The Light at the End of the Tunnel is an Illusion

As the percentage increase in new cases and deaths starts to decrease in some cities, I like many people have been heartened and have seen the numbers as an indication of the light at the end of the tunnel.  But today I realized why that is probably an illusion.

I live in an area of Massachusetts where people have been sheltering at home even before required.  Social distancing is the general rule.  But even after the CDC advisory about wearing masks when out in public, there has been little increase in people wearing masks.

I have asked staff at the local grocery and the hardware store why they aren’t wearing masks.  Sometimes they give me a shrug.  Or they just laugh it off.  When I tell them the facts about asymptomatic infected people spreading the virus and the percentage of false negative tests, they seem surprised.  But they don’t react with, “I’m going to wear some kind of mask.”  

They seem to feel they are impervious to the virus; it’s all about whether they need protection.  Wearing a mask is inconvenient or uncomfortable.  There seems to be no concern that they might possibly be asymptomatic and infect other people unwittingly.

Today at the hardware store I asked a manager and he said that he would only wear a mask if the CDC mandated he wear a mask.  When I said that the CDC advised that everyone should wear a mask when in public, he said it was voluntary.  That he didn’t want to wear a mask and instead of breathing the air, breathe in something from the material the mask was made of.  He also said that my assertion that wearing a mask prevented someone from unwittingly spreading the virus was false.  That he followed the 6’ rule and that was enough.  And finally that he’s gone through all the flu seasons and has not gotten sick.

This is an intelligent, thoughtful, careful man.  I don’t know what his politics are, but if someone like him doesn’t see why it is his duty, his responsibility, as a citizen to wear a mask after the CDC advice, then I fear that the light at the end of the tunnel is a mirage.

It is true that the percentage increase has gone down, but it needs to go down a lot more before we can even think about returning to normalcy.  If many people refuse to follow the advice from the CDC, as well as the advice on social distancing (and I’ve seen a good bit of that especially among younger people, and I don’t just mean spring break partying), then the numbers aren’t going to go down far enough.

What would change these attitudes?  I know that pleas from Dr. Fauci or Dr. Brix have had no impact.  There is only one person who perhaps might make a difference … the President.  If Trump finally really understood the danger we were in, understood his vital leadership role and wore a mask whenever he was in public, that would be a powerful symbol and without question many more people would wear a mask.

Republicans have been behind two major attitude changes that impact our ability to contain and survive the virus.  The first is the disrespect for government that Republicans have fostered for the last several decades beginning with Reagan’s “Government is not the solution to our problem, government is the problem.”  The second is the disrespect that Trump has sown towards science and facts.  And it is only Trump and his fellow Republicans that can turn this attitude around.