Uhh, famously, Sweden? Where have you been?

As I said, politicians asking people not to wear masks != no people wearing masks. And here's a Reuters report from two months ago saying mask sales soared, picturing at least one person wearing mask: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-sweden...

According to YouGov the latest numbers are 9% wearing masks when in public, it has become a bit higher lately (was 7% just a couple of weeks ago). But I think 9% is far too high. I very rarely encounter a mask while taking a walk in the city closest to where I live. Although that might be due to those wearing masks not being as active in public.

https://today.yougov.com/topics/international/articles-repor...

I'm pro mask, but I don't get wearing a mask if someone is just walking outside with no one around them. It's not like the whole world turned to Pripyat next to Chernobyl...

Sometimes I leave the mask on outside, even though it's a little ridiculous, because I find it awkward when someone does show up and you both do the 'put on the mask dance.' I hate the mask dance. It makes me feel really uncomfortable. So, I just leave it on.

Sometimes I just forget too. I accidentally terrorized a young couple at Joshua Tree last weekend, because I didn't have my mask on, I was out climbing and in my 'happy place,' and I completely forgot there was a pandemic and just wandered right by them and waved and said 'hi.' It wasn't until later that evening that I realized why they were looking at me with wide-eyes and edging away from me. So, I wish I had just left the thing on in that case.

People forget that early on masks were almost impossible to get. And hospitals needed what few could be found.

So telling people to wear what they couldn’t get was awkward.

Sweden, along with the other Scandinavian examples, are also way less densely populated, particularly compared to a place like NYC.

There's also completely different base-levels for access to healthcare, different climates, a ton of factors besides masks.

One might as well point at Asian countries like Taiwan, Vietnam or Korea. Those are densely populated countries were mask-use is wide-spread and generally considered to have done best in their response, with the numbers to back it up.

Sweden is the best example, although not necessarily a model of success.

https://time.com/5899432/sweden-coronovirus-disaster/

A search shows 14% mask wearing in Sweden.

Do you recommend 14% mask wearing in the US? What's the current rate in the US? Is there a big difference between the outcomes of 14% and whatever the rate is in the US?

At least in Stockholm, where I live, 1.4% sounds high compared to my observations.

Florida, South Dakota, Wyoming, Idaho, etc. It's not mandated my state law, and it's frequently disregarded in many jurisdictions that do. You would expect that states with stricter restrictions and higher compliance would have better results but the data does not show that.