Face masks aren’t a government plot
So think less of yourself and more of others by wearing one
Nothing says self-absorption like refusing to wear a mask in confined public spaces during a pandemic.
Call mask-wearing defiance what it really is: Either a deliberate act of selfishness or an unintentional act of cluelessness.
Until a vaccine arrives, face masks will be an essential part of the public health fight against coronavirus, so we might as well get used to them.
The primary health benefit isn’t so much for the wearer of the mask but for those they encounter in public. Some people infected with the coronavirus don’t show symptoms, but they can still spread the virus through droplets from a cough or a sneeze or even through speaking.
Masks help reduce the spread, even homemade fabric masks.
In other words, you wear a mask mostly to protect others, not yourself.
Predictably, helping others means nothing to a segment of the public that views wearing a mask as a sign of weakness or loss of liberty or simply too much of a bother.
Some of that sentiment is understandable, considering the poor examples being set.
That starts with President Trump, who refuses to wear a mask in public, even when he visited a Honeywell earlier this month. That examples trickled down the Vice President Mike Pence, who wouldn’t wear a mask when he visited the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota last month.
Lesser officials pulled similar stunts, like Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz wearing a gas mask on the House floor early in the pandemic (he later argued insincerely that it was a sincere attempt to protect his health).
Right here in Orlando, Pence and Gov. Ron DeSantis — who has often worn masks in the past — stopped by a burger joint last week to get a meal. It was a nice gesture of support for a Florida business trying to return to normal, except the governor then
GUEST COLUMNIST
ORLANDO SENTINEL EDITORIAL tweeted out a photo of him standing with the restaurant staff, shoulder to shoulder, with not one soul wearing a mask. That’s not the kind of normal we’re shooting for.
Orange County’s health official, Dr. Raul Pino, recently told of being asked in a grocery store by someone who recognized him why he wasn’t wearing a mask. Pino explained he had already had the virus and gotten over it. A valid explanation, but what kind of example is a high-profile health official setting by not wearing a mask to the grocery store?
Meanwhile, media figures who trade on division take over, people like Fox’s Laura Ingraham and Brit Hume, who on Memorial Day mocked Joe Biden on Twitter for wearing a mask to a service for veterans.
The result is a slice of the American public that either doesn’t take seriously the need to wear masks or who more darkly view it as an attempt to wrest away freedom.
In Michigan a security guard at a Family Dollar store was shot and killed for refusing to let a customer inside without a mask. In Los Angeles, another security guard’s arm was broken after he tried to escort two men who refused to wear masks from a Target.
At a Costco in Colorado, a customer who refused to put on a mask explained it was “because I woke up in a free country.” People have been recorded purposely coughing on others to express their contempt. In Michigan, a man wiped his nose on a Dollar Store employee’s shirt after being asked to mask.
The resistance to mask-wearing further illustrates our chronic inability to come together to agree on nearly anything, or our unwillingness to make even small sacrifices for the greater good. During World War II, the public was asked to ration food, rubber and gas, with the government essentially restricting the ability of Americans to buy what they wanted or go where they wanted.
Today, we can’t even come together around the idea of putting on a simple face-covering to keep others from getting sick.
Federal health authorities bear some of the blame.
Early in the pandemic they told the public not to wear masks unless they had COVID-19 symptoms. On Feb. 29, the U.S. Surgeon General said they were not effective in preventing coronavirus spread, tweeting, “Seriously people — STOP BUYING MASKS!”
Then, in early April, the Centers for Disease Control recommended face coverings after determining that people without symptoms were able to spread the virus.
The best course for governments is to urge people to wear masks, and to set a good example. Making masks mandatory is fraught with problems.
The best course for businesses is to require that customers wear masks in the same way they require wearing shirts and shoes. Don’t like it? Then take your business elsewhere.
And the best choice for Americans is to be thoughtful, be kind, and just wear a damn mask while indoors in public places. It’s not asking that much.