Both A Mask Lover and A Mask Hater

I am like many people. I don’t like to wear a mask. I wear a mask as little as possible but as much as necessary.

Mostly I avoid places and situations where I may have to wear a mask. I always have one handy, however. When I foresee exposure, I wear it, well in time, to reassure those around.

Whether you like masks or not, following sensible guidelines in this pandemic isn’t an all or nothing proposition. Wear your mask as much as you can, where necessary. It has an impact on reducing the transmission of the virus, regardless of anyone else wearing one. If every other person wore a mask, the collective benefit would still be much more than no masks, though far less than everyone wearing one. Same with social distancing. Follow social distancing wherever possible. The more of us who follow social distancing the more we can reduce the spread. Stay in your bubble. Your bubble may be your household. It may be your group of friends. But stay in it as much as possible. When you cannot avoid exposure to those outside your bubble — even with a mask and social distancing — limit the length of your exposure to no more than necessary. Whenever possible, prefer outdoor exposure to indoor. Length and type of exposure and the number of exposures matter. It all piles up.

Again, it is not all or nothing. If we do only some of the above, we still help all of us. What will not help is getting mad and getting in someone’s face, because that will only serve the cause of the virus. It is about our collective behavior. Aberrations must be tolerated.

The pandemic is unlikely to disappear anytime soon. We are in it for the long haul. We may follow every guideline and may still get the virus. If that happens, at least we can be proud we stopped it in its tracks when it got to us.

Remember this. We do not have to be a mask lover or a mask hater. We could be both. In fact, most of us are.

A bit about me.

I love seeing faces instead of masks in my classes. We are all online.