Masks and Mojo

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Masks and Mojo
First of all, I am not a doctor. Nothing that you read here should be taken as medical advice. Second,
if you are at high risk, does your perceived mojo really matter? If you get infected, you are going to look bad anyway. Don't take unnecessary risks.
According to the BBC, your chances of dying if you get a COVID infection approaches 10% if you are over 80 years old, 5% if you are in your 70s, and less if you are younger. Below age 55, it is below 1% and drops more for younger people. Citations from the BBC are, I assume, case fatality rates (CFRs), not infection fatality rates. CFRs overestimate the severity of the disease because infections that aren't tested aren’t counted and fewer of them are fatal. I have never found good infection fatality rate data for COVID 19.
This post applies mostly to low risk people. Being seen with a mask is not a good look for your mojo unless you are in a healthcare setting. Or if the mask is plastered with a catchy slogan like “Make America Great Again”. I am only describing cloth face coverings, not N95 or similar personal protective equipment. The latest thinking is that healthy people should not consider a simple cloth mask to protect themselves, but possibly to protect others.

How I read this advice is this: consider where you are and who is nearby If you are near a high risk person, you should protect them. This is especially true if you are both in a confined space or a place with poor air replacement. Unless you are sure that everyone in your contact is low risk also, you should protect them from your potential asymptomatic spread. Let’s look at some examples. 
Beaches:: These type of places are warm with plenty of sunshine. They have excellent air circulation. You are very unlikely to infect anyone in this environment. 

Churches: Not as open as being outdoors. They are not as warm or sunny as the beach. The main thing, however, is that you don’t know if a high risk person is there. Make high risk people feel safer.
Restaurants: like churches, they are indoors. Usually, they have even less space than a church. Protect the high risk customers. It is helpful to stay away from them, but alone this is not foolproof because of lingering infectants.
Gyms: If everyone were low risk, this environment would be fine, just like restaurants or beaches. However, how can you tell if a neighbor is high risk? You are likely to be breathing harder. If you are an asymptomatic spreader in close proximity to high risk people. Protect them.
Hair salons: You can probably find out if your stylist is high or low risk. You are more likely to get infected while in a waiting room than while getting styled. The waiting room should be treated like a restaurant.

Stores:The most risk is for the employees, not the customers. They are present in the store for much longer than customers. If they have risk factors, everyone should be treated as potential asymptomatic spreaders, especially if the store is small. If there is a way to be sure that employees and customers are all low risk, who would a mask be protecting?
Home: If anyone is high risk, keep away from them. If you are just visiting them, protect them unless you know they have already been infected. If you live with them all the time, they can wear a mask to protect you.


Schools: Most people are low risk. If not, it should be easy to determine that that person should not go to school. The low risk are not protected by masks.
In all pf the above examples, for high risk people, distancing can help. But it is not enough to substitute for mask wearing in small spaces and where air circulation is poor.

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