To Mask or Not to Mask
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Image BY Jeremy Hogan / SOPA Images/Sipa USA from theconversation.com
Wearing a mask during the Covid-19 pandemic has surprisingly become a very controversial issue as of late. Everybody seems to have an opinion about why they wear one, and why they don’t. People who wear them argue that it’s a social responsibility, that the science says that wearing them reduces the spread of Covid drastically, and, honestly, some people just like not having their faces visible.
People on the other side of the aisle seem to have much weaker arguments, like they can’t breathe (they can), that they have a special little card that gives them a medical reason why they don’t need to wear one (most of them have no such medical condition), and some people even spout nonsense about it being against the law to be forced to wear a mask at all (our country, at least, can take drastic measures such as forcing citizens to wear masks inside in the interest of public safety). These issues seem mostly in the United States, as Canada seems to be much more socially responsible, but watching our neighbours to the south has influenced not just us, but people all over the world to act outright dangerously and disregard the safety of others.
As COVID cases are on the rise again in Canada, and this pandemic shows no signs of slowing down, it’s a good time to discuss why the masks are life saving. While the masks are important to everyday life for the foreseeable future, I personally believe that there is a downside to overusing the masks as well.
Image from UpSplash
While people who are conscious about other people’s safety by wearing the masks is commendable, I also fear that we are weakening our own immune systems in the long run by wearing the masks too often or for extended periods of time. Doctors and nurses wear masks all the time, to protect themselves against thousands of possibly deadly bacteria in a well ventilated hospital. We are wearing masks just as often, in many different types of temperatures and climates, to protect ourselves (and others) from one deadly virus. In some ways, the two don’t really stack up against each other all that well.
Overall, I’m in favour of masks. I’ve mentioned they are life saving, and while they are inexpensive (if you get reusable cloth masks) they also seem to be harmful to the environment due to people losing them or simply throwing them away wherever there seems to be a free piece of terrain. The least you can do is pick up after yourselves. Wasn’t there a huge environmental issue pretty recently before COVID was even a thing? Did we all just forget?
I don’t want to get too carried away here, so I’ll leave you with this: masks are life saving during this pandemic (something that apparently can not be said enough times), but what will the negative effects of wearing them too often and then throwing them away be in the long run?
For more information on masks and how to wear them, visit https://www.ontario.ca/page/face-coverings-and-face-masks
Garrett considers himself to be an average Joe who writes, plays video games, is an avid lover of The Golden Girls, and sleeps way too much. He also watches anime, and aspires to become a cat lady before the next apocalypse. He hates people who are misogynistic, racist, homophobic, and trans-phobic, people who wake him up too early, and things that smell bad.
