After a summer of relative progress, cases are skyrocketing again. Yesterday we set a death record of over 3000 in a single day. Hospitals are filling up and various jurisdictions around the country are attempting to institute lockdowns with varying degrees of success. Ordering Americans to do anything in unison is much like herding cats. Apart from the official numbers published by the agencies and departments of government keeping tract of the pandemic, there are personal experiences to consider. For months and months when this all first started, Pam and I didn’t know a single soul who had COVID. All that has changed in a big way over the past couple of months. Suddenly, people all around us have come down with it, close friends, neighbors, members of our own family. It has become more real to us, less theoretical.
But, there is also good news. There always is if you take the time to look. There is a very low mortality rate associated with this thing. The people we know who have tested positive have all recovered or are recovering...a very good thing. However, when I see what it has done to my dear neighbor, who has been sick as a dog for over a week now, I want no part of this thing, and neither do you. Also, a vaccine is on its way, a ray of hope that at some point next year we might actually get beyond this miserable nightmare.
In the meantime, it seems to be spreading like wildfire, prompting government officials to issue new edicts to battle the spread. Here in Virginia, our Governor plans a 2:00 news conference this afternoon to announce the latest measures. Close to half of my state’s population will reject whatever words come out of his mouth instantly, regardless of what he says. The reasons are complicated. Part of it is...he’s a jackass. Ralph Northam gives people lots of reasons to dislike him. In many ways he is the quintessential do as I say not as I do political hypocrite. Old blackface is a slippery one. But, as much as I dislike him and his Alfred E. Newman face with its condescending uplifted nose, I actually think that his handling of the COVID spread in Virginia has been exemplary. Our numbers have compared favorably with most other states and that is in no small part to the proactive steps his office has taken over these past 8 months. But for many Virginians, the fact that he is a liberal Democrat means that everything he says is suspect. Like literally everything else in America in 2020, COVID has somehow turned into a partisan issue. Indeed the simple, basic task of wearing a mask has become a type of Rorschach Test for politics. To some, wearing a mask in public is just a basic preventative measure, the very least that one can do to protect themselves and others. Its an easy ask. To others not wearing a mask has become a badge of honor, a stick it to the man statement of independence, a proclamation that they will not bow or bend to anyone attempting to take away their freedom. So, no matter what the Governor proposes this afternoon, expect more of the same, polarization and division.
My view is pretty simple. Since I have no idea whether or not I have COVID, I would rather not take the chance of spreading it to total strangers at the grocery store or at the bank, or at my church. So, while I am inside those places, I’ll be wearing a mask. No matter how unlikely it might be, if I discovered that my not wearing a mask ended up spreading COVID to someone else, I would feel terrible. A secondary reason for wearing a mask is my desire to lower my chances of catching it from someone else.
Something I have read a lot over the past few weeks is some version of this...I’m just going to live my life without fear. After all, God is in control. Many, though not all, of those who are of this mind are also against wearing masks. Setting aside the theological aspects of free will and the sovereignty of God for a moment...the one thing I would like to ask those who fall into this category is, “Would you leave for a long car trip without a spare tire in the back?” I mean, why bother taking precautions if God is in control? Look, if its God’s will for you to have a flat, why fight it, right?
As an imperfect and highly flawed Christian, I believe I have a responsibility to others to model humility and grace in my dealings with them. This includes, for me, wearing a mask during a pandemic. Because I am told in scripture to consider others concerns more than my own, I feel compelled to set aside my own feelings about wearing a mask—the discomfort and annoyance—for the greater good it can do of halting or slowing the spread of this viral pandemic. It has nothing to do with politics or my notions of freedom or individual rights. It’s more about common decency and respect for the human beings around me.
Of course if you believe that COVID is a fake news media creation designed to usher in totalitarian governance and make money for pharmaceutical companies and nobody is dying from COVID, its all a hoax and masks are worthless in the fight because there is no pandemic...then none of what I wrote will matter to you. But...for everyone else? Wear a mask.
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