I talked to this reporter, although my quote didn't make it into the article. About halfway through, he asked me my thoughts on the morality of selling face masks when the government was recommending against hoarding, and I realized it was a gotcha question, which I dodged.
Afterwards, I sent him this message:
>I thought a bit more about your morality question re governments asking people not to buy masks, and on second thought I'd answer as follows:
>The government's interests are not necessarily the same as individuals. Clearly the masks have some utility or the government wouldn't want them for their own healthcare workers. Is it moral for the government to ask me to go without a mask and expose myself to some additional risk to further the government's interests? Is it immoral for someone to refuse such a request? Clearly people are willing to pay for masks, and if they value the masks more than the government does (which they do if they're willing to pay more than the government is paying), then why is it more moral for those masks to go to the government?
>The government can easily corner the market on masks if they choose to do so. Declare publicly they'll pay $X/mask, buy up all masks, and give them out at their own convenience. If they choose not to do so, I don't think it's immoral for private businesses to help private individuals obtain the masks they want, even if the government would prefer to get their hands on more.
>I believe I saw a figure of 3.5 billion masks that the US is trying to acquire over the next year or so. Do the math. If they want to get 350 million in the next month, they can offer $5-10/mask and would easily corner the market.
>I do happen to think it's flagrantly immoral for the government to restrict testing capacity, as your paper recently documented
>In light of that and other incompetence from the US government, it's hardly unreasonable for people to be skeptical of guidance saying that people shouldn't wear masks.
>And even if it's true that wearing masks has little utility now, it can still be rational to buy masks now for use in the near future. If this spreads further and the shortage gets worse, which is possible, buying masks now will seem brilliant in retrospect.
Afterwards, I sent him this message:
>I thought a bit more about your morality question re governments asking people not to buy masks, and on second thought I'd answer as follows:
>The government's interests are not necessarily the same as individuals. Clearly the masks have some utility or the government wouldn't want them for their own healthcare workers. Is it moral for the government to ask me to go without a mask and expose myself to some additional risk to further the government's interests? Is it immoral for someone to refuse such a request? Clearly people are willing to pay for masks, and if they value the masks more than the government does (which they do if they're willing to pay more than the government is paying), then why is it more moral for those masks to go to the government?
>The government can easily corner the market on masks if they choose to do so. Declare publicly they'll pay $X/mask, buy up all masks, and give them out at their own convenience. If they choose not to do so, I don't think it's immoral for private businesses to help private individuals obtain the masks they want, even if the government would prefer to get their hands on more.
>I believe I saw a figure of 3.5 billion masks that the US is trying to acquire over the next year or so. Do the math. If they want to get 350 million in the next month, they can offer $5-10/mask and would easily corner the market.
>I do happen to think it's flagrantly immoral for the government to restrict testing capacity, as your paper recently documented
>In light of that and other incompetence from the US government, it's hardly unreasonable for people to be skeptical of guidance saying that people shouldn't wear masks.
>And even if it's true that wearing masks has little utility now, it can still be rational to buy masks now for use in the near future. If this spreads further and the shortage gets worse, which is possible, buying masks now will seem brilliant in retrospect.