I came across a story on the Associated Press where Republicans take to mask wars so vigorously, as if it meant life and death to them, which to me is an unnecessary waste of time and energy.
But looking at the issue deeply, I think it is just their desire to exercise their right to freedom (of choice) that in essence reflects their selfishness and lack of empathy towards the people around them, in the face of a virulent virus that knows no boundaries and reputation. Like it or not, it looks to me like stupidity and a sense of immortality when the virus will manifest itself as the winner (because it evolves and mutates at rates faster than our ability to adjust to them) in any competition.
Facebook in fact has plenty of netizens posting just how humane and responsible they are towards humanity and towards those around them (colleagues, friends, relatives and family members) by using masks—no matter how uncomfortable and inconvenient it is for them—just so they can protect the entire human race.
In Florida for instance, Gov. Ron DeSantis is up against his constituents over the mask issue ever since he issued a memorandum banning the mask mandate in schools, churches and offices, but which his constituents continue to defy because they do not see the logic in it in the face of a surging COVID 19 infection and overwhelmed hospital systems.
Top Republicans are battling school districts in their own states' urban, heavily Democratic areas over whether students should be required to mask up as they head back to school — reigniting ideological divides over mandates even as the latest coronavirus surge ravages the reddest, most unvaccinated parts of the nation.
DeSantis event threatened school boards to cut funding from school districts that defy the statewide ban on wearing of masks and suggested that his office direct officials to withhold the pay from superintendents who oppose the memorandum.
In South Carolina, Gov. Henry McMaster is threatening to withhold funding to schools in his state's capital of Columbia over masking rules, while Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has vowed to enforce a similar order against mask mandates — despite large school districts around the state, including Dallas and Austin, promising to go ahead with classroom face covering requirements.
Even the Republican gubernatorial candidate in the purple state of Virginia has decried school mask mandates in the name of parental rights.
The posture comes with some clear political incentives for Republicans. The party's base has opposed mask rules for more than a year and long recoiled at the word “mandate.” Still, some within the GOP's own ranks have begun to warn of the safety and political risks involved in making schools — and children's health — the chief battleground for an ideological fight.
“It’s very visceral,” said Brendan Steinhauser, a Republican strategist in Texas. “We’re approaching this very tribalisticly, very angrily, very politically,” he said, adding that both sides are digging in “instead of trying to get together, I believe, at the most local level possible, and saying, ’Hey, let’s try and work out what’s best.’”
Packed school meetings
The issue has packed local school meetings and sparked heated exchanges. Video of a meeting in Tennessee’s Williamson County showed angry parents chanting “No more masks” and following mask supporters to the parking lot to shout obscenities. First-term U.S. Rep. Madison Cawthorn, R-N.C., recently showed up to denounce masking rules approved by county school board members in his district, calling them “nothing short of psychological child abuse.”
It all comes as some Democrat-run states are moving in the opposite direction, reimposing masking rules for classrooms and other public spaces after easing them in recent months, when it seemed the pandemic might be waning.
That's consistent with Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommendations that children mask up in school. A recent report by the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Children’s Hospital Association found that nearly 4.3 million U.S. COVID-19 cases have affected children. That’s about 14 percent of all cases nationwide, though the report said hospitalization and death among children is “uncommon.”
The consequence of no masks
In Florida, which has seen cases and hospitalizations rise sharply, some school districts are suing to oppose DeSantis' order. Others, like Leon County, which includes the state capital of Tallahassee, plan to require students to wear masks regardless. Superintendent Rocky Hanna said in a letter to the governor that his district sought “the flexibility and the autonomy to make the decisions for our schools.”
“Unfortunately, it has become well-politicized,” Hanna said in announcing his decision, adding that if “things went sideways” as school begins anew “and heaven forbid we lost a child to this virus, I can’t just simply blame the governor of the state of Florida.”
Jasmine Burney-Clark, founder of Equal Ground Education Fund, which has spent months helping facilitate vaccinations for Floridians, said “school boards across the state are saying, ’We’re going to call your bluff, and we’re going to require mask mandates for our students.'”
