Wearing masks and vanity

Steve and I at Grand Canyon; we are holding masks in our hands.

Three of our masks: From a friend, from Costco, and from a local farmer.

Wearing a mask during the COVID-19 pandemic -- or not -- is related to several factors. 

Vanity is among them.

That's what I've observed the last few months. In a recent trip out West, mask-wearing was required in all states as well as the Navajo Nation. We Bakers had them on almost constantly.

The mask topic is also heating up as the presidential election nears and it's common sense to conclude that vanity does play a role. 

According to a June 29 Wall Street Journal article, male vanity appears to be a factor in why men reject masks. Two studies -- by Middlesex University in London, and the Mathematical Sciences Research Institute in Berkeley, Calif. -- both found that "more men than women agreed that wearing a mask is 'shameful, not cool, a sign of weakness and a stigma.'"

Yet masks are becoming more mainstream, and there is less disagreement on wearing them between people who say they are Democrats and those who identify as Republicans.  

The Pew Research Center, a leading think-tank in the United States, reported on Aug. 27 that 82 percent of Americans say they wear masks inside stores and businesses, up from 62 percent who were asked the same question in June.

Between major political parties, Pew reports the partisan divide on wearing masks is now 16 percent with more Democrats than Republicans saying they wear them. It was 53 percent different in June.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, one of the nation's leading scientists and an expert on the COVID-19 virus, is the main national advocate for wearing masks. Locally, it's Dr. Louis Katz, medical director of the Scott County Health Department in Davenport. 

"Just wear the damn mask," Katz writes in an editorial published in the Aug. 5 Quad-City Times.

Yet many people are tired of the COVID-19 rules and regulations and "virus fatigue" is setting in. This is understandable as we all have been dealing with this pandemic for about eight months with no end in sight.

It helps that newspapers, television stations and other media show photos and videos of people wearing masks. That is critical to promote overall understanding of why the masks are important and a great reason why caution should trump vanity.

I do know something about vanity: Raise a camera in front of me and off come my eyeglasses as well as a mask. 

Just as I say sternly to myself: "Wear the damn mask!"