Wear a Mask
by Bhargavi
Chatterjea Bhattacharyya
I was reading
the newspaper. Suddenly the headlines caught my
eye. The newspaper had a news feature about
wearing masks during the coronavirus pandemic.
Most people were not wearing masks. They came up
with lots of excuses. Some said that they
were feeling too hot if they had masks on their
faces. Others found the mask uncomfortable. Still
others felt that there is no point in wearing a
mask. After all, the mask is cheap and the virus
is deadly. How can a cheap mask fight a deadly
foe? So, why bother?
After reading
this, I wrote a letter to the editor. I said that
by focusing on people who are not wearing a mask
you are inadvertently reinforcing the population
norm. Basically it means that a lot of people are
not wearing masks, I may as well not wear it.
Contrast this with normative norms, where people
do things that they are expected to do, like
wearing masks, washing hands and maintaining
social distance.
I was somewhat
surprised when I received a call from the editor.
He agreed with what I said, but he cannot find
anybody whose behaviour will shift the population
norm. “Can you suggest a model whose
behaviour people might copy?” he asked.
I told him
about a little girl at a birthday party. Nobody
there had the mask on, except this girl. Normally
we take cues from the environment. It is very
unusual for a child to wear a mask when neither
her parents, nor her friends are wearing one. I
said that she should be hailed as a hero, someone
who wears a mask because that is expected of her.
The editor again agreed with me, but she said the
children often act according to their whim. This
story will not convince the adults to change
their behaviour.
I said, “Ok,
then you can take the case of my friend. He is a
doctor. He wakes up every morning, puts on the
mask and sits in front of his laptop to see
patients virtually.”
“Really!
Just to act as a model for his patients?”
asked the editor.
“Yes,”
I said.
“But Why?
In teleconsultation, patients are not in front of
him. Why does he need a mask?”
“Well, he
puts on the mask so that he doesn't have to shave!”
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