The simple act of wearing a mask can save tens of thousands of lives over the next few months. As winter weather merges with many people moving life indoors, global health experts said wearing masks could save 100,000 lives from COVID-19 by January 1.
Benjamin Fearnow of Newsweek reported …
“Several infectious disease expert—including Dr. Anthony Fauci and Dr. Christopher Murray, the director of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation – warned of a fall and winter season 'surge' of coronavirus cases and deaths. Researchers at the University of Washington's IHME said outdoor mask usage is just above 50 percent, and between 95,000-100,000 lives could be protected from COVID-19 related deaths if 95 percent of Americans wear masks in the coming cold weather months.”
(Benjamin Fearnow. “If 95 Percent of Americans Wear Masks, 100,000 Lives Can Be Saved by January 1: IHME Report. Newsweek. September 26, 2020.)
Why, despite all the safety directives and health warnings, do some people refuse to wear a mask while in public during the deadly COVID-19 pandemic?
It is true that some people are worried that wearing a mask might limit oxygen intake in ways that could be harmful. Yet, Maria Godoy, senior science and health editor for NPR, says that does not apply for the types of cloth masks or surgical masks that the general public wears. The fibers they're made of aren't dense enough to block the exchange of gases, like oxygen or carbon dioxide. And these masks aren't so tight that air can't get in around the sides.
Now, there is some evidence that wearing N95 respirators for long periods of time - like an hour or more - can reduce the amount of oxygen you take in, but those masks seal more tightly to the face. And the risk there is really for people who are predisposed to breathing problems, like emphysema. So, you know, and also really only medical workers should be wearing N95s because they're still in short supply.
Some others say that people who have serious respiratory conditions should not wear a mask. Godoy relates that doctors say people with these conditions especially need to be masking up in public because they are at greater risk for severe disease if they get COVID-19. Even if someone relies on oxygen when they go out in public, they can wear a loose-fitting mask over their cannula, the tube that delivers air under their nose. And if someone with a serious respiratory condition is having a really hard time breathing through face mask, they should definitely talk to their doctor, but they could try a face shield.
Why People Won't Mask
Politics and History
Americans in the U.S. are particularly individualistic. They possess the heritage to self-determine the path of each of their lives. Most Americans do not like people telling them what to do. This is instilled in their collective psyche because of history, the founding of the country, and the creation of a democratic government.
Therefore, some people do not want to wear masks because they believe it infringes upon their personal right to self-determination. Under the circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic, they fail to evaluate whether mask wearing is logical or illogical, even whether it is a preventive measure or not.
These individuals do sacrifice many civil liberties during this pandemic, yet to assert individuality at all times, even over scientific knowledge of viral transmission, is unpatriotic and uncaring. Stubborn resistance to masking and social distancing even delays the reopening of safe, public places and events. Yet some continue to resist masking, and after the fact, they tie their stance in with their political affiliation to justify their decision.
These individualistic non-maskers fail to understand protecting others is not an act of tyranny or oppression, but a needed inconvenience to protect them, their families, and other at-risk Americans. Like seat belts and immunizations, masks save lives.
Impotent Personalities
People with so-called “impotent personalities” just don’t care about other people and what happens to them, whether others get ill with COVID-19 or not. Their only concern is with themselves, but not in a beneficial way. They do not look after their own health well. Instead, they pay extraordinary attention to their wants and desires in an impulsive way. This could be related to a psychological phenomenon known as “psychic numbing,” the idea that “the more people die, the less we care.”
Impotent personalities act helpless in demonstrating caring consideration for others. They behave and think impotently, as if they are inert. Thus, they have no desire to wear a mask to protect themselves or others from infection. They believe the practice is bothersome and too much trouble.
There is even a human tendency to make sacrifices for the suffering that is right in front of a person's eyes, but not the suffering that is distant or difficult to see.
Magical Thinking
Other people follow an illogical approach that engages in magical thinking. The American Psychological Association defines “magical thinking” as “the belief that events or the behavior of others can be influenced by one’s thoughts, wishes, or rituals.” People tend to make connections between mystical thinking and real-life events, even when it’s not rational.
