This letter is for the COVID-19 deniers and non-mask wearers. Yes, businesses and government are interfering with your “freedom” to do whatever you want to do and they are treading on your “rights.” I get that. People willing to wear masks and gloves and social distance to protect themselves and others from getting sick will just have to jump out of your way on the sidewalk, in the park or in a store.
I’ve seen some people wear a mask into a store then remove it.
Some of us are totally content to read a book, watch TV, catch a good movie, go for long walks and stay home. The downside of this for the rest of America is we’re not spending money in any retail stores, restaurants or any other kinds of businesses. Many people are making just one weekly trip to the grocery store. Local businesses are not being supported due to the fear customers have that they will run into deniers or individual rights insisters.
This will significantly impede the health of the economy in the long run. Fear is encouraging parents to stay home, resist going back to work, and keep their school-age children out of the classroom. You want things to open up and get back to normal but the very fact that you are not doing the things necessary to allow us to do that is like shooting yourself in the foot.
Yes, we all want to do things that give us pleasure like get together with friends, but sometimes there is a payoff for delaying gratification. Unfortunately, California has been shut down for a second time and the shutdown may get even more restrictive in the near future.
“Mandates” and “requirements” for masks are just empty words. They are meaningless without enforcement. Coronavirus will become a waiting game and illness and deaths will continue to increase. Unless you have a parent or child or spouse become seriously ill with coronavirus, masks are not important to you.
And if it’s you who ends up on a ventilator and succumbs to the virus, your rights and freedoms will no longer be an issue. In closing I ask you… Is refusing to wear a mask worth dying for?
Randi Kay
Saugus
