81

I started yesterday's walk around 6:30 in the evening, and while I walked, I decided to play a mental game in which I counted the number of people on the path who were either maskless or wearing their masks on their chins, thereby exposing their noses and mouths. The sun went down, and by 8:30, it was getting difficult to keep counting, so I stopped there. How many people weren't masking up? I counted 81. The vast majority of people I passed were masked, to be sure, but eighty-one people were doing what I was doing and walking/biking maskless, or at least barefaced. Amazing. I think a quiet rebellion is happening in Korea; plenty of people realize it's crazy to use a mask while you're outside. 

A lot of people did that awkward thing where you hang your nose out of your mask while keeping your mouth covered. It's a cowardly compromise, a halfhearted attempt to obey the masking injunction while not. I didn't count the nose-onlies when I was counting the Barefaced Tribe. Surely such people realize that your mask is useless if you expose your nose (it's pretty much useless, anyway, even when it's on right, because it lacks a perfect seal, and the virus can still come in through the eyes). 

Anyway, I wear a mask these days merely because it's a passport to get into restaurants, taxis, etc. I've survived nearly two years of this pandemic without having caught the disease, and that history seems to confirm that my strategy (which does include infection-control measures like hand-washing) is a winning one. I couldn't give less of a shit about other people's opinion of my bare face while I'm out on the road, so maskless I shall remain when distance walking. Don't give in to fear. Live your life. Join the Barefaced Tribe!