With this type of thinking people believe that things happening in life take place by conjuring and desire. There is an allure to thinking magically, irrespective of the reality of a circumstance. Some people come up with lots of explanations that really don’t make sense, or shouldn’t, such as the common belief in aliens coming to earth. Or bigfoot living up in the north woods.
Their thinking: I’ve been in self-quarantine for four months. I am tired of this. I want my life back to normal. I’ll just go back to living my life as I did before COVID-19 came along; no need to take precautions or wear a mask. I’m done with COVID-19.”
Illusory Truth
Another factor that may be at play is called “illusory truth.” Many of us are familiar with the quotation, “Repeat a lie often enough and people will eventually come to believe it.” The more people hear something that’s false, the more it appears to be plausible and they just might begin to believe it.
Crisis events like the COVID-19 pandemic are circumstances where people are actively searching for information, and some of what they will find will inevitably be misinformation given the volume of misinformation being created and the affordances of social media services that encourage viral spread. So if a group or an entity of influence tells you that the COVID-19 pandemic is not a big deal and there is no need to wear a mask, you might start believing that falsehood, Ernst said.
The illusory truth effect comes down to processing fluency. When a thought is easier to process, it requires people's brains to use less energy, which leads them to prefer it. The illusory truth effect is the reason why advertising works and why propaganda is one of the most powerful tools for controlling how people think
Lack of Medical Knowledge
As difficult as it may be to accept, some people still merely lack scientific and medical understanding of COVID-19 transmission. Their thinking: “If I can’t see it, it must not be there. Most people I see are just fine.”
They have no appreciation of contagion or of comprehending how viruses spread. Thus, they see no reason to wear a mask. This group is naïve and uneducated about a basic medical grasp of contagion.
Disinformation prevents people from accessing medical knowledge. When a president says everything is under control and virus test kits are plentiful and COVID-19 is no worse than the flu, it's not just crazy Aunt Mary spreading rumors about the virus hoax.
Toxic Nostalgia
“Toxic nostalgia” is often rightly blamed for stubborn cultural world views – the regressive impulse so apparent in Trump’s signature slogan, “Make America Great Again,” is only the most obvious example. But it is also a key element of the tendency to reject or mock public health recommendations, and this has been the case since well before the pandemic.
The mindset that reckless-but-basically-innocent halcyon days were inherently better than the present is a potent force, and it can lead to a desire to escape into the imagined, idealized world of a prior era
Jason Clemence, assistant professor of humanities at Regis College in Weston, Massachusetts says …
“And as for nostalgia? It seems clear that the majority of performative anti-maskers are accustomed to a certain level of privileged social deference, and are certainly not used to being told that they are wrong. They long for a time when their recklessness was affirmed as not just acceptable, but as an embodiment of American authenticity. For the mythical days when no one dared question their choices in public, when they fantasized about being protectors of society, rather than a profound threat.
(Jason Clemence. “Toxic Nostalgia Helps Explain Why Some People Still Won’t Wear Masks. WBUR. August 13, 2020.)
Inexperience with Illness and Death
Some young adults in their twenties and thirties refuse to wear masks. In the United States, these younger adults have by-and-large grown up with vaccinations for polio, measles, mumps, rubella, chickenpox, and human papilloma virus (HPV). All of these vaccinations, except polio, began in the 1970s and 1980s.
Younger adults have not experienced firsthand the major communicable diseases in childhood as did people prior to the 1970s, when almost every child became sick with measles, chickenpox, mumps, and German measles. The only exception was the AIDS epidemic, starting in the 1980s, which mostly preceded their births.
And, consider that the early philosophy of COVID-19 that circulated through the Republican Party and conservative media was this: If young people get this disease, it won’t be so bad – and it might even be good. Such corona-stoicism that the virus is not a “big deal” was reckless. Scientists are learning now the truly long-term – as in, decades-long – implications of this disease for the body.
Acknowledgment: Much thanks to Christine B.L. Adams, MD, child and adult psychiatrist practicing in Louisville, Kentucky. She is also co-author with Homer B. Martin, MD of Living on Automatic: How Emotional Conditioning Shapes Our Lives and Relationships.
Christine B.L. Adams. “Why Don't People Wear Masks During COVID-19?” Psychology Today. July 18, 2020.)
Access the full article: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/living-automatic/202007/why-dont-people-wear-masks-during-covid-19
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