Let’s face it: no one likes to wear the face-coverings required to keep out the Delta-Corona-19 virus. In St. Louis County, where I live, we have been in limbo for two weeks following the Council’s vote against the Director’s mandate that we wear masks in enclosed public spaces.  The conflict went to court, where a judge arbitrated the issue, until finally it ended with no county mandate for masks.

The result is sporadic requirements in restaurants, theaters, and churches throughout the county. When I enter a public space I hold my mask at the ready, but I am more than happy to stick it in my pocket and not wear it, even in the crowds at the MUNY, where the theater seats are outdoor, but the crowds stream together as we enter the space. Masks are uncomfortable, especially in the hot, humid weather of August. They impede natural breathing and speaking.

Is this an argument for no mandates for masks? That we are uncomfortable and have a right to our comfort, regardless of how it affects the spread of the virus? Quite the opposite. It shows the need for a mandate. We are unwilling to wear the suffocating things in public without a mandate.  We need the requirement to enforce our own health needs.

This shows the callous disregard for public health shown by the governors of Florida, Texas and Arizona, who designed laws to prevent schools and cities from issuing a mask mandate for children as they start the school year. Masks are proven to cut the virus’s spread among children if worn consistently, according to Dr. Jessica Snowden. a pediatric infectious disease specialist at Arkansas Children’s Hospital [“GOP, schools clash,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, August 21, 2021].  “She said the delta variant infects children more often and makes them sicker than last year’s variants.”

Governor DeSantis’ threat to cut school funding, if schools issue a mask mandate coddles his political base at the expense of children’s and teachers’ health. More callous yet is his ultimate goal of gaining a foothold on the Republican nomination for the President in 2024.  Political ambition trumps, yes Trumps, the health of unvaccinated children who are required to gather in disease-susceptible places in August, 2021.

In spite of such threats the Miami Dade Public School District, the 4th largest school district in US and largest district in FL, opened with a mask mandate. It is heartening to hear that schools are not intimidated by a ruthless politician and show a higher regard for protecting the health of children and all who they come in contact with.  Similar acts of defiance are taking place in Dallas, Houston and Phoenix, seeking to prevent the spread of the Delta-variant among their school children.

The governors of Texas and Florida seem impervious to the higher spread of Corona-virus cases in their states: 28% of all U.S. cases, while their population is 15% of the U.S. population.  The news reports of overcrowded ICU’s and over-taxed nurses and doctors make no impression on these callous politicians. They trust their citizens to wear masks if necessary.  How absurd to think we would wear those constricting face-coverings if we didn’t have to!  Even our common sense can prevent us from taking proper health measures. Before the Corona virus how many of us religiously washed our hands after coming in from public exposure? How many of us do it now?

Liberty does not always appeal to sensible practices.  It is all well and good to say, “Texans, not government, should decide their best health practices,” as Governor Greg Abbott said regarding his ban on local mask mandates. But somebody has to enforce common sense in order for all of us to comply. Otherwise the few irresponsible will infect the many responsible.  This is why we have public health regulations and a government that enforces them. How hard is that to realize?

The answer is that the governors of Florida, Texas and Arizona know very well that public health regulations like mask-wearing, are necessary, but they pander to their political base anyway.  It is hard to believe they will stubbornly adhere to their penalties against school districts while their local ICU’s fill beyond capacity and schools close down from the spread of Delta-Corona-19.  But political ambition may have no limits.