Un-masked
The debate over face coverings highlights the fissures and failures of our response to crisis
This post was originally published on May 19, 2021
Vol. 9
Essay | Take Action | Read Local | Big Picture | Nature! | For Your Eyes/Ears | Final Frame
Everyone's got a hot take on masks, it seems. Since the CDC released it's "Eh, fuck it" guidance last week, I've read posts, mostly from people who never really wore them in the first place, pontificating about how anyone who continues to wear masks now is just an alarmist, or worse, actually happy for the pandemic lockdown to continue because they "like feeling superior for being good at following the rules" (truly, someone actually suggested that).
Public Health Madison & Dane County has now said it won't be renewing its emergency order when it expires on June 2, which means no more mask mandate or limits on gatherings, among other things. That will be the case for most all of Wisconsin, too. It will be entirely up to individuals and private businesses to determine whether or not to continue requiring masks or enforcing social distancing.
That will leave people who work in public-facing service jobs even more vulnerable than we've already made them (despite all the lip service about how essential they are). An acquaintance who works as a hostess at a restaurant said she's already dreading the inevitable customer interactions to come.
Let's face it, the folks who've already demonstrated their complete lack of empathy or community spirit during the pandemic are only going to be more emboldened to act terribly now that no one is forcing them to be decent. Plus, the Venn diagram of those refusing to get the vaccine and those who angrily oppose masking is, I imagine, pretty damn close to a closed circuit.
Look, no one I know wants the pandemic to go on, or to be forced to continue wearing a mask everywhere. But there are still lots of folks who either can't or won't get vaccinated, such that we are not yet at the community immunity levels needed to make things reasonably safe (especially for immune compromised people). Dane County is at ~54% fully vaccinated, where we need an estimated 70% to reach community immunity for COVID. Kids under 12 years old still can't get vaccinated, but they can carry and give the virus to others, and they can get sick themselves.
We're oh so close, but as usual, seem to be jumping the gun at the behest of impatient business owners and reality-denying politicians. Doing so has real risks for real people. The fact remains, too, that mask wearing is a good idea in many situations, regardless of pandemic. If there's one thing I've learned during These Times, it's that masks are an extremely easy way to help keep myself and those around me healthier (who else went all year without catching a cold or getting the flu?! Woo!). When I go to a medical facility, on planes, and when I'm feeling sick - why not wear a mask? It's not exactly a trial, it can make a positive impact on my health and the health of others, and heck, I've got so many good ones stocked up now! Plus, I can sing to myself or make faces at people in public without them knowing. No one has suggested I smile more in quite some time. Bliss.
I am all for harm reduction and acceptable risk. We gotta find ways to make life livable, especially in trying times. That doesn't mean throwing all caution to the wind because we feel inconvenienced or because we're tired. We are all tired. But I also don't want to be the cause of more risk or stress for those members of my community who haven't been able to work from home this year, who don't make enough money to take time off if they get sick, who have crap health insurance, whose livelihood still depends on tips, whose health is already compromised, etc.
I would have preferred a stepped approach as we navigate what seems, hopefully, to be the waning days of the pandemic (at least in the U.S.). Then again, I would have preferred an overall better response - one that prioritized clear, consistent communication, education, mutual aid, equitable social services, and community. I guess this was the inevitable outcome of an effort that's been so monumentally botched from the jump.
Perhaps the second hardest thing to bear, after the incalculable loss of life, has been how the pandemic has laid bare just how broken the social contract is, how little some of my neighbors care for anyone but themselves. (Perhaps the best thing has been seeing other people who learned to and/or doubled down on their compassion, outreach, and commitment to helping out.)
Anyway, I guess the point of all this is to say: I hope you get vaccinated if you can. I hope you'll continue wearing masks in places where you don't know everyone else's vaccination status (for now!). And if you want to keep wearing a mask, for any reason, at any time in the post-pandemic future, don't take any shit for it.
Take Action!
The anti-trans sports bill (AB195) is now scheduled for its first committee hearing: Wednesday, May 26 at 10 a.m. at the Assembly Colleges & Universities Committee, in the North Hearing Room, 2nd floor of the Wisconsin State Capitol.
