(Image credit: CFJC)

By Mel Rothenburger

ARMCHAIR MAYOR

ROTHENBURGER: What will you do when the mask mandates return?

Nov 12, 2022 | 7:21 AM

WHEN MASK MANDATES RETURN, what will you do?

Will you go along, maybe unwillingly, but follow the advice of the experts, or will you rebel, shouting “Freedom!” and indignantly waving the flag?

Note I said “when,” not “if.” We’re heading for another wave of respiratory diseases — a double whammy of COVID and the flu — and the only thing stopping the return of mandatory masking will be an absence of political will.

That lack of political fortitude will be fueled by a public dislike of the mask. By and large, vaccination is a private take-it-or-leave-it proposition — though, of course, it’s better to take it — but wearing a mask, or not, is like a public declaration of personal values and resistance or otherwise to authority. They’re intensely divisive. Whether or not you support anti-COVID measures, odds are about 95 per cent that you’re not wearing a mask these days. Just take a look in coffee shops, grocery stores, airports, sports events and public gatherings.

Almost nobody is wearing them. They’re inconvenient and they make it harder to breath. So we jumped at the chance to toss them, even though continuing to wear them was “recommended.”

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Putting them back on isn’t something we’d do easily. When COVID first struck, we were all in it together, fighting a common enemy. Washing our hands and putting on masks seemed the least we could do. But the shine soon wore off.

Remember the swarming of grocery stores by a group called Take Action Kamloops who defiantly proclaimed a “maskless shopping experience”? And the church leaders who insisted on holding services, pandemic or not?

(In some places, congregations were even specifically told not to wear masks.) And the spinoff protest at Royal Inland Hospital? And who can forget the trucker convoys, the invoking of the Emergencies Act — the subjects of a current federal inquiry?

The country has been a lot quieter since we stopped wearing masks. If, or when, they’re mandated again, the indignation and public outrage will be at such a level that it could make or break political fortunes.

Though in the minority, the anti-everything’s speak loudly.

We mustn’t forget, of course, that Dr. Bonnie Henry was never a fan of mask mandates despite the fact support for them hit 73 per cent in B.C. during the height of the pandemic.

She preferred to have faith in the common sense of the populace and leave mask mandates to businesses and local governments. But that didn’t work. People don’t wear masks unless they’re ordered to.

So, wearing them had to be mandated for a time for indoor public places like malls, coffee shops, libraries, buses and bars.

There’s growing support for a return to masks. Chief public health officer Dr. Theresa Tam, who once was skeptical of masks herself, said this week masks could help hospitals cope with the expected surge in flu and COVID. She urged Canadians to wear masks in crowded indoor places.

She isn’t the only one getting on the dusted-off mask bandwagon. Some Ontario doctors are urging the return of mask mandates. A university there is renewing a mandate for masks in all indoor academic settings. In B.C., many parents and teachers want mask mandates back in schools.

Will there be a return to full mandates, with public gatherings banned, restrictions put on how many we can have at the dinner table for Christmas? No more movie theatres, concerts, gymns or restaurant dine-in meals? No more board meetings, except by Zoom?

I highly doubt it, for that scenario is too depressing to contemplate. Mandatory vaccinations, vaccine passports, ArriveCan and other symbols of the pandemic aren’t likely back on the table either, but masks are a simple, effective way to reduce the spread.

The science says mask mandates make a big difference, even though they’re an unhappy reminder of what we’ve already been through.

A CTV-commissioned poll just a couple of days ago showed 52 per cent would support the return of mask mandates, while 17 per cent said they would “somewhat support” them.

Twenty-two per cent would be opposed and eight per cent “somewhat” opposed. That’s stronger support than in an Angus Reid poll in July, which showed 55 per cent of British Columbians would support the return of mask mandates in public places.

Those kinds of numbers leave a lot of room for the protest crowd to raise hell but the added pressure of flu season will work in favour of new mask mandates.

The booster program for COVID has been underway in B.C. since September, and promotion of the vaccine program for influenza got underway last month. I’ve now received notices of appointments for both and intend to get them right after I get my winter tires on (just kidding).

Politely asking people to wear masks has largely proven a waste of time. The question isn’t whether masking is effective at reducing the spread of respiratory viruses. It’s whether authorities have the courage to mandate it again, and whether people will obey.

As we’re contemplating this, we need to remember that masks aren’t just for us, but for those all around us.

Mel Rothenburger is a former mayor of Kamloops and a retired newspaper editor. He is a regular contributor to CFJC Today, publishes the ArmchairMayor.ca opinion website, and is a director on the Thompson-Nicola Regional District board. He can be reached at mrothenburger@armchairmayor.ca.