Masked battleground: While the U.S. goes to war over masks, it's apathy in these parts

Just as the Atlantic bubble kicked into gear on Friday, business at St. John's International Airport changed in a notable way. While travel among the four Atlantic provinces has become easier, everyone going into YYT will have to wear a face mask staff and passengers alike.

There was no great uproar about this news. "What took so long," one person responded to CBC's tweet on Thursday about the news, while another said, "I would have thought they were already."

What an incredible difference from the U.S., where wearing masks has become intensely politicized, so much so that the very image of a face mask is now incendiary to some people. President Donald Trump has notably refused to wear one, on evident grounds that he will look weak, even though he has since early April passed on guidance from his government's experts that there are medical benefits to wearing one.

It's hard to keep up with the mask news from America. Consider the case of Herman Cain, whose name you may remember as a contender for the Republican presidential nomination in 2012.

On June 20, Cain attended the Trump rally in Tulsa last month and tweeted a photo of himself and others. There were no masks, no physical distancing.

On July 1, Cain tweeted the latest in a series of anti-mask posts, saying people are fed up with them.

That very night, Cain was admitted to a Georgia hospital to be treated for COVID-19 because his condition had become serious enough to warrant that level of care. (His office later said he had tested positive on Monday.)

Cain was hospitalized the same day that the U.S. set a record for single-day cases of coronavirus: 50,203. (To illustrate how the curve in the U.S. is still escalating, it's worth noting it took the U.S. just over two months to record its first 50,000 cases.)

The next day, the governor of Texas signed an executive order making it mandatory to wear masks in counties where there are at least 20 active cases of COVID-19. (This is currently about two-thirds of the state's counties.)

At least 20 states now have some sort of mandatory requirement for wearing masks, and as cases continue to escalate, there likely will be more. The U.S. continues to lead the world in both cases and deaths from COVID-19.

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A face mask is meant to limit the spread of COVID-19. But if it slips below your nose, hovers around your chin, or you touch the outside with your hands, medical experts say that might be riskier than not wearing one at all.

Even so, there's a ferocious public argument in the States about masks, so much so they've become locked into the same populist fury that underlines so many other issues. There are so many videos of protests and counterprotests, of furious customers refusing to comply with company requests. (The most disturbing one for me was a woman deliberately coughing in the face of other customers at a New York bagel shop.)

In Canada, things are more mellow, although mandatory masks are still an issue. Earlier this week, the city council in Toronto voted to make it mandatory to wear them indoors. With more than 35,000 confirmed cases of the virus (and a death toll over 2,600), Ontario represents a third of the national caseload.

Flattened curve, dwindled worry

Here in Newfoundland and Labrador, things are markedly different. We flattened in April, and have been COVID-free (that is, no active cases at all) since June 18.

Perhaps because of this, you don't see a lot of masks around. At grocery stores, wearing them is optional for staff, who (in my experience at least) seemed to wear them more diligently in the spring. Some retailers still require their staff to wear them; others definitely do not.

And then there are the customers. The majority I see do not wear masks, although some do. (As a point of disclosure, I carry and wear a cloth mask.) To a friend of mine, "damn apathy" and a relaxed thinking havemade masks practically moot.

It might be a nuisance for some people, and others may point to the fact that a mask will not stop a virus from getting into your lungs. The argument, of course, is about the other direction: there is excellent evidence now that shows masks stop the virus from getting out of your mouth. That is, wearing one protects those around you, in the same way you would be protected by others who wear them.

Having gone day after day after day with no new cases, residents of Newfoundland and Labrador have become complacent with coronavirus even as we've seen records fall south of the border in the numbers of new cases. COVID-19 is a worsening and deepening problem in the U.S., but it simply doesn't feel that way here on the street.

This disconnectbothers some people I know. One of my friends remains anxious about the lack of masks she sees. "It bothers me so much," she told me, although she said she bites her lip. She said she takes comfort in stores where staff are masked. "It means they're probably taking hygiene" measures more seriously too, she added.

'The virus is out there'

Another friend isn't much bothered by people not wearing masks, and he doesn't wear one either. That may change. "I am at the point where I'm going to start, because I now feel like an irresponsible jerk if I don't," he toldme.

He added that when he got a haircut this week, no one in the shop staff and customers was masked.

Masks are of course not the only response to COVID. Physical distancing and thorough handwashing can't be beaten.

But as we reopen the province and as travel between provinces increases masks are a helpful tool to keep the rate of infection as low as possible.

"The virus is out there, so it will find its way back to our shores," Memorial University nursing professor Donna Moralejo told CBC last month. "We need to identify people quickly who have it and protect ourselves from those who don't know they are carrying it."

At the airport, visitors to the province will be required to wear a mask when they land but only on the airport grounds. They will not be required to have their temperature taken or to answer a medical questionnaire. They will, though, be advised to call the 811 HealthLine if they develop symptoms.

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