Possibility of $100 COVID mask fines spark debate,

Linda Decker has not yet worn a mask during the COVID-19 pandemic and she says she’s not going to start now even with Gov. Ned Lamont’s new fines.

Decker said she spent the entire summer camping with others who also didn’t wear masks.

“I feel that we should let our immune systems be. I’ve been at summer camp all summer with seasonal people, over 100 sites,” she said. “None of us have worn a mask yet. We have not had one bit of COVID at our camp. I don’t feel that we need to continue this if we don’t have the numbers. I believe that this has gone on long and far enough that it’s time to wake up.”

Lamont announced this week a series of fines — not wearing a mask could result in a $100 fine, attending an event with too many people could cost you $250 and hosting an overpopulated event could mean a $500 penalty.

Decker, who lives upstate in the East Canaan section of North Canaan where there have only been a total of 11 coronavirus cases, said she’s waiting to see what happens when she goes into local stores.

If she gets a fine, though, she doesn’t plan on paying it.

“I’m going to take it to court,” she said.

In Connecticut, there have been a total of more than 55,000 documented COVID-19 cases and nearly 4,500 deaths, and 70 patients who are now hospitalized with the disease, according to state data released Wednesday.

Gatherings in the state are capped at 25 people indoors and 100 outdoors. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends mask use in public, as it can help the virus from spreading from one person to another, especially when the coverings are widely used. Health experts have said masks mostly serve as a protection for others around the person wearing the face covering.

But some Connecticut residents have mixed reactions about the fines. Some feel they are a tool to ensure safety measures are followed in their communities, while others say they violate their personal liberties.

Kelly Conrad, a Wallingford resident, supports the fines. She said when people know there are consequences for an action, they’re more likely to think before they act.

“It’s like speeding or running a red light. If you know you’re not going to get caught, people do it. If there’s a chance you’re going to get caught and you have to pay money for it, you’re going to be a little more cautious. And I think it’s the same with masks,” she said.

She doesn’t expect the new fines will affect her day-to-day life — she lives with someone who works in the school system, and they’ve been “very, very cautious.”

“We don’t want to be responsible for an outbreak,” she said.

Stamford resident Jessica Kanczura agreed there’s a benefit to encouraging people to wear masks.

“We keep seeing all these people that are anti-mask or whatever, which is fine and dandy if it’s just affecting them, but I think there needs to be repercussions for their effect on the general public and the people around them,” she said. Cromwell resident Jessica Tomczak, however, opposed using fines to push people to wear masks.

“I think it should be a choice, if you want to do it to protect yourself, then that’s up to you, but you shouldn’t be forced to do it,” she said.

Tomczak didn’t think the fines would affect her everyday life

“too much,” but if they continue, she’d consider moving to “a state that honors the Constitution.”

Sampson Phillips, a Greenwich resident, said people should wear masks to keep themselves and others safe, but he didn’t think it should be a mandate backed by financial penalties.

“When it becomes like a mandated law, and now they want to possibly talk about adding fines to it, I feel like it’s stepping over people’s personal freedoms and rights a little bit,” he said.

New Haven resident Amanda Meyer — who is also an epidemi- ologist with Yale University — said she “definitely” supports mask fines.

“All of the science is showing that mask use and social distancing are the best ways of avoiding [lockdown again]. Especially with the fall coming, and a potential for flu season to overlap with the COVID-19 pandemic, it just seems like the absolute best way — anything that can help encourage people to just put on the mask is something that I’m very for.”

Meyer said her apartment building has been “extremely strict” about mask use and she wears one every time she leaves, even if she’s just walking down the hallway to take the trash out.

“The mask use has been really ingrained for me,” she said.