Talk of masks is picking up

Trump in a mask

The politicization of mask-wearing remains one of the all-time stupidest public health moves. The epidemic continues to rage in US and Arizona joined Florida and Texas yesterday in re-closing parts of its economy.

The obvious solution to knock down the virus is mask-wearing but aside from this candid picture, there is no evidence of Trump wearing, or encouraging others to wear a mask.

The most-bullish headline you could possibly see right now would be Trump encouraging masks, wearing a mask himself and mandating masks.

I've been writing about it for weeks and it had seemed like a longshot but I believe it's growing more likely. For one, Trump is seeing his poll numbers drop and case numbers rise -- something has to be done. Secondly, wall street is starting to put on the pressure. A note from Goldman yesterday about masks is getting some traction, including in conservative circles.

"We find that face masks are associated with significantly better coronavirus outcomes," Hatzius wrote in a note to clients. "Our baseline estimate is that a national mandate could raise the percentage of people who wear masks by 15 (percentage points) and cut the daily growth rate of confirmed cases by 1.0 (percentage point) to 0.6%."

"These calculations imply that a face mask mandate could potentially substitute for lockdowns that would otherwise subtract nearly 5% from GDP," he wrote.

I don't think we needed a Goldman Sachs study to tell us any of this but there's some momentum.

S&P 500 futures point to a 4 point decline at the open following yesterday's 44-point gain. It's quarter-end so be careful out there.

How does this guy still have a job?

surgeon general warning