Masks flash point in coronavirus culture war
As the nation edges away from lockdown and people once again share public spaces in the middle of a pandemic, wearing a face mask — or refusing to — has become a flash point in a moment when civic rules are being rewritten, seemingly on the fly.
The result has been dirty looks, angry words, raw emotions and, at times, confrontations that have escalated into violence.
On Monday, a woman, her adult son and husband were charged with first-degree premeditated murder in the fatal shooting of a security guard who refused to let her daughter enter a Family Dollar in Flint,
Mich., because she wasn’t wearing a face mask to protect against transmission of the coronavirus, The Associated Press reported.
In Stillwater, Okla., an emergency proclamation mandating
face coverings led to so much verbal abuse in its first three hours Friday — and a threat involving a gun — that officials swiftly amended it. Masks became encouraged, not required.
“The city of Stillwater has attempted to keep people safe by the simple requirement to wear a face covering to protect others,” Norman McNickle, Stillwater’s city manager, said in a statement. “It is unfortunate and distressing that those who refuse and threaten violence are so self-absorbed as to not follow what is a simple show of respect and kindness to others.”
The decision not to wear a mask has, for some, become a rebellion against what they regard as an incursion on their personal liberties. For many others, the choice is a casual one more about convenience than politics. The choice can also be a reflection of vanity, or of not understanding when or where to wear one. Some people said they found masks uncomfortable, and thus a nuisance they were unwilling to tolerate. Others were skeptical how much difference they made outside on a sunny day.
“I hate it,” groused Ammiel Richards, 27, who said that he had twice been ejected from New York City buses for not wearing a mask.
But public health experts have reacted in horror both at the sight of public places where people have crowded without masks, and at demonstrations — such as those in Michigan and California — where protesters without masks have been jammed together and at times yelled in the faces of police officers. Experts described wearing a face covering as a considerate act meant more to protect others than the person wearing it.
Even as governors imposed orders and public health experts dispensed their professional guidance, the effort to thwart the coronavirus nevertheless amounted to a grand national experiment in cooperation that hinged on the individual decisions of millions.
Gov. Mike DeWine of Ohio had included a facecovering mandate as part of plans to reopen businesses, but he changed course. “It became clear to me that that was just a bridge too far,” DeWine, a Republican, said Sunday on ABC’s “This Week.” “People were not going to accept the government telling them what to do.”
As many states have moved toward reopening but have also set their own pace in doing so, an elaborate patchwork of orders and restrictions has emerged that differs from state to state, even municipality to municipality.
Those guidelines vary just as much with masks, which public health officials have encouraged people to wear, along with adhering to social distancing measures. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advises the “use of simple cloth face coverings to slow the spread of the virus and help people who may have the virus and do not know it from transmitting it to others.”