Why wearing a mask says a lot about you

CONSPIRACY theories abound.

The world is flat, Americans never went to the moon, there is a secret world order of lizard people and Covid-19 is a Chinese plot transmitted through the 5G network.

No right-minded person would believe any of these crackpot theories, but strangely, many people refuse to acknowledge the benefit of wearing a face covering in the fight against this awful pandemic.

Over in America, the President has contracted the virus, probably from one of a series of “super spreader” events, where almost no one wore a mask.

He follows our own leader, who fell ill in March. However, while Boris Johnson was left chastened by the experience, Donald Trump will probably have learned nothing. He is unlikely to tell his supporters to wear masks. They see it as a weakness and an invasion of civil liberties.

Science often helps debunk madcap theories. It is very basic science that wearing some sort of face covering will help stop the transmission of airborne disease.

Of course, masks are not 100 per cent effective, no form of PPE ever is, but in combination with other measures they can come close.

No one is trying to take away our rights. With winter coming, the priority is to prevent even more people from dying.

Back in America, they are running a very simple advert to encourage mask wearing. A series of face coverings, all with different designs are shown one after the other. The text at the bottom of the screen says, “a mask can say a lot about the person who wears it”. It ends with the punchline, “even more about the person who doesn’t”.

Peter Lowsley.