Live Free … and die
By Jim Coogan
This parallel to the New Hampshire state motto pretty much sums up what we’ve come to as America tries to deal with COVID-19 pandemic. All of the strong resistance to the wearing of masks as a means of slowing the spread of the virus would be laughable, were it not for the fact that people’s lives are being lost because far too many people see this as an assault on their constitutional rights. We are approaching 150,000 deaths from the virus. This simple and effective method of bringing down the curve of infections has worked in the states that took the virus seriously. Massachusetts, despite considerable grumbling by the “Open Massachusetts Now” crowd, for the most part followed the public health guidelines of social distancing and wearing masks. The governor enacted a phased approach to restarting businesses that was based on data and science. No question it was hard medicine. But it seems to have worked. We are now seeing the results of those states that ignored the CDC guidelines and went back to business as usual far too quickly. They may have to close businesses again as the number of active cases skyrocket.
There is a reason that surgeons work while wearing masks. They don’t put them on to protect themselves. The masks are to prevent the spread of germs in the operating room. I suspect that anyone contemplating a serious operation wouldn’t make this an optional procedure. It should be the same with anti-viral masks. While it is true masks can’t fully protect anyone from getting the COVID-19 virus from someone else, it certainly increases the chance that an infected person won’t spread it. And that should be the reason for wearing one. I’ve heard far too many people say that they value their personal freedom much more than they value the lives of others. To them, wearing a mask is a sign of weakness – submission to authority that is somehow un-American. The arguments verge on the ridiculous (I could die if I have to breathe my carbon dioxide) to the demonstrated selfishness that has come to define who we are. The fact is, too many of us don’t give a damn about our neighbors. And that’s what seems to be driving much of the anti-mask campaign.
When a people start accepting demagoguery as a substitute for science in setting a national health policy, it doesn’t bode well for the future. We are at that point now with the country divided over how to combat the current pandemic. Everyone is an expert. And the anti-science groups sadly seem to be winning. The anti-vaccination forces are drawing new adherents. Our growing disrespect and contempt for medical experts who have studied and worked for years with infectious diseases is a result of a culture that increasingly accepts “alternative facts.” Rather than leading the world, as the United States has done for so long, we have become an object of ridicule. There is no little irony that nations are preventing Americans from entering their countries. It used to be the other way around. We’ve shown that we can’t handle what is clearly a serious national health issue.
Leaders who continue to refuse to mandate mask wearing in crowded public places, saying that it should be left for the people to do the right thing, should look at the numbers to realize that in today’s self-centered culture, the “right thing” too often is the freedom to ignore whatever might be just a little inconvenient.
