Late to the Party — Some Anti-Maskers Suddenly are Pro-Mask

The COVID-19 pandemic that has caused so much chaos, sickness, and death across the globe has changed a lot of things in this country as well as across the world, and one of those changes that have come upon us all is the need for us all to wear face coverings when out and about.

I have wrote a few different articles about masks since this whole thing began and the reason for that is that masks work. The use of masks and to practice social distancing are essential in preventing the spread of this virus until we have a vaccine to guard against it and that is our new reality in this COVID-19 world.

The World Health Organization (WHO), Centers for Disease Control (CDC), and many others have all agreed that masks save lives and prevent the spread of the virus and this is why many states, cities, and other countries have made it a mandate that people wear masks when out in public or around other people.

It is just common sense, at least for most.

There are some who refuse to wear a mask, require others to wear one, or refuse to set the example by wearing one themselves, and these people, companies, and locations are being part of the problem by not being for masks and not wearing one themselves and the ones who now are doing so or are telling others to put one on, are in fact, late to the party.

Corporate America, a Day Late and a Dollar Short as Always

The major companies in this country have once again shown up late to the party and they did not even bring a gift.

While mayors like the mayor of Los Angeles, Atlanta, San Francisco, and a lot others took the brave step of mandating masks for the citizens of their cities in an effort to slow down the spread of this virus, corporate America was acting as if we were business as usual and not doing that.

These mayors joined the courageous governors of their states (in most cases) and told people that they must wear masks, but the big box retailers and some others refused to step up and mandate that the customers of their businesses wear masks for months and months into this crisis.

Now, they are saying that people must wear masks in some of these large companies — too little, too late.

Companies like Walmart, Kroger, Albertson’s, and others did not require masks until at least July 5th, long after the death rate had risen to tragic levels and when cases were more than they were back in the very beginning of the pandemic.

As of today, we have over four million cases of the virus and tens of thousands of deaths and just now, they want to require masks, when they should have been on board from the very start and should have cared enough about their customers and their employees to have this requirement.

Take Walmart for example, they did not require masks until July 15th and have not enforced any of the other health measures like social distancing and did not even allow employees to wear masks until late April, long after the pandemic had reached crisis levels.

Other companies have arrived late to the party as well, they just did not take this seriously until just now and did not listen to the experts like the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and others who said that wearing a mask prevents and slows the spread of COVID-19 and even still, some other companies are continuing to ignore these guidelines.

Thankfully, most companies are now on board with masks and are enforcing the mask guidelines even as some states and cities do not require them and I suppose that they should be applauded, but it did take them a very long time to show up and do the right thing and as a result, their customers and workers had their lives put in danger.

Of all the companies that require masks to enter their stores, there are many who acted late and did not care enough for the safety of others to take the action right away, but there are some who did take decisive action and who should be thanked for putting public health first.

Companies like Costco, Apple, and Verizon all took action in the early weeks of May and did so when they were not mandated to do so and should be for sure praised for doing so before they were told they had to require the use of face coverings in their stores and businesses.

The dozens and dozens of other companies did not take these actions early on and because of this they allowed the virus to spread amongst their customers and staff members and allowed this pandemic to become worse and worse as time has gone on.

The other problem is that companies that mandate it, must now enforce that mandate and when a customer refuses to wear masks, they should tell them that they are not welcome in their place of business. There is a YouTube video of a Costco employee you did just this and who told a customer refusing to wear a face covering that they are not welcome in this business.

The big businesses of America who showed up late to the mask party have without a doubt made this pandemic worse and have endangered the lives of all of us and for that, they should be absolutely ashamed of themselves because they are part of the problem and their action was too little and too late if you ask me.

Trump and Pence Should have Set the Example from the Start

The Trump and Pence administration have done a lot of things wrong over the course of the last few years and one of those things has been their refusal to wear masks at the start of this pandemic.

Especially Trump, he could have sent the message that wearing a mask saves lives and instead he made fun of reporters who wore them during the daily press briefings and talked down to people who chose safety over self-image and that was the wrong thing to do.

Then you have him and his campaign not making people weak masks at his campaign rallies and other events and as a result, people who attended those events got sick with the virus and passed it on to others, and then sent the wrong message that wearing a mask was weak and cowardly when in fact, not wearing one is.

Trump sent this message to these people and his second in command, Vice President Mike Pence, has been no better throughout this crisis on the issue of wearing masks. Example, I am sure that you remember Pence going into the Mayo Clinic to visit patients a few months back without a face covering, even though he was asked to put one on.

Trump did the same thing when he went to the Ford plant in Michigan not that long ago.

He was asked to wear a mask and refused to do so. He had this attitude of being against masks for a long time as did Pence and this approach has sent the message to millions of uninformed Americans that wearing a mask is the wrong thing to do, when in fact it is the right thing for us to do and what we should always do.

