It’s Time to Roll Back the Mask Mandates, Not Ramp Them Up Ridiculously

Joe Biden recently made an effort to turn the mask hysteria up to 11, saying, “Every single American should be wearing a mask when they are outside for the next three months at a minimum.  Every governor should mandate mask wearing.”

Why should America broadly expand masking now?  The proverbial “curve” could hardly be flatter in most places in America, and those states that experienced a summer surge, like Texas, Florida, and California, all appear to already be on the other side of their respective “curves.”

Here are three reasons why it’s time to roll back the mask mandates, rather than ramp them up to ridiculous new levels like Biden suggests.

There’s still just not a lot of evidence that the masks do much to help in slowing or stopping viral spread in the real world.

United States of Socia... D'Souza, Dinesh Buy New $25.93 (as of 11:38 UTC - Details) I know, I know. Every time it becomes clear that someone is going to argue against the supposedly obvious efficacy of the universal masking of a population, healthy and unhealthy alike, that person is invariably met with some variation of the following by a masks-for-all advocate:

“Oh yeah?  You think you know better than all the scientists who just overturned decades of scientific consensus by saying that wearing masks stops viral spread, huh?  Well, tell me this, smart guy.  If you cough or sneeze into a mask, how could it not catch some of the droplets of moisture that could be carrying the virus?”

First of all, even in a laboratory setting, the science is hardly settled in favor of “masks work.”  Actually, the strength of the argument that cloth masks work lies more in a lack of evidence proving that they’re ineffective than the strength of evidence suggesting that they’re effective, which is a terrible basis for setting public policy in a way that impedes upon Americans’ lives. 

But, hey, I’m easy.  I’ll just go along with the notion that wearing a bandana or something snugly around your face, covering your nose and mouth, is an effective means to stop or slow COVID-19 spread.

If that’s true, and if human beings were predictable and reliable in thoughts, actions, and purpose, that mask mandate you’re advocating might work outside of a laboratory.  But human beings aren’t. Trumpocalypse: The End... Anderson, Troy Best Price: $13.90 Buy New $15.99 (as of 04:55 UTC - Details)

As an example of how these variables tend to play out in real life, consider a story I heard recently from a friend about a child taking his SpongeBob mask to his first day of school, only to return home with a Batman mask. He’d traded with a friend because each thought the other mask was cooler, you see.

The CDC also currently says that for a mask to be safe and effective, you’re always supposed to wash your hands before putting it on (like you never see anyone do), you’re never supposed to touch the mask or put it around your neck (like you always see people do), and the masks are supposed to be “washed after each use.”  How often do you wash yours?

This is an example of the human element in any free society — chaotic, unpredictable, and often noncompliant — that social engineers loathe as a pesky obstacle to progress, and scientists can’t even begin to replicate in the lab.

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