Masks In Public Are With Us For Life: Discuss

It was once controversial to ask people to wash their hands. Germ theory was not understood until the late nineteenth century. It was 1867 when Scottish surgeon Joseph Lister started instructing his fellow doctors to start washing their hands before surgery.

Hungarian physician Ignaz Semmelweis had documented the effect of hand washing by surgeons about two decades earlier, but his work was largely ignored even though he had dramatically reduced the rate of maternal mortality in the Vienna General Hospital and was known there as the "saviour of mothers."

As we can see from the news cycle today, sometimes it doesn't matter about truth and facts. If people want to believe false claims, even when presented with evidence, then they will.

But I'm recounting this history of hand-washing to point out that it was not until the 1980s that the US published guidelines for hygiene that suggested frequent hand washing. It was not until 1995 that antibacterial soap was recommended.

Today it seems ridiculous that regular hand washing would be seen as unusual, or not required for general hygiene. It's as unbelievable as an American president appearing in an advert for cigarettes.

Standards, expectations, and habits change fast.

This is why I believe it's disingenuous for the UK government to be telling the public 'you may need to wear masks for another year', because the implication is that one day soon we can go back to normal.

I don't think we are going back to a time when customers in food stores could walk around breathing droplets all over the produce or waiters could breathe all over your starter. Standards of hygiene are going to change and using a mask to respect others in public will be completely normalized. A decade from now, not wearing a mask in a public place will be like not washing your hands after visiting the toilet or letting your best friend get in their car to drive home drunk from a bar.

The anti-mask libertarians don't want anyone to think like this because they constantly fight against any government intervention in their life - even when it makes sense. But it will not take rules or regulations, just culture, common-sense habits, and a respect for others.

Mask use in public will be normalized soon and will not go away in 2021 or 2022, despite the hopes and fears of millions of people. Get used to it.

A decade from now, not wearing a mask in a public place will be like not washing your hands after visiting the toilet.

CC Photo By Tais' Captures