How quickly perceptions can be changed by circumstances beyond our control.
Remember when someone walking into a business, especially a bank, wearing a mask could be enough to get law enforcement involved? Now that we've got a potentially deadly virus in pursuit of unwilling hosts, some people want to get the law involved because people aren't wearing masks.
Arkansas, under the leadership of Gov. Asa Hutchinson, continues to push the accelerator on its economic reopening now that we've got three months of experience with our spiky little friend, the coronavirus. In March, when we knew virtually nothing of what to expect, Hutchinson and his public health experts shut down restaurants, bars, large events, hair salons and barber shops, tattoo parlors and other activities that brought people close to one another. Now, the state is witnessing disconcerting growth in the number of daily positive covid-19 tests, steadily increasing numbers of active cases and in growth in the number of hospitalizations across the state, but last week Hutchinson announced he was broadening the capacity limits on businesses.
What’s the point?
If one can be denied service for having no shirt, why not the same for no mask?
Hutchinson has made a choice: Arkansans are going to have to live with this virus in their midst while giving businesses a chance to operate. The shutdown of many businesses, as well as schools, was an immediate necessity in March while everyone got their bearings, Hutchinson's apparent operating theory goes, but that cannot continue for as long as this virus is going to be around. To keep the economy from becoming a train wreck, Arkansans must learn to function with a health threat in their midst.
Arkansas' economy and its workforce cannot afford a prolonged hibernation. And before anyone starts complaining that's just greed talking, let's remember that a lot of those struggling mightily to hang on are small businesses, which make up the economic backbone of our communities and state. Talk of keeping them open isn't just about business, but all of the livelihoods wrapped up in those businesses -- staff, delivery people, support services, etc.
Unfortunately, the limitations have already cost the state too many jobs-providing businesses.
But that's clearly sparked real, legitimate concern about the public health costs of reviving the economy. Those concerns don't diminish at all when it's so easy to find people who ignore the very basic advice of infectious disease experts -- keeping at least six feet between people in public settings and, when that's not possible, wear masks to control the spread of the virus through breathing, sneezing and coughing.
Maybe we shouldn't be surprised a lot of Arkansans are choosing to ignore the medical advice. As a whole, we're not the healthiest of populations and a lot of that has to do with the choices we make every day -- smoking, obesity, what we eat and how much, and getting the occasional check up. We expect to live past 90 but we eat, drink and such like there's no tomorrow.
So damn those covid-19 torpedoes -- full speed ahead.
Masks, in particular, have become a contentious point for some Arkansans and people across the country. The tricky thing about covid-19 is (1) there's ample examples of people being infected, capable of passing the virus to others, without showing any symptoms and (2) wearing a mask isn't so much about protecting the wearer as much as it is about protecting others.
But if everyone wore a mask? The potential to spread the coronavirus drops precipitously if an infected person wears a mask and even more so when they're joined by uninfected people. That's a double-whammy of protection working in concert to do what public health officials are working hard to do -- contain the spread.
So, why not a mandate by the governor, who is operating under emergency powers? Why not "Wear masks or else!"
Gov. Hutchinson has said he has no intention of delivering such a mandate. It's not realistic, not enforceable and it's "just not Arkansas," he said the other day. Hutchinson's stance is that everyone should do it -- indeed, that the public health of the state's population depends on it -- but that he's not going to make them.
It's a fair point: We cannot imagine law enforcement issuing citations or arresting people for not wearing masks. Indeed, with the response to law enforcement in recent days, it might turn into a complete disaster for the governor to them to become the mask police. No, thanks.
Orange County, Calif., required masks until last week, when the mandate was converted to a strong suggestion in the wake of a firestorm of reaction. Some medical experts say they recognize a mandate sometimes harms participation because people become defiant. Robert A. Kahn, a professor and mask law expert at the University of St. Thomas law school in Minneapolis, recently told The Mercury News that when it comes to public health experience has shown a light touch is most effective in persuading Americans to wear them.
"I think that a lot of the public health experts and officials are very well-intentioned, but I think on some level they're tone deaf," Kahn said. "When you over-enforce something like mask-wearing, you risk backlash."
But would it be reasonable for businesses -- the ones reopening the economy is designed to aid -- to take a firm stand? To tell those who want to enter their shops "You're welcome here, as long as you're wearing a mask to reduce the spread of the coronavirus?"
Sure, people jogging down a uncrowded street or riding a bicycle down a trail would need them, but indoor contact where social distancing is unlikely is another matter.
Would it be reasonable for the governor, as he has with restaurants, to tell businesses to establish public-health expectations for visitors to their buildings? If "No shirt, no shoes, no service" is doable, why not adding "no mask" to the list?
On Monday, Fayetteville Mayor Lioneld Jordan essentially came as close to doing that as a mayor can. He sent a letter to his city's businesses asking them to post signs requiring masks or face coverings. The city even did them the kindness of designing printable signs for them (in English and Spanish). Further, he urged the businesses to refuse service to customers who do not wear masks or face coverings.
Jordan, citing a "staggering increase in positive cases over the past few weeks, called on businesses "to send a strong message that each of us must do our part to reduce this threat to our community."
We'd never confuse the politics of Mayor Lioneld Jordan with Hutchinson's, but it may be time for Hutchinson to take a note from Jordan's playbook.
Surely, at least these days, not wearing a mask inside businesses is a lot more of a public health threat than not wearing a shirt or shoes.
If one can be denied service for having no shirt, why not the same for no mask?