I'm a long-term resident of Japan, where face masks are ubiquitous even when there is no global pandemic. As soon as COVID started picking up in Asia, long before it made its way to the US, people in Japan started masking up. Yes, it did lead to shortages in masks, which is a serious problem for people in the medical profession. But conversely, the widespread use of masks may very well have cut down the number of infections, which benefits the medical community because it keeps the number of patients low. I write all this with the caveats that I'm not a medical professional and there are many other factors which have likely helped Japan weather the pandemic relatively well, including a culture that already places emphasis on physical distancing*.
What was baffling is that the WHO actually recommended against masks at the outset**. The reasoning, apparently, is that masks make people more likely to touch their face, adding an entry route for the virus, or they just don't wear them properly, which gives a false sense of security; or that masks aren't 100% effective in preventing people from contracting the virus. I still see these lines of reasoning parroted today. Of course, none of these are actually arguments against masks. If someone is too stupid to wear a mask properly, that's the fault of said person, not the fault of the masks themselves. And do we really need intense studies to determine that having a covering over your face is better at preventing you from spewing your bodily fluids all over the place when you cough or sneeze than not having any covering on at all?
The pandemic has been an interesting study in how the "rugged individualism" of the US can really cause a tremendous amount of harm when there is a threat to society as a whole. Facing a problem as a society requires that people pull together and yes, sometimes make personal sacrifices for the greater good. I think that, in the grand scheme of things, asking everyone to wear a mask until an effective vaccine is developed is a pretty damn small sacrifice. But hey, since they don't protect you yourself, but rather protect other people from catching what you have, well, fuck everyone else, seems to be the prevailing attitude.
Although Japan has its fair share of problems, and we are not out of the woods yet by any means, I have been grateful every single day that I live in a society where people are willing to peacefully and for the most part uncomplainingly do little things that benefit everyone. And it's ironic, because Japan's postwar constitution (written by the Allies) guarantees more freedom than people have in the US! Japan has literally no legal authority to limit peoples' free movement, and yet rather than flipping the bird to their neighbors, everyone here hunkered down through the worst of it, and almost everyone is still wearing a mask when they go outside -- and things are already starting to return somewhat to normal. It's been absolutely bizarre to contrast that with what's happening in the US.
*Yes, I am aware that Japan tested a fraction of the number of people tested in other countries and that the actual infection rates are almost certainly much, much higher. That said, we don't have bodies piling up and hospitals being overrun, so I think it's safe to say that -- at least so far -- Japan has done relatively well with COVID.
**They also condemned Japan for effectively closing its borders to China when the outbreak started, which again turned out to be a move that very well may have prevented a serious and irrecoverable explosion in cases.
