Masks Forever
2 min readLook around this state. As coronavirus risk drops into the basement, millions of Coloradoans are still obediently donning their masks (often multiple masks), sanitizing everything they get near, and maintaining arbitrary physical distances from others.
I routinely see relatively young Coloradoans using their shirts to grab door handles, apparently thinking this will stave off certain death from the novel coronavirus.
The justification for this kind of behavior remains the same as it ever was: If it reduces the risk by even a little bit, it’s worth it. Lost on all adherents to this logic is the simple fact that this justification will never go away. Grabbing door handles with our shirts, wearing masks in our cars, avoiding strangers like the plague – these things will always logically reduce the risk of disease transmission. So those who continue to live their lives on this premise will apparently never go back to a normal lifestyle of touching things, being around people, and showing their faces.
Colorado seems to be a relatively scared population, even though our numbers are not substantially different than any other state that has had more or less restrictive approaches to the coronavirus. Ironically, the Colorado population is one of the healthiest in the country, and with obesity being a primary corollary to coronavirus severity we should be much less worried than other populations.
It remains to be seen how long the Chicken Littles in this state will continue to wear the superstitious talisman of the face mask, but we suspect there will be Coloradoans whose fear of death will forever be amplified by this government-created panic and who will simply adopt the face mask as a permanent accessory signaling their fear.
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“Sir, you should be wearing a mask.” “But you’re wearing a mask. You believe masks will protect you from the virus, correct? That’s why you’re wearing it, correct?” “Yes, but it’s better if everyone wears a mask.” “Why’s that?” “To slow the spread of the virus.” “But if masks prevent mask wearers from contracting the virus, why do mask wearers harass non-mask wearers? Either your mask works or it doesn’t. So if it does, leave me alone. If it doesn’t, then why wear one?”