|
It doesn't stop at the mask because it cannot stop at the mask. We need to shut down in order to reduce the transmission rate and give the infected time for the virus to either pass or to be hospitalized and removed from social contact.
But it has to stop at the mask. We cannot shut down because it means people will be laid off with no ability to pay their bills, their rent, and will lose their healthcare. It means power will become further consolidated in the hands of a few.
We're in this tremendous catch-22, which is why wearing a mask is so goddamn important. If everyone wears a mask, we reduce the transmission rate without shutting down. Don't you understand? We not only wear the mask because it's the right thing to do, because we're caring about our neighbors, but because it's the only way we can reduce the transmission rate heavily without shutting down.
Social distancing helps, but not on the level that wearing a mask does. 6ft is nothing when cough or sneeze droplets travel much farther, or when it's more than the distance from one side of a supermarket aisle to the other.
If you think it's a slippery slope, it's literally the opposite. If you wear the mask, it slows. We don't shut down, because transmission rates trend downward.
|