Ever since the COVID-19 Pandemic took hold of the world, business closed their doors and people were encouraged to stay home for safety. Though businesses are slowly opening up and policies are less strict, the one that stands out is the mask-wearing policy enforced to ensure the safety of others and slow down the spread. Despite the efforts to keep COVID under control, there are people that refuse to put on a mask, whether it's "freedom", or unfounded facts, they are fueled by adamant ignorance.
Why We Do
As cumbersome as it is and as insane as those conspiracy theories are, people do wear masks to protect others. A study in Michigan proves that. Whether it's because someone they knew got infected, or as a precautionary measure, these people chose to wear it, not because it was enforced. Those who do yield to caution take the extra steps to ensure cleanliness and lowered risk of infection. Even those that wear glasses, reporting that trying to do so leads to foggy lenses, they chose to wear it for the safety of others. Wearing a mask has become a societal norm, even donating extra masks to others in need. I personally continue to wear a mask despite being vaccinated, because my family, myself included, was infected by it. I wouldn't want someone else to catch what I had, so I want to slow the spread. But despite this, there are people who come up with strange and outrageous theories to justify their refusal to wear a mask, either by wearing them incorrectly, or outright omission.
Why We Don't (And Why That's a Bad Idea)
So we wonder, why? Why not? Why forgo this protection? A group of people protested the mask policy by refusing to wear their mask, all in the sake to express their freedom, wanting to breathe. The reality is that the people who are not obligated to wear a mask is small children, those under the age of 2. Those people have difficulty breathing through masks. And yet, there are people who take that breathing rhetoric seriously, when, in truth, it is still possible to have respiratory circulation through a mask.
Stop. Listen to yourself, it's not worth it.
This ignorance needs to stop, and that kind of denial cannot be allowed. That denial turns to ignorance, and through that ignorance, credibility is lost, whether it's the perpetrator's credibility, or worse, discrediting truths. Your argument is there, but it is not one worth causing health risks to everyone and yourself. It will also prolong the presence of the virus, and it has no business staying here longer than it has been.
Encouraging Protection
To Summarize...
When it comes down to it, threatening the wellbeing of others for ignorance is unacceptable. It shouldn't have been a Social Justice problem in the first place, but here we are. Is getting other people sick just to assert your stance on a real-world threat worth it? At its core value, it's a safety protocol to keep the virus under control so it doesn't keep its spread for longer than what it's desired. While the vaccine does keep it under further control (and is another too-long story for another time), the masks also keeps immuno-compromised safe. People wear masks not because it's a policy, but because they care. While it is your choice to not wear one, it is not the choice you should make when you can get sick and die from it.
Wear your mask.
Gillespie , Claire. “Why Do Some People Refuse to Wear a Face Mask in Public?” Health.com, 5 Jan. 2021, https://www.health.com/condition/infectious-diseases/coronavirus/face-mask-refuse-to-wear-one-but-why.
“Study Finds That Wearing Really Is about Caring.” Dearborn, 12 May 2020, https://umdearborn.edu/news/all-news/articles/study-finds-wearing-really-about-caring.
Vankin, Deborah. “L.A. Mayor Calls on Artists to Design and Spread the Message: Wear a Mask.” Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 23 July 2020, https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/story/2020-07-22/la-mayor-eric-garcetti-covid-mask-poster-art-project.
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