BEHIND THE MASK, AUG. 6 “DO WHAT I WANT AND NO ONE GETS HURT”
What is the best way to get other people to do what we want? So often during the pandemic this question is directed at other people who are not engaging in the behaviors we find praiseworthy–either right now, or what we want them to do in the future. 
But telling others what to do is not as simple as it seems. Not only do directive statements (“do this”) fail often to yield the result we wish, whether in daily life or in healthcare, but the behavior we find praiseworthy is not actually the sole solution we might think it is. Rather, human behavior is in the context of structures. Each individual behavior might be praiseworthy for spiritual, ethical, philosophical, or esthetic reasons, but historical changes are brought about by collective action. Even individual action by itself has different repercussions (and necessary preconditions) depending on the individual.
The first behavior that people have centered is mask-wearing. A recent post in Health Affairs envisions a national mask mandate for businesses: https://www.healthaffairs.org/do/10.1377/hblog20200804.515241/full. Quite apart from the legal aspects of a mandate, it attempts to pluck an individual behavior out of the context in society which makes an individual — an individual, with their own identity and complex collection of risks and benefits which impacts how they (decide whether to) interact with others. In a word, mandating mask-wearing by “everybody” elides the differences between people. Who is likely to be punished by their employer, the police, their landlord, or their school for not wearing a mask, and who is likely to be at the mercy of a non-mask-wearer even if a legal mandate supposedly protects them? Yes, wear masks. But “wear a mask” only “works” when in the context of the individual’s life, relationships, and stressors.
The second is vaccines. We already see devout wishes (hopes and dreams) that vaccines will protect everyone. Whoever says “protect everyone” likely thinks about it a moment, then realizes no vaccine protects “everyone.” No vaccine *gets* to everyone. And no vaccine is welcomed by everyone. This article discusses vaccine hesitancy: https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2020/08/01/897939117/public-health-expert-calls-to-repair-distrust-in-a-covid-19-vaccine. To my mind it focuses too much on information and education. Just tell Sally what to do, she’ll do it! But who are you, that Sally should listen to you? And what if your hospital (say) charged Sally’s sister $25,000 for a botched operation?
Science is not some god on a throne, but a societal force that for more than a century has penetrated into the rhythms of daily life. This article in Foreign Policy explains how the sociologist Ulrich Beck explained how everyone is an consumer and interpreter of risk. https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/08/01/the-sociologist-who-could-save-us-from-coronavirus/ The fragmentation of authority means that each person judges for themselves whether a vaccine is worthwhile. Enlisting these individuals is thus all the more complicated.
