It’s December 2020. The early days of the COVID-19 Pandemic in the United States began sometime in March, putting us in the 10th month of the pandemic. The government has tried recommending that people wear face masks, wash hands frequently, socially distance, and keep gatherings of people below certain numbers. They also even tried a lockdown to prevent the spread of the virus. Needless to say, none of those plans have worked as the US is at an all-time high for COVID cases, with almost 1000 people dying from COVID every single day. At over 15 million cases and 285,000 deaths in the US alone, it’s no secret that more needs to be done to get the pandemic under control. First and foremost, we believe it’s crucial that we pay attention to what the scientific research says about masks and social distancing. There is plenty of evidence to suggest that face masks greatly reduce the spread of COVID-19. While nothing is ever 100% effective, the combination of face masks and social distancing brings the infection rate almost down to 0. We think it’s important for the government to be more strict with these regulations about masks and social distancing. While wearing a mask is mandated in the state of Indiana, I’m sure we’ve all seen the people that just walk past the “mask required” signs on business doors without a mask on. This is unacceptable and defeats the purpose of a mask mandate because everyone has to participate in order for the masks to be the most effective. There’s also evidence from other countries that a strict lockdown will quickly put an end to the pandemic. Australia, for example, locked down their borders and used contact tracing to track breakouts and put a stop to them early. After this lockdown Australia was able to reopen the Sydney Opera House, have 40,000 spectators at their rugby league grand final, and have had most of their workers return to their offices. While we understand that no one wants to be locked down, there’s evidence to suggest that this approach does work. These are the policies that we think are important for the government to maybe take another look at and weigh as potential options.
How could we encourage more people to wear a mask? Should they be fined? Should businesses kick out offenders? What do you think?
While wearing masks does help prevent it seems that the longer this lasts the fewer people wear masks? I think now more than ever due to the holiday season this winter with new cases rising.
I know that with the mask mandate, all businesses have to put signs on their doors saying that a mask is required to enter. However, I have never been in a business where someone who didn’t have a mask on was asked to wear one or leave. I feel like every time I go somewhere I see people without masks on walk by multiple employees who just turn the other cheek. I think that’s why people who don’t wear masks feel like the rules don’t apply to them, because they’ve never been penalized for it. I think businesses should stick to their word by actually requiring everyone in their business to wear a mask, and asking those who don’t want to follow that rule to either put one one or leave.
Alivia mentioned this in a comment above, but I think that the longer the pandemic has lasted, the less serious people have been taking it. It’s difficult to enforce policies when the population doesn’t believe there is a risk to going mask-less. People who were afraid and took the virus seriously in the beginning have started to get tired of all of the requirements, thus not wearing masks, social distancing, avoiding gatherings. I think a huge thing to help with this is education. I understand you cannot force people to understand facts, you can only provide them with the facts. However, I think there could be a greater effort in place to inform the general public. What do you think?
I like the idea about more education. I think it’s important that if people are being told to wear masks, they understand why they’re doing it. However, I think the CDC has done a great job of pushing out the facts about COVID, social distancing, and masks, and there are people that continue to ignore that advice. Therefore, I’m not sure how we would be able to give more information when there are plenty of people who won’t even listen to it.
Hey guys, I really enjoyed reading your post and getting to see your thoughts and perspectives about wearing masks during this pandemic. Do you think that people should still be required to wear masks if they have already had covid? I agree that everyone should wear masks if it can help protect others but if you walk into a store and you are the only person wearing a mask it could be frustrating because no one is willing to do the same to protect you. What are your thoughts on that situation?
I don’t think that previously having COVID exempts you from having to wear a mask in public, as there is evidence to suggest that you can get it more than once. I agree that it’s frustrating to be one of the only people in a store/business that is wearing a mask because I often find myself in this situation, which is why I feel so strongly about this topic. I really like your point about how there are people willing to wear a mask to protect other people, but other people aren’t willing to do the same for you. I would say that that sentence can really encompass the entire “mask debate”, because it’s more about public health than anything else.
