Analysis of the Advantages and Disadvantages of People Wearing Masks in COVID-19 Pandemic: A Game-theoretic Approach

Abstract

In recent years, a global health shock, Covid-19, has exerted a huge negative impact. Exhibited a high rate of infection and mortality, this pandemic caused tremendous losses in various fields. After studying how virus spread, people find that wearing masks can effectively reduce the probability of infection. However, there are still number of people struggling whether to wear masks or not. In the current paper, based on the probability of infection we construct two matrix models, one for standard players and one for players who have been recovered form Covid-19, to analysis the expected payoff of to being a mask wearer or non-mask wearer. Comparing the expected payoff as number of people increasing in the model, we find a critical point that people are indifferent of wearing masks and not wearing masks and name it as indifferent ratio. According to the results of the model and corresponding analysis, governments are suggested to enforce policies such as wearing masks in public and enable certain social distance. For people who have been recovered from Covid-19, they can choose not to masks in places where few people around them.