- Goldman Sachs chief economist has said that a national facial mask mandate could not only benefit public health, but could even save the economy.
- He made the claim Monday in a note to clients, arguing for a national requirement that everyone wear face masks in the face of the coronavirus pandemic.
- This occurs when President Trump has expressed skepticism about the face masks, while former Vice President Joe Biden has said he would sign an order requiring them.
As health experts issue dire warnings about the coronavirus pandemic’s trajectory in the coming weeks and months, economists are now coming up with recommendations on what they think ordinary people can do to double the upward slope of cases in USA Are you ready for this? It is a very simple recommendation, and most of you are probably already doing this anyway: it is only those of you who are resisting each other who are raising such a troubling exception right now:
Wear. Your. Face. Mask.
“We found that face masks are associated with significantly better coronavirus outcomes,” Goldman Sachs chief economist Jan Hatzius wrote in a note to clients on Monday. “Our benchmark estimate is that a national mandate could increase the percentage of people who wear masks by 15 (percentage points) and reduce the daily growth rate of confirmed cases by 1.0 (percentage point) to 0.6%.
“These calculations,” continues Hatzius’s note, “imply that a face mask mandate could potentially replace locks that would otherwise subtract nearly 5% of GDP.”
To make this point from a much sharper perspective, touching on something that most ordinary people probably fear across the country (renewed blockades), the chief economist at Goldman Sachs says that some sort of national mandate could not only prove a benefit of public health and, therefore, be an economic benefit for the country: such a mandate could also be a substitute for “renewed closings” that would otherwise take another bite out of the economy. Those blockages prevented millions of infections that would not otherwise materialize, according to the researchers, but no one, of course, wants to return to them.
This attitude towards the masks by the Goldman Sachs economist contrasts with the skepticism towards the masks that President Trump has exhibited.
“Masks are a double-edged sword,” said the President. The Wall Street Journal in an interview. “People touch them. And they grab them and I see it all the time. They go in, take the mask. Now they hold it now in their fingers. And they drop it on the desk and then touch their eyes and touch their noses. “
Trump’s rival, former Vice President Joe Biden, on the other hand, said he would sign an order that would force Americans to wear face masks, if elected.
Andy is a reporter in Memphis who also contributes to media like Fast Company and The Guardian. When he’s not writing about technology, he can be found protectively hunched over his burgeoning vinyl collection, plus guarding his whovianism and binging on a variety of television shows he probably won’t like.
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