in many cities, each night at dusk, grateful residents applaud health care workers. it’s a reminder that in the early phase of the covid-19 pandemic, doctors and nurses held the front line. all that was required from the rest of us was to stay home, watch netflix, and learn to bake.
as the economy begins to creak open, the responsibility for managing this pandemic has shifted. now it is put upon the common citizen to take responsibility for mitigating the next wave by distancing, adhering to social bubbles, and wearing masks. are we up to it?
smoking rates did not drop until smoking bans were enacted. seatbelt usage did not exceed 50 per cent in canada until it was made mandatory in the 1970s. enormous fines are still needed to prevent some drivers from making highways dangerous for everyone else. we have a poor track record of “doing the right thing.”
it then falls upon government to make compliance obligatory. the state shows its ugly authoritarian side, and liberal democracy trembles. thus, with the advent of mandatory masking in some cities has come vocal and animated resistance.
the public health challenge of reaching mask-resistors is threefold. first, many do not accept the underlying science, nor indeed the entirety of the covid-19 narrative. such ideological entrenchment cannot be challenged with evidence, especially when drowned by conspiratorial noise. this is largely an intractable group that is best served by legal compulsion.