Good News: You CAN Be Saved!

The CDC put out some crappy comms with an image with a mask photoshopped upside down, with "N95" shopped onto a KN95, and only on the patient, not the doctor, which suggests that doctors don't need to wear them. I almost feel bad for how hard they failed on this except that disease prevention is THEIR ONLY JOB, and their incompetence has cost so many lives. 

And now North Carolina is banning masks during protests and adding to the punishment if a mask is worn in a crime, but they added in a health exemption - after people protested - that allows medical grade masks to prevent spreading illness. However, the law still allows law enforcement and property owners to ask anyone to remove their mask for identification despite the reality that sunglasses obscure identity more than masks and there are no laws banning sunglasses during protests. 

And then NY is considering banning masks on the subway!! A democratic governor and democratic mayor are worried that people are "committing antisemitic acts" while wearing facemasks, but, yes, sunglasses are still allowed. The ban would have "common-sense exemptions" for health reasons, but WTF does that look like?? The problem with both of these bans is that even with the exemption, it invites people asking personal medical questions to anyone wearing a mask and adds one more barrier to getting people to protect one another with a mask. 

Check out Brad Pitt realizing how considerate it is to wear a mask back before the pandemic started: 

So, we've had N95s for decades, and it's a known tool that can shut down every airborne disease out there. Isn't it curious how many organization like the CDC and the WHO have botched that simple message and how much legislators are fighting to make it difficult or uncomfortable to use them!?! If we all wore a good quality and well-fitting mask for six months, worldwide, we could conceivably eliminate Covid and other viruses. But politicians are discouraging them instead, precisely at a time when we have rising rates of whooping cough, tuberculosis, and measles, and the new and improved H5N1. The bans further stigmatize masks and could scare people away from wearing them at all if they think it might make it look like they're about to commit a crime. The numbskulls created an association between N95 and criminality, which invites harassment of vulnerable people. 

It's the height of absurdity.

Yesterday Dr. Lucky Tran wrote,

"Right now we need to depoliticize and normalize mask-wearing."

And I responded,

"I've seen how well depoliticizing is going, and I'm starting to think we need to start an official Covid-cautious religion. In some places, at least, that would ensure masks are allowed. We could use immunology journals as scripture. Then any persecution can be reported to the Human Rights Commission!"

And people DM'd me to actually do it!

A mix of suggestions in the comments:

"The Church of the Holy Respirator! . . . Considering how little many people actually understand genuine science, there are parallels with other 'ineffable' phenomena."

Other names on offer: Church of the Most Blessed Holdouts and Temple of Sacred Life 

Apparently it's part of the collective consciousness now as yesterday Chalis Montgomery also wrote:

"My interpretation of my faith means doing what I can to avoid spreading diseases that kill and disable people. . . . Since Covid is asymptomatic about 50% of the time but can still be spread, the ethical choice according to my spiritual practice is a mask." 

Guiness Pig commented:

"Early in the pandemic, pastors would encourage their congregations to mask and follow precautions. If anyone refused, pastors would ask, 'who are you serving, Covid or God?'" 

And then today California Codes wrote,

"With mask bans gaining traction, can someone with more know how please for a religion for 'Still Coviding' communities to gain exemptions? . . . I'm ready to embrace our Coviding cult - we have no leader or real desire to be in it, all research indicates we're right to prevent infections, and the people in this community are some of the most kind, unselfish, truly progressive individuals I've ever met - Sign me up!" 

Claiming religious freedom to wear a mask might actually reduce persecution because we can just be ignored as part of a wacky religious group. We're not forcing anyone to wear a mask, and if it's a church thing instead of a health thing, people might be less triggered by the sight of us. But I would definitely want a missionary element to it. I mean, that's what I'm doing already, pretty much the internet version of going door to door reminding people of the Good News that you too can be saved with an N95!! I don't believe in a second life so this one is all we've got. Let's make it as long and healthy as it can possibly be! And I don't know how God or Jesus feel, but I love you and care about your health, and I really care about the well being of all the children going to school, pressured to take off their mask and then getting sick over and over again, sometimes disabled for life, and sometimes having their little lives cut so stupidly short because people want to see their smiles. Because we're not tough enough to tolerate the smallest inconvenience to save the lives of people we love. Because we weigh short term pleasures over long term contentment and have for thousands of years, and all the brilliant innovations and tech advances in the world are not going to change that. So we need religious leaders to guide us to stay on the righteous path. 

And Charles Waltz made cards!!

"There's a legal exemption for wearing masks if you're a member of an organization. If you share the ethic of masking to protect the most vulnerable, here's your membership card to the secular 'Order of the Least of These'."