Why I’m Coming Around On Wearing a Face Mask
The epidemiological value of masks remains controversial, but the sociological argument is shifting in their favor.
Cultural icon.
Photographer: Pau Barrena/AFP via Getty Images
As a Westerner, I’ve always been amused by people wearing facial masks in public. I recall a particular moment in the late 1990s, when I was part of a small group hiking in the Himalayas, at high altitude on a sunny day, in thin and pristine air, and with nary a human in sight. Suddenly, a group of Japanese hikers popped up from behind a crag, fully decked out in rubber gloves and masks.
Living in Asia later, I gradually got used to being around masked faces. Occasionally, I even saw the point — for instance on days when the sandstorms from the Gobi Desert covered Beijing in a rust-colored haze. But masks weren’t for me.