-
Alt Text for Image
With the Coronavirus outbreak came the admonition for everyone to wear a mask. Some people did comply right away, others grumbled about it, some flat refused. Then many places – like big box stores - began mandating masks to enter.
Whether you agree or disagree about mask wearing, I want to discuss the pushback on it.
Almost every year, as soon as wheat harvest arrives, so do my allergies. Most years I stay on top of it with over the counter treatment and eventually the allergies subside. Some years, though, they get out of hand. On more than one occasion I have wound up with upper respiratory infection verging on pneumonia. And that happened this year.
I went to the doctor, and I got a test for the virus. The test was just to put everyone’s mind at ease, and it was negative. Meanwhile the medications are breaking up the anvil in my chest and I am wheezing like a bellows and hacking and coughing terribly.
Last week when my symptoms really kicked into high gear, I became much more conscientious about wearing a mask. Everywhere I went in public I wore the mask, hot and bothersome as it is.
What I wasn’t prepared for was the odd looks I got for wearing it. Even in places where they were mandated, people looked at me like I snuck in the back door to rob the joint
Probably because of my job I do not intimidate easily, so it wasn’t a problem. But it could be for some folks.
Like I said, I’m not here to argue pro-mask or nomask. But for crying out loud, if someone chooses to do so, or chooses to go mask free as permitted, don’t look down on them for that choice. This is still America and we have the right to make those decisions for ourselves.
And hopefully, this will all end one day and masks will be just an unpleasant memory. Until the ragweed starts to flower.
Connie Burcham can be reached at Editor@WatongaRepublican.com