The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington says wearing face masks reduces transmission of the COVID virus by as much as 50%. There’s really no debate about that by anyone credible. So, as infections are now doubling in some recently reopened states, one might think that convincing people to wear masks in public would be an easier sell. But the political/cultural war around this issue is now underway in the U.S. and influencing the non-believers will be increasingly difficult. The only effective way to nudge mask-deniers – or COVID-carriers, as I like to think of them – is with the right people modeling the right behavior – think peer pressure. Read more