I doubt many of them are doing it out of some altruistic 'I might have the virus but not know I have the virus' motivation. Some of them probably believe they're protecting themselves (they are, but they're improving their own odds only a tiny amount). Some of them are virtue signaling, I guarantee it. These days, the random masked person in the crowd of grocery shoppers seems strange to me, but it remains their freedom to do that.
On virtue signaling, that's about as freedom of speech as it gets. People signal all kinds of stuff, bumper stickers and what kind of car they drive, flags and signs at their house, politicians, political slogans, you name it. If their way of saying "we're all in this together" is to wear a flimsy cloth mask everywhere in public, then to me that falls under the old cliché, "I disagree with what you're saying but I'll defend your right to say it."
On a similar note,
There was a college prof in Georgia who quit last week because one of his students refused to mask up. The school policy doesn't have mandatory masking and he was asking his students to voluntarily wear masks because he has a few comorbidities himself. I suppose there's nothing wrong with asking (that's what asking is), and it's his prerogative to quit his job if he doesn't like it when people don't agree to what he's asking. On the surface that seems unfortunate, but his angle was that he could die of covid (his phrase) so the should mask up. Ummmm wait a second- you could die of covid but you're not willing to take greater protective measures yourself?? (In other words wear a fitted, tight-sealing N95 mask.) His parting quote was how he has "risked my[his] life to defend my country while in the Air Force." Nice try with the bro vet angle, but America isn't about twenty-five people going out of their way to protect one person who won't take responsibility to protect themselves. Happy retirement, sir.
