To mask, or not to mask: ‘I’ll be the judge of that’

By Dennis Archambault

One of the most misunderstood or misinterpreted aspects of masking is that it is less about protecting the wearer and more about protecting people who may be vulnerable to the virus if you’re carrying it and spreading it. Beginning with the initial confusion created by the World Health Organization questioning the value of wearing face masks and concerns that there was an insufficient supply of face masks early in the pandemic, it has been difficult for some to understand why wear a mask now.

The issue has since become politicized so that if you wear a mask, you are on one political side, and if you don’t, you are standing up for a libertarian value, as is the case of former Detroit Tiger Aubrey Huff. Apparently, he posted a video rant on Twitter against the practice, saying, essentially that he knows as much as the public health community about containing the coronavirus: “For me, I know just as much as any of these (expletives). Nobody knows what’s going on. So, I’m going to use my gut feeling, my common sense.”

While it’s tempting to jump all over this comment – and a team of Detroit Free Press sports reporters did just that (https://www.freep.com/story/sports/columnists/shawn-windsor/2020/06/18/aubrey-huff-san-francisco-giants-detroit-tigers-masks-twitter-coronavirus/3210517001/?utm_source=native&utm_medium=capi_retrofit&utm_content=inapp&build=native-web_i_p) – we need to realize how much of a challenge it is to find channels to overcome stubborn ignorance contributing to behavior that is not just bad for Aubrey Huff, but for his community and ultimately all communities. Complacency and misplaced libertarian behavior will not contribute to personal freedom, only risk a return to a lockdown state. It’s as if the ghost of Groucho Marx is reminding us, “I’ll be the judge of that.”

Dennis Archambault is vice president of Public Affairs for Authority Health