Time to double or upgrade masks as coronavirus variants emerge, experts say
Excerpt from The Washington Post (To read the full article click here.)
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Behavioral psychologists say public health authorities must be mindful of a backlash as they start to shift mask guidance. When people living through a crisis are confused, they often stick to their habits.
“When you look at leaders and you see mixed messages like the ones you’ve seen in the past, you tend to latch onto the ones that make you feel comfortable,” said David Abrams, a professor of social and behavioral health at New York University and a former National Institutes of Health official.
Abrams said it is essential to acknowledge that the guidance is changing and to be patient if people do not change their behavior immediately.
“Let’s face it: This is changing very quickly and science is making progress and sometimes we even make mistakes and correct them,” Abrams said. “There’s nothing wrong with that or learning how to do something better. The double-masking is a good example of that.”
Linda Aldoory, a public health communications researcher at the University of Maryland, said there may be no swaying people who have already lost faith in the government to change their mask behavior, which is why other messengers should be enlisted.
“If we could get every famous influencer and celebrity to wear new masks and wear double masks … that might actually be a great way to start a new social norm to getting the kind of masks they want worn,” Aldoory said.
Danny Ryan, a 27-year-old who works in communications in D.C., said he was swayed to switch to two cloth masks in part after he saw Biden and Vice President Harris doubling up in recent weeks. He also reconsidered the protection of a single mask after seeing his breath while waiting outside for a coronavirus test, although experts say that is not a sign of a malfunctioning mask.
“It just stuck in my head — they are wearing two masks, protecting them underneath and maybe more above,” said Ryan, who now keeps extra masks by his door. “To be perfectly honest, I just feel safer doing it with updates in the news about the new variants.”
