Unmasked People, Unmasked in Their Own Way

I think masks separate us like the families in Tolstoy's famous opening line of Anna Karenina. You know the one: "Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way." Everyone I've met who wears a mask does it for more or less the same reasons: to protect themselves and others from a virus. But there appears to be a wide variety of reasons people won't wear a mask. 

NOTE: When I say masks, I mean NIOSH certified N95s or better - aka respirators. They do signficantly stop the spread of viruses.

I posted on twitter that I was starting to understand some concerns some people have raised about masks and that I think we need a new approach to get more people on board, and I was hit with an onslaught of comments along the line of, "They're playing you," and "I just can't bring myself to care at all about anti-maskers." I think this view is propagated because people against masks who are loudest on social media tend to be of a similar ilk: It's the pro-freedom, anti-everything group that bombards our posts, so they might colour the way mask advocates see anyone unmasked. But I've discovered there are others out there that don't fit the mold. And, if we want to get everyone in masks, then we have to care about anti-maskers enough to try to understand their position and bridge the divide. Instead, people got mad that I could have some compassion for them. 

It doesn't help anyone to lump them all together as sneaky and uncaring. I've argued before that anyone who is able to mask but won't is either misunderstanding the science and doesn't know they present a risk to others (which is totally on public health and our inept/corrupt premier), or they don't care they present a risk (sometimes, in part, because they don't know how serious the risk is, which is again on public health and our inept/corrupt premier). I still think those two different groups exist, but now, after getting tons of emails on masks as a trustee, I recognize there is huge diversity within each category. 

And I think I missed a category.

I've heard from people who seem to have developed a very real phobia around masks. One parent told me they find it unnerving* to see someone walking down the street with a mask on. One of the delegates at the OCDSB meeting on masks was almost in tears afraid for his children if masks return. They need people to stop wearing masks. 

This looks to me like the classical conditioning of Pavlov's dog. Pavlov had a ringing bell associated with food enough time that the dog drooled at the sound of the bell. Pair a neutral stimulus (masks) with something (deadly virus) that elicits a strong reaction (fear), and the neutral stimulus can eventually becomes conditioned to provoke a conditioned response (fear). Sure they should be more worried about Covid than masks, and it makes sense to mask in order to stop Covid, but it's not enough just to state that since a conditioned response like this often needs to be overtly unconditioned. My concern is that this fear of masks can't be easily unconditioned during Covid. If Pavlov rang the bell over and over without giving any food, eventually the drooling response would be extinguished. But we can't present a mask without Covid over and over while the pandemic is still brewing. Instead we need to be absolutely bombarded with fun and memorable PSAs that associate masks with health and prevention of illness. 

Back to the angry people hating on me for caring about the haters: It's not to say this is a valid excuse not to wear a mask, or that they shouldn't have to (as much as any of us has to at this point: legally, no, but morally, yes), or that anyone should, god forbid, accommodate them by taking off their mask. But it IS to say that we'll get more mask wearers if we can address their very real concerns. 

I get that mask advocates also feel threatened by those without masks who could actually spread Covid to them. Since we can't know we're not harbouring this virus, people without masks pose a very real physical threat to everyone around them. Mask advocates don't want to try to understand the behaviours of people that could cause them harm. For some, it's like giving their time and energy to try to understand and reason with a serial killer - or maybe to reason with someone who laughs about slamming back a few and staggering to the car to drive home, while a family member lost to a drunk driver is in the forefront of their mind.  

So many have lost people to Covid, and it's really hard to see people continue to gather in public without masks, especially leaders, and especially people coughing and sneezing. But we need to try to figure out what's going on if we want to affect their behaviour.

I get that it feels like fears are more valid when we compare fear of a physical threat to fears born of a conditioned response to an association (aka a phobia), but it is what it is. If a friend had a cat phobia, it doesn't matter that I'm positive that my cat poses no physical threat to them; I wouldn't think twice about putting the cats in a bedroom if my buddy came for a visit. Yup, therapy might help them, but that's not for me to decide, and I'm not going to deny them the pleasure of my company until they're on the other side of this issue. But if someone's really upset by masks, what do we do? We can't accommodate it, and we can't force them to get help, and we can't make them stay home. I have denied a few friends my company because they'll only hang out indoors without masks, and that's so hard. One dear friend, whose invite I decline right before Christmas, later commented about the really bad cough they had for the rest of the break. I refuse to believe they're unkind or uncaring. They just know not what they do. We have to educate everyone that the pandemic is still here, still causing serious long term disability and death, that hospitals are still dangerously overflowing, and that the lowest points in hospitalizations are rising, AND we really need to undo that negative association by showing people, over and over, a more positive association between masks and healthy living - one where people can still socialize and enjoy life.

