Mask Wearing Is Becoming the New Normal

Here is the result of a poll taken a few days ago by YouGov for CBS News:

Roughly speaking, it looks like about 70 percent of Americans wear masks routinely when they leave the house. That’s not bad, and a number that high normalizes the behavior enough that it’s likely to increase over time.

This was on my mind because I was thinking about whether we’re headed for a big increase in COVID-19 cases thanks to the relaxation of social distancing restrictions. I think this is pretty likely, but if it doesn’t happen it will most likely be due to widespread mask wearing. Even as we ease off of other restrictions, mask wearing is the one thing that everyone still agrees about.

I hope this is something that’s currently under intense study, both here and in other countries. We need a better handle on which specific measures are most effective at stopping the spread of the virus, and it would certainly be useful to know just how effective mask wearing is even if you do nothing else.

Now just imagine how close to 100 percent we could get if our president and all our governors got on board…

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“Lying.” “Disgusting.” “Scum.” “Slime.” “Corrupt.” “Enemy of the people.” Donald Trump has always made clear what he thinks of journalists. And it’s plain now that his administration intends to do everything it can to stop journalists from reporting things it doesn’t like—which is most things that are true.

We’ll say it loud and clear: At Mother Jones, no one gets to tell us what to publish or not publish, because no one owns our fiercely independent newsroom. But that also means we need to directly raise the resources it takes to keep our journalism alive. There’s only one way for that to happen, and it’s readers like you stepping up. Please do your part and help us reach our $150,000 membership goal by May 31.

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