Our resistance to mask wearing has me stumped.
Our legislators and leaders’ resistance to telling us we must wear them has me even more perplexed.
Masks don’t hurt or cost much.
They are a simple way to help slow the spread of a horrible, insidious disease that is causing new kinds of trouble.
Simply, they protect those around us from catching the virus from us.
And even if we don’t love them, why so much resistance?
Covid 19 is on the march.
A new variant has wormed its way in and the 50,000 people on the Sunshine Coast who have already had it are at risk again.
People are getting sick – in greater numbers that even the so-called height of the pandemic.
People are still dying.
So why are we not trying to protect ourselves and those we love?
Why are our chief health officer and our political leaders stopping short of mandating we wear masks again and instead talking loads about personal responsibility?
Our CHO said last week: “The future is not about public health measures and public health mandates.”
But surely it is.
We have big fines for people who text and drive.
We have rules about serving alcohol to someone inebriated to prevent them causing harm to self and others.
We don’t let kids play the pokies or smoke cigarettes.
We are not great at taking personal responsibility.
If we were, we would pick up our own rubbish, not rely on welfare payments or Medicare in times of trouble and always help each other when someone else strikes a tough spot.
We have been told that we are all going to be infected with or directly affected by Covid in the coming days and weeks.
But no one seems to be listening.
I am one of few faces masked up on my bus to work, at the supermarket or at my favourite cafe.
One group that does mask up is the health sector: those workers know how nasty this virus can be and how stretched the hospitals and systems are.
They know we need to try to slow the rate of infection down.
Things are dire out there.
Despite the abandoning of reporting positive RATs, QR codes, pop up testing, isolation periods and distancing, we are told there is more infection than ever before.
When public transport services are limited because so many drivers are sick, when surgeries are put off because there are not sufficient staff to care for a patient, when sports events are cancelled and when airports grind to a halt because so many staff are off ill, we have to do something different.
The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners said this week the waning immunity from vaccines and the emergence of new variants increases face mask value. The Australian Medical Association supports it.
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In The Dark Knight Rises, Batman advises a police officer who works alone to wear a mask.
The policeman says he is not afraid to show his face.
Batman replies: “The mask is not for you. It’s to protect the people you care about.”
Surely, this is one of the most underused lines of the pandemic.
Dr Jane Stephens is a UniSC journalism lecturer, media commentator and writer. The views expressed are her own.