I agree with you that everyone should wear a mask in order for this pandemic to stop. The reason why it hasn’t stopped is because like you said, people are still seen inside stores without a face covering. If a couple people follow the guidelines but the rest don’t, there’s no way that we will ever see an ending to this tragic pandemic. I feel like we should not close down again because it affected our economy and people tremendously the first time and doing it again might be an end to small family businesses. I feel like the better solution would be to simply not allow anyone inside the store or just kick them out if they aren’t following the guidelines. Do you believe that the country should get shut down again in order for COVID-19 to go away?
I think spreading scientific information is really crucial to preventing the spread of the virus. I feel like the majority of people who aren’t taking the lockdown/masks seriously are the ones who don’t fully understand what the virus is and what it can do. It is unfortunate that people are so suspicious of information and I think having more education on this would dispel some of that. Having more education would help for the most part, though I think there will probably always be people who go against covid guidelines, no matter how educated they are on the virus.
Do you guys think that masks should be nationally mandated? Or is there something less “forceful” that can be done to still encourage it that hasn’t been done before?
I think that it is extremely important that the local government starts to enforce mask wearing. I work at a grocery store where I see people everyday walking around without a mask on. When I tested positive for COVID, I didn’t know of anyone who I had been around who had it so it leads me to believe that I got it from work. I am not alone in this, at my work we have had over a dozen cases of COVID and it would be ignorant to say that none of those came from our customers who chose to not wear their mask. It makes me more angry that they cant even use the excuse that they dont have one with them because we provide them for free. I have elderly coworkers and it makes me really upset that people are putting their lives at risk because they choose to not wear a mask.
I’m so sorry to hear that, I completely understand your frustration. I work for a small business so my bosses don’t turn away people/require a mask to keep from upsetting people/losing business. Luckily, there’s not usually more than 5-10 people in the shop at one time but it’s still frustrating that some people completely ignore the “mask required” sign we have on the door.
I think this was a good post! I liked how you talked about how some places do not enforce masks, which makes the mask mandate have no purpose. I think we should enforce it. Where I work we have to tell customers that come in without a mask that they are required, but if they don’t want to then we can’t make them and we do not refuse their business. What do you think the government should do to help the situation?
Excellent post! Just for arguments sake, there is scientific evidence that says that mask make germs and bacteria cluster near your mouth and nose and can actually cause you to become sick. What are your thoughts on that discovery. How about the people with health conditions that prevent them from wearing a mask. What should these people do while in public and how could businesses stop people from lying about a health issue? Since it is illegal to specifically ask what the condition is, etc.. would businesses expect people to carry around a Dr note proving the health condition?
Thanks for the comment! There are a lot of doctors who have come forward saying that there are really only 1-2 medical conditions that should truly exempt people from being able to wear a mask. In these rare cases, there are plenty of options for those people that don’t require them to be out in public. For example, almost every grocery store has online order/pickup where they bring your groceries out to your car and the entire thing is contactless. Same thing goes for food delivery services. These people could also have someone else go out for them and bring whatever they need back.
I like your post! I like how straight forward it was. Facts are what are important right now – not opinions! The facts are what people need to hear, which may not be what they want to hear, but necessary to crush this pandemic. Like Australia, if we could have completely locked down for the proper amount of time, we might be in a totally different place right now as a country.
Thanks for the feedback! While I understand that this post may sound a little “harsh”, I totally agree that what people want to hear and need to hear are complete opposites, so I think it’s important to say the things that everyone’s thinking but no one wants to hear.
I always noticed that people would just walk past the sign, which didn’t bother me as much since I figured someone would enforce the sign then. The problem is like you state no one ever tells them to put a mask on or give them one before entering. Obviously the problem is people not wearing a mask in a store in the first place, but what is the point of the sign is no one is going to enforce it? So I think that there should be more enforcement in stores especially places where at risk people have to enter.