They are trying to explain the surprising fact that countries with high levels of mask wearing have correspondingly high “region spread” factors which cancel it out.
Their explanation is that this is because the regions most inherently susceptible to COVID-19 rationally respond by taking more protective measures (such as higher levels of mask wearing).
My point with the variance of the regional factor is that this makes it more likely that “region spread factor” is another term for “prediction error” rather than “inherent susceptibility”.
They are trying to explain the surprising fact that countries with high levels of mask wearing have correspondingly high “region spread” factors which cancel it out.
Their explanation is that this is because the regions most inherently susceptible to COVID-19 rationally respond by taking more protective measures (such as higher levels of mask wearing).
My point with the variance of the regional factor is that this makes it more likely that “region spread factor” is another term for “prediction error” rather than “inherent susceptibility”.