Risk and Blameworthiness by Degree

Please wear a mask: a systematic case for mask wearing mandates

“…First, I characterise risk as the probability of the occurrence of harm ( 13 :263, 14 :369). In particular, I shall say that an agent’s action imposes a risk of a given harm (eg, COVID-19 infection) on other agents when the agent’s action increases the probability that the other agents suffer such harm compared with otherwise identical situations where the agent does not perform such action ( 15 :78, 16 :667). In doing so, I adopt the common conception of harm as the ‘thwarting, setting back, or defeating of [one’s legitimate] interest’ ( 17 :33; also 18 :971, 19 :695).…”