Full disclosure before this starts… I am not opposed to wearing masks. If an individual makes the decision to wear a mask - be it due to their desire to help fight infection of themselves, or to prevent infecting others - I encourage them to do so. If a business wants to make the choice to request patrons wear a mask while shopping, again, I am all fine with that. The opposition arrives when the government attempts to mandate such things. This opposition festers when the decision to mandate was made on the advice of individuals who have been proven time and time again to either be flat out wrong, or who are outright lying.
We're going on an adventure. Follow, if you dare...
You get out for the day. Part of your new routine is to bring your mask. It’s the same mask you wore yesterday while doing many similar things that you’re about to do today. You put the mask in your pocket, or maybe you just carry it to your vehicle to hang it on your rearview mirror. You drive to the gas station to fuel up. Get out, grab your card to pay at the pump. No need for a mask since you’re not near people and/or going into the store. Slide the card into the kiosk. Punch in your numbers, make the selections. We all know the steps. You grab the nozzle and start pumping away. The tank tops off, you return the nozzle, grab your door handle, and climb back in your car. You get your keys out, maybe check your phone. You start the car, take hold of the steering wheel and drive off to your next errand. Pulling into the parking space you so diligently searched for, you grab your mask to start your purchasing endeavor, sliding it delicately over your ears. In the store you snag a cart or basket for your shopping needs. After you’ve secured your provisions, you run through the checkout stand. Again, you grab your card, stuff it through the kiosk, punch in your numbers, and off you go. Perhaps the cashier handed you a receipt after having run all of your groceries through the till. Back out at the car, you remove your mask, and proceed to endure the ritual that is preparing to drive. Next, it’s just about time for a bite to eat, so you swing into a restaurant. Similarly, you adorn your mug with your mask… Pulling the door handle to enter the store, the host takes you to a table. The table is populated with silverware that was placed there by a busser. A member of the wait staff takes your order and subsequently brings drinks and food. You consume, as one does when they eat. Payment is made via the wait staff who lovingly attended your table. That person has to take your card to process it through another machine that was previously touched by other staff members. Your card is returned, your mask re-secured into position, and off you go…
All of those events took place over the course of maybe two or three hours. During that entire time did you wash and/or disinfect your hands right before and immediately after touching any of those individual things? Did you wash or disinfect your hands right after putting your mask on? How about when you took it back off? Do you know if everyone before you had sanitized before using the fuel nozzle? Or least maybe after they finished? What about the keypad you had to finger in order to process your card? How about the grocery store clerk who has been struggling with their mask all day? Did they wash or disinfect before touching your groceries? Had they done so for the person prior? Had the person prior washed or disinfected before handling their own groceries that the cashier also touched? How about the busser? Did they wash or disinfect immediately after clearing the last table? You know the one with all of the dishes that had been put in mouths as a natural course of consuming food? Because the busser then put new silverware at your table, you know? Likely poured your water, too. Did the wait staff wash or disinfect immediately before bringing your food to you? How about before and after taking your card for payment? As you can imagine, there are certainly additional details missing from this short window of time.
Now… Compare this to how often you’re coughed or sneezed on or around. Compare it with how often you’re close enough to be speaking with them and they inadvertently spit on you during discussion. I hope we can all agree these are rare events. All of that cross contamination from touching, though? That’s not uncommon. In fact, it’s largely why the cold, flu, and even ‘stomach bugs’ end up running relatively rampant. Wanna know why you ended up with an upset stomach after eating at the restaurant? It’s actually not probable that the food was under cooked. More than likely, the contaminant that you ingested was a rotavirus which probably came from someone who hadn’t washed their hands well enough to clean all of the fecal matter off. Yeah. Eew.
I’ve heard people claim “well, then, let your doctor not wear one the next time you have a surgery”. This is one of the largest straw men I’ve ever seen. Prior to the surgery the doctor washes, dons not-previously-used gloves and masks, washes again, performs the surgery, disposes of the gloves and masks, then washes again. I trust that the doctor will have taken those appropriate steps to prevent the spread of disease while performing the surgery. It’s not 100%. Infections still happen. But the steps the doctor took actually did impact the chances of contamination. Karen at the grocery store, on the other hand, did not take any of those precautions before rummaging through the bananas to find the perfect bunch. Not. At. All. No, she grabbed her nasty mask to put on, then came into the store and used those grubby hands to touch all the produce.
Too many studies have come out over the years indicating that masks don’t do much to prevent the spread of disease. Not but weeks ago, the CDC was encouraging people to not wear masks so that medical staff could have them because they admitted the lack of effectiveness in an uncontrolled environment. Outlined above is largely the reason I’m not going to trust my health to the use of a mask. Until you can convince me - and I want to see this with my own eyes - every single person washing and/or disinfecting appropriately, you will not convince me that the “ease” of masks is worth a public mandate.
It must also be said that the high mortality risk category for COVID-19 consists of the same individuals who are at high risk of death for most any disease. Ages 55+ make up about 87% of the COVID-19 deaths. That percentage doesn’t drop much as you continue up the decades of age. When you hit 65+, it’s still making up nearly 75% of the recorded deaths; and 75+ remain at 55% of them. Are you going to continue wearing the mask and perform the exhaustive sanitary measures after the mask mandate has passed? Because the mask will remain approximately as effective for those diseases, too. For some, it may be even more effective. It's quite disingenuous of you if you're not going to do this since you're claiming it's about saving other people.
Once all of that happens, then, and only then, can you finally claim to me that you wear it to protect others.
- Mike H