Letters to the Editor: Why the COVID mask debate feels unsettlingly different now
To the editor: In many ways, though familiar, the mask debate this time feels different. (“The COVID mask mandates may be back. Don’t worry L.A., we’ve got this,” Opinion, July 20)
For 2½ years, we have engaged in nonpharmaceutical interventions in an effort to flatten the curve until vaccines and therapeutics could come fully online. Even during the Omicron surge, therapeutics were in short supply and vaccinations for children under 5 had not been approved.
But with vaccines and COVID-19 treatments readily available, mandating masks now essentially says that mask mandates are never going away. It says this a permanent part of the toolkit and we can expect to mask up in schools and public places on and off for the next decade.
And maybe that’s the right call, maybe it’s not, but it doesn’t feel like health authorities have been fully upfront about that this time. That’s why this mask debate feels different. For the first time, there is not even the fig leaf that this is the last one.
Nathan Meyer, Los Angeles
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To the editor: I continue to wear a mask every day because this pandemic is not going away, yet I rarely encounter anyone else wearing one. Have they all shared the newest brand of Kool-Aid?
There are plenty of flavors to choose from out there: The Trump “I Was Robbed” sour grape, the Supreme Court “Would We Lie to You?” bitter lemon, and the gun lobby’s “All Teachers Must Carry Guns” red cherry are all popular sellers
And now the newest flavor: the Alfred E. Neuman “What Me Worry” COVID coconut.
Philip DiGiacomo, Ojai
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To the editor: Before I once again don a mask, I’d like some questions answered.
First, what is the percentage of people admitted to local hospitals for COVID-19 who have been vaccinated and boosted?
Second, what is the percentage of people who have died from COVID-19 and have been vaccinated and boosted?
Once I read these results, I may be more willing to submit to a mask mandate. Meanwhile, I’ll stay home and rest my COVID-fatigued body
Karen Rabwin, Los Angeles
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To the editor: It’s not enough to say that something may help, won’t hurt, so mandate it. It needs to work.
There is no quality evidence that mask mandates work. The reason is simple: The policy doesn’t mandate using masks that actually work, such as N95 respirators that have been properly fit tested.
Since most wearers don’t fit test, or will just don a useless cloth mask or a surgical mask with trivial effectiveness against a supremely contagious aerosolized virus, you will never be able to show effectiveness of said policy in a large population study. Particularly vulnerable or anxious citizens can wear a properly fitted N95 or KN95 mask for an additional layer of personal protection.
Forcing everyone to comply with symbolic behavior is unscientific, bizarrely religious and unbecoming of an enlightened modern society.
Chris Romberg, El Dorado Hills, Calif.