“'You’re not taking the lead so, if you want schools to open, here’s what you need to do,’” Burney-Clark said districts are telling DeSantis.
Contrary to GOP ethos
Some have noted the push for bans against mask mandates runs counter to the traditional Republican political ethos of limited government and “local control,” or leaving decision-making on things like community ordinances and schools up to officials in the area.
US Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., said he opposes DeSantis’ orders against school mask mandates, saying on CNN Sunday, “The local official should have control here.”
One Republican governor has backtracked. Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchison called the state’s lawmakers into special session to consider loosening a ban on mask mandates he now says he regrets having signed in April. A judge has already temporarily blocked the ban.
Other schools oppose masks
But not all school districts are pushing mask mandates, either. After Kentucky Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear ordered masking rules in his state's schools, some superintendents applauded. One offered a voicemail call to parents that blasted the governor as a “liberal lunatic” and added that "the professional opinion of your superintendent doesn’t matter. The opinion of your school board doesn’t matter.”
In Virginia, Gov. Ralph Northam, a Democrat, argues that the CDC's latest recommendations serve as a de facto mask mandate for schools since a state law passed in March requires following federal guidance. Republican gubernatorial candidate Glenn Youngkin has vowed not to mandate masks in schools if elected, saying, “This should be a decision that parents can make.”
Unlike DeSantis, Abbott and many other leading Republicans, Youngkin has prioritized his business experience as a former private equity manager more than his loyalty to former President Donald Trump — little surprise in a state President Joe Biden carried by 10 percentage points. Still, his comments show that mask opposition has grown beyond ardent pro-Trumpers.
Republican oppose returning masks
Monmouth University polling released last week found that 73 percent of Republicans oppose bringing back masking and social distancing guidelines, while 85 percent of Democrats support doing so. Independents were more deeply divided, with 42 percent in support and 55 percent opposed.
“It’s expanded beyond the people you initially see at the Trump rallies,” Patrick Murray, Monmouth's polling director, said of Republican mask opposition. But he also noted that so much of the party has now absorbed the former president’s message that “all of those people who were considered moderate Republicans in the past have become, on almost every issue now, nearly lockstep with whatever the Donald Trump position is.”
Support for masks in classrooms may be higher. A Gallup survey in late July found that 57 percent of parents with school-age children favor mask mandates for unvaccinated students — whose ranks dominate elementary schools because vaccines are only available for people 12 years old and over.
A May poll by the RAND Corporation found that such attitudes break sharply along racial lines. Some 86 percent of Black parents, 78 percent of Hispanic parents and 89% of Asian parents said mask mandates for adults and children needed to be in place for them to feel safe in sending their children to school, compared with 53 percent of white parents who felt that way.
RAND senior policy researcher Heather Schwartz, the study's lead author, said one possible reason for the differences could be that parents in rural areas, which tend to be whiter, are more likely to oppose anti-COVID measures. Another may be the virus having killed minority Americans at higher rates than whites, she said.
The same survey found that 26 percent of white parents and 29 percent of rural parents felt schools should fully return to normal this fall. Schwartz said some of those respondents wrote things like “the government doesn't need to tell us what to do” in their responses.
“There’s a sort of general masking attitude that’s spilling over into schools,” Schwartz said, “rather than the reverse.”
My take
Hearing the voices of both camps, I feel that the debate is needless and a waste of time and energy. The real question is do we want to live or not? Do we want humanity to become extinct like the dinosaurs?
This virus is unforgiving and indiscriminate. It would not choose its victims. It only chooses the best place it can grow and thrive so it can spread even faster and deadlier.
Wearing a mask is one of the most confining and uncomfortable feeling for me. I get rashes on my face and behind my ears whenever I use one. But I have no choice, because I want to see my grandson bear sons and so many more generations yet.
If you refuse to wear mask, then have yourself vaccinated completely (at least two doses). That will ensure that you live with the virus (and not get confined in hospitals and crematoriums or graveyards).
That mask—plus complete vaccines—are your complete protection, if you want to sustain the human race in this planet.