These days Trump is promoting masks and even wearing one himself when for a very long time he has said that he does not want to wear one and has even gone as far as to call people out who wore these face coverings when they are out in public.

Trump was late to the party and it is a party that he should have been in charge of and should have told people to wear these life saving items from the very start of this pandemic. I find it very sad and tragic that it took more than 100,000+ Americans dying from this virus for the President of the United States and his VP to wear masks and be pro-mask or at least say that they are for them — very sad indeed.

These are the people that should be for masks and should have always been for them and the sad part is, they created the anti-mask crusade to start with in this country.

GOP Governors and Mayors Shunned and then Supported Mask Mandates that Keep us Safe

Many of the Republican governors and mayors were just like our federal leaders of Trump, Pence, and others and they were against mask mandates even as cases were rising and people were dying, but most have now come around and support masks for people when out in public.

One of the ones who was very against the requirement to wear a mask was the governor, Greg Abbott.

Governor Abbott was adamantly against masks and would not make a mandate for people to wear them in the state of Texas and then once things got bad with the virus spreading, he jumped on board with them and now has mandated that the citizens of his state wear them when they venture out in public.

Next, we have the governor of Arizona, Doug Ducey.

Governor Ducey was for reopening his state prematurely as the virus was spreading and was very against masks and then suddenly, he realized that places needed to shut down once again and that masks needed to be part of their safety plan in Arizona.

These two state leaders who were once against mandating that people wear face coverings and wanted to give them free choice, now see that masks are a vital part of the “Cure” for this virus, even though there is no cure as we well know by now.

These governors and the many state, city, and community leaders across the United States of America know that masks are part of the remedy to slow down the spread of this virus and even the ones who were not for masks in the beginning, now see that they are needed, even though they have been late to take action on the issue.

Some leaders fail to lead and remain united against this mask mandate that has become the norm in many places.

Two of those leaders (If you want to call them that) are Florida frontman Governor Ron DeSantis and Governor Brian Kemp of Georgia, two men who have been anti-mask and anti-common sense with this virus response since the start and who remain that way today.

They have not changed or even shown up to the party, let alone showing up late, they have not shown up at all.

They will not mandate masks and continue to deflect responsibility on this virus and the damage that their inaction has caused up to this point and this failure to act and protect their citizens has been tragic and the lateness or not mandating masks at all by all of these leaders has put so many lives at risk and set us back with this pandemic.

The Wishy Washy and Unmasked are Part of the Problem

Some people have come around and begun to wear masks but many still view it as a political issue and as a right vs left issue when it is nothing more than a public health issue and crosses party lines.

Of course, we should once again refer back to people like Trump who refused to wear a mask for so long and Republican state or city leaders who did not issue mask mandates until just recently to discover why so many oppose the use of face coverings and their wishy washy attitudes on the issue of wearing a face covering.

I would say that most people have accepted the fact that we must wear masks when we venture out or go into a grocery store or another place of business, but there are still some who refuse to wear one and who go back and forth between wearing one and not wearing one, depending on the latest wishy washy views of their idols, people like Trump and others in the Republican Party.

The science on this does not lie and we should follow the science, not the views of one person or another.

Still, we see many out in our world without their face covered up and when they are told to wear one, they get angry and sometimes they even become violent towards the people telling them to mask up and that is certainly part of the problem.

These people who refuse or refused for a long time to mask up and shut up have for sure shown up late to the mask party and have without a doubt set us back on this issue and will be why we continue to see this virus rage through our nation and killing so many who did not have to die.

Bottom Line: Masks Work and it is Time to Wear Them

As I stated, the science on this is clear, masks work!

Even though many businesses have shown up way late to the party on this issue and politicians have taken far too long to come around and make masks a mandate in their states and cities, and even the President of the United States took until deaths reached triple digits to put one on himself, it is better late than never I suppose.

Those who now are on the outside looking on are in the minority on the issue of wearing a mask and they should come and join the party.

Masks have been proven to save lives and prevent the spread and the numbers do not lie.

In a 198 countries surveyed in a recent study, it was found that wearing a mask significantly slowed the spread of COVID-19 and not by small numbers either, sometimes by up to 77%. Another study showed that the use of a mask stopped droplets of more than 175 participants in the study in ranges of up to 200 meters.

Masks work in preventing the spread of this virus and they are one of the few ways that we have of keeping people from becoming infected until we have a safe and effective vaccine for the virus known as the Coronavirus and we should all show up to this party, now.

The data is crystal clear, masks work and this party is one that every American should show up to, because if we do not get this right soon, then there will be absolutely no turning back from this. At this point the virus is nearly the out of control point and the way to stop that is to WEAR A MASK!