There's another issue lurking: what do we do if there are some unnerved by masks, and they can't be distinguished from others who love this opportunity for a power grab now that they have carte blanche to openly harass anyone masked in public. That's a conundrum. But I think a more educated populace with everyone on the same page can make a real difference to that scenario; it will start to look silly to question the need for or effectiveness of masks.

Another person told me they hate seeing people in masks because it makes it feel like people think they're tainted or untouchable or diseased. I understand this sentiment. The day before our very first lockdown, back in March 2020, I had a student who came to class in a mask, and I actually asked him to take it off. It did feel like he thought one of us was going to do him harm, which is not a very friendly feeling. The difference between then and now, though, is that I've gotten my head around the reality that any of us really could be diseased, and there's no shame in catching a disease that's so easily transmissible, but, again, we can't just tell people not to feel shame around it. Those feeling have to be addressed more profoundly and deeply before we can expect them to dissipate. 

Yesterday Dr. Bonnie Henry said that "Wearing masks is not going to make a tremendous difference in the transmission of these viruses." And a few weeks ago Dr. Kieran Moore said, "Continued masking can decrease our overall immunity to other viruses." These are medical professionals, so why would we question them?? Well, because they're in the pockets of the politician they serve, and what they say goes completely against the expert and unfettered counsel of the Delphi Consensus. But to some people, this argument is merely taking sides with a different group of experts. Are you sure humans are causing climate change? or the earth is spherical? or the holocaust happened? There are experts on both sides, so for those opposing masks, it feels completely legitimate to bring out their experts. I have enormous sympathy for people who have been following the general vibe of media that suggests the pandemic ended. Even Stephen Colbert said to a guest recently, "Now that the pandemic is over...". That kind of talk is absolutely everywhere, so I don't think we can be angry at people for believing it. We have to educate rather than condemn. It helps to remember that people have very good reason to question the need or effectiveness of masks. They're following our leaders' advice! 

ETA: And Jamie Lee Curtis recently celebrated that "We're out of Covid; we're back together," and then promptly got Covid at the Golden Globes, an awards ceremony with no masks in sight. 

If the government clearly won't get on board with reducing transmission, we need a freakin' revolution of TikTokers and YouTubers to save the day with funny, informed videos with music and slogans that become part of the zeitgeist. 

And messaging must keep in mind other reasons people won't mask: 

Some want to fit in with the kids who don't seem to worry about silly things like viruses. The view others have of them matters more than life itself to some kids (and adults), and reminding them of the risks does nothing to change that reality. It's really hard to not be "normal" when you're young.

For some, having some semblance of a social life without masks is vital to their mental health and more important than their perceived minimal risk of spreading a virus. I've seen this with my own kids who have taken some risks knowing they'd be stuck isolating in their rooms for a week afterwards. For teens in families being super careful, they're basically grounded for ever seeing friends indoors and unmasked - and there's not enough snow for tobogganing yet! I can't imagine being a teenager trying to connect with someone and maybe hopefully make-out under these conditions, and I feel for their loss of an important rite of passage! But maybe if they all start to understand the very really risks, and adults all understand it, we can all hang out outdoors more or hang out indoors with masks on and a CR box and a window cracked and without food and drinks. 

That last bit it tricky because eating and drinking is a huge part of forming community in our culture - in most cultures. We've already surpassed the length of time most people are willing to have safety trump tradition, but we're just got to keep on it. Events with food and drink have to be very rare and so, so special that people are willing to isolate beforehand, and test daily for a few days before and after just to be sure. Nothing work related or student related should include food, like below. My school is amazing for having mask mandates, but then undoes it all by getting us all together for FREE SNACKS!!

