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You may have noticed a reluctance among people out and about to wear a mask that would protect both themselves and others. You've probably seen at least three viral videos of people losing their cool in a store after being asked politely to help stop the spread of a deadly disease.
A lot of stores (let's face it, not all stores) want to protect their workers and the public at large, and some of them have had enough of your bullshit. Particularly Antique Sugar in Phoenix, Arizona. A sign at the vintage clothing store has gone viral because of how blunt its request for you to wear a mask is.
"If you choose not to wear a mask, we respectfully ask that you postpone your visit," the sign says, reeling you in nice and easy. "We'll be happy to debate the efficacy of masks with you when this is all over and you come in to sell your dead grandmother's clothes. TL;DR Masks required."
Ooof.
Elsewhere, this lawyer advertising his services (anonymously) gets the point across bluntly, too.
As does Freddie Mercury.
I'm sure the signs have done their job, but if not, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has just released a study that might do the trick. It recently conducted a survey on 350 Covid-19 inpatients and outpatients looking at where they were exposed and got infected. Over half of the participants couldn't identify anybody they had come into contact with in the last two weeks that had coronavirus or exhibited symptoms, suggesting that many people are picking it while out and about in their community. This demonstrates the importance of protective gear such as masks, which protect you from infected people and protect others from you if you are infected and don't know it.
"The wide range of symptoms reported, and the lack of known COVID-19 contact in 54% of patients, underscores the need for isolation of infected persons, contact tracing, and testing during ongoing community transmission, and prevention measures including social distancing and use of cloth face coverings," said the report.
I.e. at the very least, do what all the brutal signs are telling you.
