I find myself in the same position as many of my friends: totally in favor of wearing masks indoors or in very crowded outdoor areas but annoyed by the mask police.
I find it unseemly when reporters scold ordinary people who don’t wear masks. I don’t like men screaming at my wife that she should wear a mask walking through mostly empty outdoor botanical gardens. And I think the “Wear A Mask!” calls should offer some nuance: “Wear a mask when in indoor public places, or in very crowded outdoor places!”
We don’t know everything about the spread of the coronavirus, but the preponderance of evidence suggests that prolonged indoor exposure to an infected person can spread the virus widely. At a choir practice in Washington state, for instance, a majority of the choir ended up sick. The latest outbreaks appear to have happened at bars.
This is why I’ve long argued that outdoor activities should be liberated as soon as possible, and coronavirus restrictions should focus on indoor activities. When things have to be done indoors, masks are prudent.
Why?
First, people often are infected for a couple of days before showing symptoms. That means that you could very well be carrying the virus without knowing it. Second, indoor settings, particularly crowded ones, allow your exhalations, tiny spittles, and other unnoticed droplets to recirculate. And if you infect one person in the morning, she could infect someone else in the afternoon, and so on.
For all these reasons, at President Trump’s three-day convention-like rally in August, attendees in the Vystar Veterans Memorial Arena would be prudent and considerate to wear masks whenever they’re indoors. If a speaker removes his mask to speak from the podium, that’s no big deal. If 10,000 shouting, singing, chanting adults are maskless, they will be producing a cloud of droplets. If any of them are carrying the virus, they will infect others.
This is particularly important because Florida, including Jacksonville, is seeing climbing case counts and rising rates of positive tests.
Jacksonville’s Republican mayor, Lenny Curry, has issued a citywide order requiring masks indoors, with only a few exceptions. Republican leaders House and Senate are looking at the outbreaks across the country and imploring folks to wear masks.
Again, I won’t scream that everyone should wear a mask at all times. I won’t tweet pictures of maskless private citizens to shame them. But when I’m in Jacksonville, interviewing, and walking among the delegates and guests at the convention/rally there, I’d sure be happier if they were wearing masks.