If you'd like to testify in person against the bills, show up as early as you can (at least 9:30) to sign up. Otherwise, you can submit written testimony and/or attend a solidarity action on the capitol steps that day at noon, organized by GSAFE and Fair Wisconsin. See you there?
Read Local.
Recommended reading from Wisconsin.
Tone Madison has been providing essential reporting about Madison's terrible treatment of its un-housed population, including the recent (inexcusable) failure of the City Council to approve a long-overdue men's shelter on the East side:
"Madison's shelter shell game drags on" [Oona Mackesey-Green]
"Fighting for 'One Piece of Parkland' for Homeless People" [Oona Mackesey-Green]
"A short history of McPike Parks' 'tent city'" [Reid Kurkerewicz]
“Madison’s zoning debate is a distraction from a meaningful affordable housing strategy” [Olivia R. Williams]
Meanwhile, SCOTUS may be poised to dismantle reproductive rights and Roe v. Wade. One of the many pieces of fallout would come in the form of Wisconsin still having an old anti-abortion law on the books that would come back into effect. Read all about it, and what some state lawmakers are trying to do to stop it, at the Wisconsin Examiner.
"A destructive cocktail: At Merchant and Lucille, a pattern of tirades and rage" [Lindsay Christensen for The Cap Times] A long overdue comeuppance for Patrick Sweeney, co-owner of Merchant and Lucille - but will we get the reform the restaurant industry so desperately needs?
The Big Picture.
Recommended reading from around the world.
"The Anxiety of Influencers" [Barrett Swanson (UW prof) for Harper's]
"As our culture continues to conflate the private and public realms—as the pandemic has transformed our homes into offices and our bedrooms into backdrops, as public institutions increasingly fall prey to the mandates of the market—we’ve become cheerfully indentured to the idea that our worth as individuals isn’t our personal integrity or sense of virtue, but our ability to advertise our relevance on the platforms of multinational tech corporations."
"Sinead O'Connor remembers things differently" [Amanda Hess for the New York Times]
"...the overreaction to O’Connor was not just about whether she was right or wrong; it was about the kinds of provocations we accept from women in music."
“What Does the Future Hold for Nonprofit Newsrooms?” [Gabby Miller for Columbia Journalism Review] As hedge funds continue to chew up and spit out otherwise vital community news operations, the non-profit model may be the/a way to save local journalism. This is a good look at the issue, and it opens with the recent struggles and journey to non-profit status of Madison's Isthmus.
"Palestinian Refugees Deserve to Return Home. Jews Should Understand." [Peter Beinart in NY Times Opinion]
"Among Palestinians, Nakba is a household word. But for Jews — even many liberal Jews in Israel, America and around the world — the Nakba is hard to discuss because it is inextricably bound up with Israel’s creation. Without the mass expulsion of Palestinians in 1948, Zionist leaders would have had neither the land nor the large Jewish majority necessary to create a viable Jewish state."
Nature!
Britt Wray makes a compelling argument for "Why emotionally intelligent climate work matters."
Do you wanna help bees?! Of course you do! There's an app (from the UW) for that and it's called WiBee.
For Your Eyes/Ears
The award-winning documentary "MAJOR!" follows the life and campaigns of Miss Major Griffin-Gracy, a 73-year-old Black transgender woman who has been fighting for the rights of trans women of color for over 40 years. Available on Vimeo.
Someone has done the work to collect all of the songs played in seasons 1-5 of my favorite Canadian small-town comedy, "Letterkenny," and I am extremely here for it.
Final frame.
Took a walk with my sister, my partner, and our collective pups out at the Lodi Marsh segment of the Ice Age Trail last weekend. Highly recommend!
‘Til next time.
Thanks for reading! Hit me up with questions, comments, suggestions, and tips on great hiking spots.
Disclaimer/Disclosure: I am employed by the Wisconsin chapter of The Nature Conservancy. However, any and all opinions expressed in this newsletter are mine alone and do not necessarily represent the opinions or positions of my employer.
Free Palestine.