Why Are You Allowed to Put My Life in Your Hands?
By: Omari Hardy
Tags: Coronavirus, Omari Hardy, Local Government, Palm Beach County, Covid 19

Last Thursday night, I walked into the Wawa on Congress and Lake Worth Road to pay for gas. I counted 21 people in the store as I waited in line. Two of those 21 people wore masks: me and the cashier. The other nineteen entered the store without so much as a cloth face covering. That is, the other nineteen could have killed me with a laugh, a cough, or even a “hello.” There I was, wearing a mask to protect them from my germs. But there they were, waltzing around Wawa having made no effort to protect me from theirs.

Several days later, I went to Publix in Lake Worth Beach to buy essential items. While in line at the cashier, I took a selfie. The selfie captured not just me, but four people around me. It captured the man in line ahead of me. He wore no mask. It captured the man in line ahead of him. He too wore no mask. It captured the cashier, mask-less, and the bag-girl, also mask-less. The only person in the picture who wore a mask was me. So there I was again, wearing a mask to protect folks around me. And there again were folks around me, making no effort to protect me from them.

I omitted a key fact. Thursday night, a few hours before I went to Wawa for gas, I pleaded with my fellow commissioners in Lake Worth Beach to support an emergency order than would have effectively required residents to wear masks, even cloth masks, when they visit essential businesses. Only Commissioner Herman Robinson supported the proposal. The other three — Commissioner Maxwell, Commissioner Amoroso, and the Mayor — did not support the order as proposed.

They said — and I am trying to be charitable to their viewpoint — that such a mandate was unnecessary, but that even if it was, we could not enforce it without great difficulty. It was not worth doing, they argued. They opted instead to “strongly encourage” or “urge” our residents to wear masks when visiting essential businesses.

The next day, Palm Beach County announced an emergency order that ordered exactly nothing. Let me be more charitable: the order said that Palm Beach County residents “should” wear masks when visiting essential businesses but did not order or require residents to do so. It was an order that did not order.

I took both my loss at the commission meeting and Palm Beach County’s “order” with some disappointment. The science is clear. CoVid-19 is transmitted by droplets and aerosols, which are basically nano-droplets. Droplets are the tiny particles of spittle and mucus we emit when we breath, talk, cough, sneeze, even sing. Masks, even cloth masks lined with a paper towel, contain these droplets very well, preventing them from spreading throughout the air and infecting the people around the wearer. When you wear a mask, you are choosing to protect the people around you from you. This is important because many who contract CoVid-19 do not show symptoms. That is, you can have it and not know that you have it. It is therefore an act of kindness and epistemic humility to wear a mask when in public. And if we all wear masks when in public, we all protect each other from ourselves. This kind of behavior, when adopted by nearly everyone, goes a long way toward to containing the virus, slowing the spread, and flattening the curve.

The problem is that not enough of us are wearing masks. My experience at Wawa is evidence of that. My experience at Publix several days after the County announced its “order” is evidence of that. The experiences of my friends, who have also braved such dangerous activities as shopping for paper towels in Dollar General, are evidence of that. Moreover, these experiences are evidence that “strong encouragement” and “urging” by local governments is not enough. It will not do merely to urge residents to wear masks. To protect us all, local governments must require all of us to wear masks, even cloth masks, when visiting essential businesses.

This is not a petty or trivial matter; it is a matter of public safety, the very core of every local government’s mission. Why are local governments in Palm Beach County refusing to use their powers, enhanced as they are in this emergency, to pass orders that will save lives and preserve medical resources? Why are local officials affirming, through their inaction, a most bizarre right, the right of an unknown minority to infect people around them with a deadly virus because, for one or another reason, they prefer not to strap a piece of cloth to their face for a few minutes while they shop for necessities?

I cannot answer these questions. I can say only that it is past time to require residents to wear masks when visiting essential businesses.

Thank you for reading my blog post! If you want to learn more about the policies I proposed to ensure more widespread mask use in Lake Worth Beach, please see the document below. It is a copy of the email I sent to my colleagues before our commission meeting. It describes, in broad strokes, two policies that would have (1) effectively required residents to wear masks when visiting essential businesses and (2) required essential businesses to provide basic PPE for their workers.

If you would like to watch our discussion of the proposals during the commission meeting, see the YouTube video embedded below the email. It should start right at that part of the meeting.