Is a Requirement to Wear a Mask Economically Valid During COVID-19?
| Autore | Steve G. Parsons |
| Carica | Independent Researcher |
| Pagine | 76-94 |
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Is a Requirement to Wear a Mask Economicay Vaid During
COVID
S
TEVE
G. P
ARSONS
Steve Parsons is a partially-retired consulting economist and former adjunct faculty member at
Washington University in St. Louis. (United States). Thanks are due to Philip Liang for research
assistance. Thanks, in particular, are due to Carly Gibbons for research assistance and useful
comments.
@Steve@ParsonsEcon.com
ID 0000-0002-3674-5050
ABSTRACT
Two of the most important categories of government intervention in response to COVID-19 are
business closures and mask mandates. The scientific literature supports the efficacy of
mask-wearing to reduce the transmission of respiratory viruses (including COVID-19). However,
the efficacy is greater in stopping outbound transmission (meaning that my mask protects you)
than inbound transmission (meaning that my mask protects me). Evidence suggests that the full
benefits to society of wearing masks are far greater than the full costs to society of wearing
masks. The author argues that mask-wearing is far more cost effective than business closures in
controlling the spread of COVID-19. Moreover, the author argues that highly infectious diseases
have an externality dimension. The person infected with COVID-19 makes a decision regarding
whether to wear a mask based on their own perceived costs and benefits of mask-wearing, but
that decision has consequences for those they come in contact with: the infected person’s
decision not to wear a mask imposes costs on others that are external to the infected person’s
decision process not to do so. The author further argues that some possible methods by which to
deal with such an external cost (individual negotiations, a tax on spreading COVID-19, or as
subsidy for wearing masks) are impractical. This makes a mask-wearing government mandate
economically valid.
KEYWORDS
Covid-19; Externalities; Mask; Business Closure; Stay-At-Home Order
JEL CODES
I28; I12
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2021] UNIVERSITY OF BOLOGNA LAW REVIEW [Vol. 6:1
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction ............................................ 77
1. The Economics of Externalities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
2. Precedents and Analogies for Mask Mandates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
3.MaskEffectiveness........................................ 83
4. Costs and Benefits of Mask Mandates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
5. Options for “Solving” the Mask Wearing Externality Issue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
Conclusion ............................................. 94
In December of 2019, an outbreak of coronavirus [hereinafter COVID-19] was detected in
mainland China. The outbreak was caused by a new virus, technically known as the
“severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2).” On February 12th, the
World Health Organization named the disease caused by the novel coronavirus
“Coronavirus Disease 2019” (COVID-19).1As of the date of this writing, COVID-19 has
killed over 1.2 million people worldwide with nearly 240,000 of those deaths occurring in
the United States.2Consider the two primary categories of government intervention in
the United States in response to COVID-19: 1) business closures and stay-at-home orders;
and 2) mandatory mask-wearing. By April 6, 2020, forty-three States had issued
stay-at-home orders.3Moreover, virtually every State had some business closures, such
as in the case of gyms, sporting venues, bars and indoor dining. In contrast, by April 6,
2020 (that same point in time), only seven States had mandated masks in public.4
However, this has changed over time. By June 3, 2020 “[a]ll 50 US states [had] loosened
restrictions put in place earlier in the pandemic, allowing some businesses to reopen.”5
Moreover, as of July 17, 2020, twenty-eight States had mandatory mask orders6and the
1World Health Organization, Naming the Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) and the Virus That Causes It, WHO (last
accessed Nov. 8, 2020), https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019/technical-
guidance/naming-the-coronavirus-disease-(covid-2019)-and-the-virus-that-causes-it.
2The New York Times, COVID in the U.S.: Latest Map and Case Count, NYT (Nov. 8, 2020),
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/us/coronavirus-us-cases.html.
3See Jason Silverstein, 43 States Now Have Stay-at-Home Orders for Coronavirus. These Are The 7 That Don’t, CBS
News (Apr. 6, 2020), https://www.cbsnews.com/news/stay-at-home-orders-states/.
4See Scottie Andrew & James Frio, These Are the States That Require Youto Wear a Face Mask in Public, CNN (Apr.
20, 2020), https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/20/us/states-that-require-masks-trnd/index.html.
5Holly Secon, An Interactive Map of the US Cities and States Still under Lockdown – and Those That are Reopening,
Business Insider (June 3, 2020), https://www.businessinsider.com/us-map-stay-at-home-orders-lockdowns-
2020-3.
6See Arielle Mitropoulos, 28 States, Washington D.C., and Puerto Rico Have Issued Mask Mandates to Prevent
Spread of COVID-19, ABC News (July 17, 2020),https://abcnews.go.com/US/28-states-washington-
dc-puerto-rico-issued-mask/story?id=71842266; Grace Hauck, What States Require Face Masks in
Public? Alabama, Arkansas, Colorado Join Growing List of States Where It’s Mandatory, USA Today (July 3,
2020), https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/health/2020/07/03/covid-face-masks-states-require-
public/5371503002/.
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