Theoretically, yes.
First of all, it is a small conceptual analysis, public and private goods are divided by "whether there is competition", "whether there is exclusivity". There are very few purely public goods, i.e., completely non-competitive and non-exclusive, such as national defense, diplomacy, law, etc.
What we usually call public **** goods, roughly speaking, is a kind of quasi-public **** goods, that is, still have a certain degree of competitiveness and/or exclusivity, such as libraries, highways, museums, parks seating, medical care and so on. It is important to emphasize here that:
Quasi-public ****-goods may be competitively exclusive in the marketplace, and exclusivity is a necessary condition for competitiveness; quasi-public ****-goods may be non-homogeneous in their consumption, if the product's consumption is non-homogeneous.
Even if the product is not scarce or scarcity of the non-homogeneity of consumption from the under-consumption or over-consumption, will lead to "crowding" or competition between consumers, resulting in inefficient and wasteful use of resources, or even lead to the collapse of the supply system of the product.
For example, in the case of healthcare, there may be people who go to the hospital frequently for minor ailments, and there may be people who have the same ailment, but some of them want to be treated with better technology and can afford to pay for it, while others may not have access to the same healthcare resources, nor do they have enough money to pay for it.
Look again at the masks before and during the epidemic.
In the beginning, we all experienced a time period when mask prices skyrocketed and fake/toxic masks were all over the place, a period when masks were still a private good and it followed the free market mechanism quite adequately, i.e., demand exceeded supply leading to higher prices and a number of other collateral effects.
On February 6, 2020, the General Administration of Market Supervision (GAMS) interpreted the "Guidelines for Investigating and Dealing with Illegal Acts of Price Gouging during the Prevention and Control of the Pneumonia Epidemic of a New Type of Coronavirus Infection" paragraph by paragraph, article by article, and item by item on its official web site for reference by the majority of the staff of the market supervision department.
The release of the guidance on classifying price gouging as a violation of law during the epidemic is the government's attempt to regulate, that is, to intervene in the market at a special time to ensure the normal functioning of the community as well as the smooth implementation of the epidemic prevention work.
We can think of this time masks still belong to the private goods, but both the individual perspective of the people, or the macro perspective of the system design, implementation of the people, the demand for it are converted to public **** goods.
Does the face of the epidemic need to wear masks for all? National Health Commission conference response In response to the prevention of the new pneumonia epidemic whether the whole population need to wear masks, Feng Zijian, deputy director of the CDC, said on January 29, wearing masks for personal prevention is first based on the risk of personal exposure to the disease to be considered, direct care and service to the patient's medical staff of people who are at the highest risk.
They should wear masks or other personal protective equipment and devices that meet biosafety levels and infection prevention and control requirements in strict accordance with hospital infection protection.
Others should also have choices and considerations, if they have to go to a public **** place and take public **** transportation, this time it is recommended to wear a mask. If an individual is alone, driving their own car, or walking by themselves, there is no particularly intensive personnel contact situation, you can also not wear a mask, because the risk of infection in such a situation is very low.
Because the disease is spread through close contact, droplet transmission, if there is no such situation, in fact, wearing a mask is not necessary. There is another situation, there is a fever, respiratory symptoms, acute upper respiratory tract infection of the person, whether at home in self-isolation, or to the hospital, need to take transportation, this time to wear a mask.
No need to wear masks in every place and situation, we should have such a risk judgment. The public wearing masks do not have to change at any time.
Ideally, everyone would be able to afford the number of masks necessary to go out, and the state does need to protect this right of citizens to respond to the needs of the epidemic.
However, it is precisely because masks are converted from private goods and retain the characteristics of private products to a greater extent that it is difficult for them to emerge in the form of laws and regulations for a while, relying instead on the consciousness and morality of citizens, and the control and discipline of grass-roots administrative units.
And then, more local governments issued "must wear masks travel" notice, and the group formed a very strong "do not wear masks out of the house is not" awareness, we can think of masks in the present has been completely converted to quasi-public * * * goods. **Items.
The mask is a hygiene product, generally refers to wear in the mouth and nose parts used to filter the air into the mouth and nose, in order to block harmful gases, odors, droplets, viruses, and other substances to the role of gauze or paper and other materials made.
The mask to enter the lungs of the air has a certain filtering effect, in the respiratory infectious disease epidemic, in the dust and other contaminated environments, when working, wearing a mask has a very good role. Masks can be divided into air-filtering masks and air-supplying masks.
January 14, 2021, the State Council Information Office held a press conference on China's exports of 224.2 billion masks in 2020.On February 11, the General Administration of Market Supervision and other four departments jointly deployed to further promote the quality of masks to redeploy and strengthen.