Hi and welcome to COVID Quickly, a scientific American podcast series.

This is your fast track update on the COVID pandemic.

We bring you up to speed on the science behind the most urgent questions about the virus

and the disease.

We demystify the research and help you understand what it really means.

I'm Tony Lewis.

I'm Josh Fishman.

And we are a scientific American senior health editors.

Today we're going to talk about masks.

First, why people resist wearing them despite all the evidence that they work.

Then we'll explain why the kind of mask you wear matters and how to find a good one.

And President Biden's latest update.

It's been baffling to watch how angry some people get about wearing masks.

They refuse and some politicians back them up.

It's a simple piece of fabric or material that stops the spread of COVID.

So where does the pushback come from?

Josh, you've spoken to an expert on mask attitudes.

Any explanation?

Well, like many strong reactions, mask backlash combines a bunch of different causes and personal values.

Emily Mendenhall, a medical anthropologist at Georgetown University, has spent many months

talking with anti-mask people in an Iowa town called Okoboji for her book called Unmask,

which is coming out next year.

...