I was wondering the same thing recently when I saw a person walking outdoors wearing a lose fitting fabric mask covering only their mouth, not their nose. The conclusion I came to is that person must be aware that their breath smells terrible, so they wear the mask to prevent others from smelling their breath. And the mask is worn under their nose so they don’t have to smell their own breath.

I honestly don’t understand why wearing a mask seem such a big deal for a lot of people.

From where I live, people wear masks are pretty common, when they are sick, when they go to congested locations (trains, buses), when they just don’t feel like wearing make up. And this is **BEFORE **COVID.

Now people just returned to normal circumstances, which is they wear mask when they feel the need to instead of everywhere.

Its good. It makes you less likely to get influenza. It makes people more comfortable in meetings because their saliva can’t fly into your face. It makes facial recognition more difficult. Its good for privacy.

FWIW, I wear an N95. It fits well, and I wear it properly. In my office everyone wears a mask. And I make sure they (patients and staff) wear it correctly. Imagine, knowing the way to significantly reduce the chance of getting any respiratory infection, to the point where one might never have that again. Colds, influenza, RSV, Covid, etc could all be so minimal. But then not using that knowledge (masking, hand washing, distancing and isolation if one is sick), and getting sick. And getting other people sick, too.

A lot of misinformation was spread through the course of the pandemic, which had adverse consequences - increased mortality and morbidity.

I would understand if they wore it on their chin outside or not near people and put it back up when inside or close or talking to people. Still good practice to do so if you’re sick and contagious. And fine to take a rest from wearing it outside.