Some parents really, really care about their kids and sincerely believe that masks will cause them enormous harm - far worse than any virus could. They've been convinced by websites that should be criminalized for the danger they present to the public. Asking them to put a mask on their child is the same as asking to get them to put a plastic bag on their head, tightly sealed at the neck with duct tape. It's horrific to them. They need to be walked through how to understand what a reputable peer reviewed journal is and why the websites they've sent me to aren't it! PSAs should be out there to dispel misinformation, and we are completely on our own with this task. Social media is often painted as destructive to kids, but it could save their lives!

And then there are some people who want to overthrow the government and anything that is perceived as a barrier to freedom, even if it could cost them their lives. They are loud and threatening. I've had both sides mad at me as a trustee encouraging masking (which just tells me that I've successfully found the middle ground), and those who are angry that we don't have mandates aren't anywhere near as frightening or abusive as those who are angry that we're encouraging masks. There's definitely something else going on, and I believe this is part of an attempt at organized chaos. AND some people really like feeling like they're doing something important, and membership in this group has given them purpose in life. They're so sweepingly against any form of government that they're often fighting against the very things that could help them: public health care and education, welfare, raising minimum wage, unions, etc. They're helping the uber-conservative groups unleash even more neo-liberal policies that will impoverish them as the cons get richer. But there it is. 

Again, the only solution to change this that I can think of is PSAs and lots of them (I wrote more about PSAs here): Brittlestar is on the right track, but it's not nearly enough. He made this video when most were masking and just a few refused. Now those numbers are flipped, so we can't just "avoid them like the plague." They're everywhere!!

I don't have a creative bone in my body, but we really need to see tons of funny videos with memorably slogans or jingles that people find themselves singing absentmindedly or kids sing on the walk to school. It should be something public health rolls out and the government clearly backs, like they did for seatbelts, drunk driving, smoking, littering, and concerns with needles in playgrounds, but we can't hold our breath waiting for them to act. It's on some random, creative people to make and share them. 

The message that these people don't matter works against our goal to have everyone masked! We have to care about people who won't wear a mask and try to find a variety of ways to reach them. 

And if it is the case that I've been duped by crocodile tears, and people are just trying to scam me into getting rid of masks, then maybe if we pity them, and give them our deepest sympathy instead of volleying back vitriol, then maybe - just maybe - they'll end up feeling embarrassed or otherwise uncomfortable by our gestures of kindness and concern and give up fighting for the sake of fighting. It might be worth a try! 

_____

*The original email to me actually used the term "terrorized," but that one word got people so riled up that they missed the point of my post - so I changed it to "unnerving." And I didn't so much apologize as I displayed a bit of empathy for their situation. It's a, "Sorry you experience that, but here's why I will continue to do it," which isn't an apology at all.

Someone asked for a doc I had shared with my class earlier in the pandemic, and it took me forever to find it, so I'll just save a few things down here at the bottom of all this. It's a bit of a timeline: 

* January 2020 - I first wrote about Covid and the importance of not getting sucked into misinformation.

* March 2020 - My plea to be allowed to teach online. Originally we expected to be home for two weeks and not teach at all. Then that was extended for another two weeks of doing nothing. I broke the rules and started teaching online right after the first week (March break), and kids were legit thankful to have structure in their days during all the chaos. Even when they board said marks couldn't go down after March break, almost my entire Philosophy class kept doing work and showing up for discussions right to the very end of June. 

* Here's a doc from April 2020, during the OG lockdown, that I shared with staff after a few teachers shared unsubstantiated info - like nobody should wear masks at all. It's fun to look back at it now as I tried to explain wearing masks but not N95s because health care workers needed them. It was mainly about droplets back then, but there's a link to links in there with a list of articles explaining that masks are important even with droplets: 

"Coronavirus appears to mostly spread when germ-containing droplets make it into a person's mouth, nose, or eyes. If you have a physical barrier in front of your mouth and nose, that's simply less likely to happen."

* And a doc from November 2021 that I shared and discussed with my class when, months before the mask mandates were lifted, they desperately wanted to ditch their masks because, they argued, being vaccinated means they're safe from Covid. One month later, we ushered in the beginning of the biggest wave of hospitalizations and deaths we've had to date. Go figure. 

* And that time, in March 2022, that I begged the board office to please let me have a Corsi-Rosenthal box in my classroom. They're still not allowed, but I'm still working on it!!

* And, finally, the handout (front and back) I helped put together in August 2022 to try to convince people that the pandemic isn't over. It's already a bit outdated. 

Keep fighting the good fight!