double layer of facial tissue. It's a good, tight fit, and I expect it's at least as good as many surgical masks. The very few times I have gone shopping and the one time I had to go to a clinic I wore an N95 mask. I know my wearing a mask won't stop all the viruses all the time, but it will most likely reduce the probability of my being hit by a cloud of virions, and the evidence I've seen suggests that is good.
- Face: Wearing a mask keeps me from touching my face. Unkind friends also point out that it keeps them from having to see my face.
- Signaling: When I'm walking, people see that I'm wearing a mask. They tend to give me a wide berth. I don't know why for sure, but I think some do because they can see that I am concerned and they want to honour that; another reason might be because a mask signals that maybe I have Covid19 and they want to avoid it if I might transmit it. Either way, the signal seems to lead to some distancing behaviour on the part of others.
- Virtue Signaling: It's a different type of signaling. It says to the world, "Look at me. I want to save lives." I don't know, honestly, if I regard this as a plus or a minus because it seems too much like the Pharisees of the New Testament, but I'll marginally call it a plus.
Minuses:
- Hydration: It's really hard to keep hydrated if you're wearing a mask. So I don't, even though I know hydration is generally a good idea. Instead I drink a lot before I leave home.
- Itchiness: People generally don't realize how often they touch their faces until they wear a mask. I often find I'd like to scratch my cheek or nose but can't because I'm wearing a mask.
- Glasses: The masks I wear do not have exhale vents, and so some of my exhaling seems to find its way up to my glasses. On cooler (and colder) days, my glasses fog up, which probably means there's too much leakage, but I can't imagine there isn't leakage around most masks. Fortunately, my eyesight is good enough, I can just take off my glasses when I'm wearing a mask.
- Nuisance: It's a pain, putting on a mask. For me, it's probably more of a pain because I have to refit my layers of filter each time, tie the mask on properly, untie it when I get home, throw out the filter, and put the masks in the washing machine. We put the N95s on the balcony in the sun to disinfect because otherwise we can't reuse them, and we have only one apiece.
- Recognition: Friends in our condo building don't recognize me: I wear a hat, no glasses, and a mask covering most of my face. It's only a little amusing; I see it as a negative more than a plus.
- Smiling [added after the original post] It's hard for people you meet on the trail to know whether you're smiling. I try to avoid people, but there are times when you meet someone; you both take opposite sides of the trail or sidewalk and try to leave at least 10' between you. I'd like to smile (and in fact I do) but I'm not sure they can tell, and so I nod or wave or try to indicate friendliness or kinship or something.
On balance for me, in our situation, the pros strongly outweigh the cons, and I'll keep wearing a mask for quite some time when I leave our building. We distance assiduously, wash frequently, and use hand sanitizers a lot; and our building does not permit any visitors, but there are enough people living here who are at risk that I want to be careful not to bring the virus here. Other nearby buildings have had Covid19 cases, but we've been careful and lucky here... so far.
I know I could reduce the risks even more by not going out for walks at all, by hiring others to do our shopping, etc. But in the great realm of trade-offs and risks, these are the few chances I'm willing to take. I'm just super cautious when I take those risks. But if some stores in this area require customers to wear masks before going in, those are the stores that will get my business.