National Mask Mandate...Agree or Disagree?

[plimnko]

With COVID infections exploding again, what do you think?

[ClemmonsDevil]

With COVID infections exploding again, what do you think?

I wish we would pass a law making it compulsory and I wish there was something like a $25 fine for not wearing it. There are perhaps other issues and I'm not getting into that. And frankly, I don't care. I wish we had a law and it was compulsory.

[rsvman]

My question is will a national mask mandate make people MORE likely or LESS likely to actually wear a mask? Since I'm not a clinical psychologist, I don't know the answer to the question. My vote would be that we should do whichever will result in the highest percentage of people actually wearing masks.

Oh, and by the way, if we decide a national mask mandate is the way to go, I hope they will also take the "below the nose society" to task. It won't do much good if half the people are wearing their masks below their noses.

[niveklaen]

I support such a mandate, but not with a fine - just a mandatory 14 days quarantine is the county jail - for public health's sake.

[CrazyNotCrazie]

I wish we would pass a law making it compulsory and I wish there was something like a $25 fine for not wearing it. There are perhaps other issues and I'm not getting into that. And frankly, I don't care. I wish we had a law and it was compulsory.

I am all for the mandate. I believe that is the rule on public transit here in NY - $50 fine. There has to be some kind of enforceable penalty for the mandate to have teeth. And some kind of penalty against jurisdictions that don't enforce said penalty to make sure it is really enforced - otherwise I can see plenty of governments saying they will not enforce it.

Unfortunately, I think many people will consider this government overreach. Personally, I think that we live in a country where we sometimes make sacrifices for the good of our fellow citizens, but YMMV.

[Bluedog]

My question is will a national mask mandate make people MORE likely or LESS likely to actually wear a mask? Since I'm not a clinical psychologist, I don't know the answer to the question. My vote would be that we should do whichever will result in the highest percentage of people actually wearing masks.

Oh, and by the way, if we decide a national mask mandate is the way to go, I hope they will also take the "below the nose society" to task. It won't do much good if half the people are wearing their masks below their noses.

Studies suggest state mandates have increased mask usage and reduced COVID transmission rates. We've been able to have a "natural experiment" of sorts given the states' different approaches as well as a before and after view for states that implemented such mandates (even if they didn't carry a fine):
https://www.healthaffairs.org/doi/fu...aff.2020.00818

"By May 22, 2020, the estimates suggest that 230,000–450,000 COVID-19 cases may have been averted on the basis of when states passed these mandates."
"There is no evidence of differential premandate COVID-19 trends with respect to issuing these mandates. The estimates represent the intent-to-treat effects of the statewide face cover mandates as passed, conditional on other national and local measures. In that way, the effects are independent of the CDC national guidance to wear face masks that was issued April 3, 2020.12 These effects were robust to several model checks. The study provides evidence from a natural experiment on the effectiveness of mandating public use of face masks in mitigating the spread of COVID-19. We found no evidence for effects of states mandating employee face mask use, perhaps because many businesses themselves already required their employees to wear masks.27,28 In that case, mandating employee mask use reinforce what many businesses already choose to do on their own."

[weezie]

I support such a mandate, but not with a fine - just a mandatory 14 days quarantine is the county jail - for public health's sake.

Can we toss in the people who drive slowly in the left lane while chit chatting on their cell phones!
Ooo ooo! And the guy I saw today chatting on his phone and smoking while he drove? And def the morons wearing the masks under their noses. And deBlasio, just cuz

[Bob Green]

This is a public policy discussion that needs to take place but DBR isn’t the proper venue.