Behind Closed Doors: Wear a Dang Mask!

Like religion or politics, I don’t feel comfortable talking about the reopening of our country. It makes me anxious. I don’t believe we’re ready even though I understand the shutdown hurts our economy and folks need to make a living. But based on what I’ve witnessed so far during this pandemic, I don’t have a whole lot of confidence in humanity to stop the spread of the coronavirus without strong mandates in place.

As I write this, more than 150,000 Americans are gone. I can only imagine what that number will be by the time this article goes to print. Still, an alarming percentage of people can’t even be bothered to don masks out in public. I’m trying to understand how people can go out without a mask on and, worse, do so while purposely avoiding social distancing. Do these maskless morons think they can’t catch the virus or pass it along to the rest of us?

Refusing to wear a mask is only one of the issues that could stop us from getting to the other side of this pandemic. Some folks desperately need to be educated on how to wear a mask effectively. We need an all-nation in-service that covers mask-wearing basics: It goes over the nose and the mouth, not one or the other. It should not be used to cover only the neck or chin. Don’t cut a hole in it to smoke through. Plus, I don’t know how masks can be counted as a safety measure when people are pulling it up and down while drinking in a bar. Just sayin’.