SNAPSHOTS Summer Challenge 2020
By: Allan Rae, Alto
Tags: Mask It Up, Writing, Creative Non Fiction, Photography, Covid 19

Now, Back To Masks

Love it or hate it, mask wearing has not only become a staple of community living during Covid, it’s a necessary and effective way for each of us to do what we can to help slow, and eventually stop, this global pandemic. Unfortunately, wearing or not wearing a mask has also become needlessly politically charged. Mask wearers are painted as PC nervous Nellie snowflakes who are simply overreacting to nothing more than the flu; often by those who believe the simple act of covering their faces is an egregious assault on their core freedoms, depriving them of their fundamental personal agency. I’m sorry, who’s calling who a snowflake?

The bottom line regarding mask wearing is not at all complicated to understand. Wearing a mask significantly decreases our chances of both contracting the virus, and of passing it on if we are carrying it while unaware. It is also a moral and community minded action we can proactively take which says to the world that we care about more than our own self interest.

I’m going to be blunt here. Covid-19 is by far the worst health crisis the world has seen for over a century due to the ease of transmission, high number of asymptomatic carriers, and the threat to life it poses for many of those infected. If left unchecked for much longer, not only will it continue to kill hundreds of thousands of people, it will fundamentally alter every aspect of our world and the way we move in it for decades to come. And not for the better!

That simple act of wearing a mask when in public spaces is doing your part to better a situation we all feel extremely powerless in. It’s being kind, it’s showing concern, and it’s being responsible. If you really believe that your personal choice to put others at risk trumps your fellow citizens right to safety and protection during a pandemic, then here’s some advice. Please remove your ignorant head from your ass, give it a shake, and grow the fuck up. Because, sorry if this busts that entitled little bubble you reside in, it’s really not all about you anymore. It’s about all of us. Do your part!

That Being Said …

I do think that we owe it to each other to offer a little grace and not go ape shit on someone in public if they aren’t wearing a mask. We’re all stressed and anxious right now, so let’s try to remember that each circumstance is unique. It could be as simple as someone being in a rush and so they momentarily forget to put it on. Besides, there are also a few legitimate reasons for not wearing a mask; such as cogitative impairments, severe mental illness, children under toddler age, and those with severe, note the emphasis on severe, breathing problems. Though as a former critical care paramedic, I need to say that if your breathing problems are so severe that a mask would cause you to experience a life threatening respiratory emergency, I sincerely doubt you’d be pushing your cart through a grocery store in the first place. The idiot screeching at full throttle about their breathing condition while conducting a sit in on the floor of Whole Foods, probably isn’t one of them.

The Challenge