No mask, no service. It’s simple.
Those were the words Colorado Gov. Jared Polis used yesterday when he announced that people throughout the state are now required to wear a face mask when in indoor public spaces.
Good for Polis.
And good for Colorado
Here’s from The Colorado Sun:
Gov. Jared Polis on Thursday, facing pressure from the medical community and Democratic state lawmakers, issued a statewide mandate requiring Coloradans to wear a mask when in indoor public spaces.
The mask order takes effect on Friday and lasts through at least Aug. 15. It applies to anyone older than age 10.
Masks must also be worn by people who are waiting outdoors for a taxi, bus, light rail, car service, rideshare or other mass transit or similar transportation service.
Violators may be “subject to civil or criminal penalties, including but not limited to prosecution for trespass,” the order says.
Businesses must post signs about the mandate and “must refuse entry or service to people who are not wearing masks,” the governor’s office says.
“No mask, no service. It’s simple, ” Polis said as he announced the order at a news conference at the governor’s mansion. “… This is a law like any other.”
If only it were that simple.
But alas, POTUS and his cadre of incompetent lackeys (yes Betsy DeVos, I’m thinking about you) have managed to make wearing a face mask (or not) a political statement. You would think that common sense in the midst of a worldwide pandemic that has already claimed north of 130,000 American lives would prevail. But I guess not.
Oh, boy. Remember that most of these people (if not hospitalized or worse) will be voting in November. I digress. And I guess we are in a country where you still have a right to your own opinion, regardless of how misguided it might be.
Still, I have a hard time understanding the opposition to wearing a mask. It seems to me to be a relatively minor inconvenience that could protect me or others from contacting the virus. It’s that simple.
And it’s not like we are completely free to do whatever we want whenever and wherever we want. For instance, I can’t imagine that I would be welcomed in the local grocery store if I decided it was my constitutional right not to wear pants.
Good grief.
And I imagine some people have it way worse than being required to wear a face mask.
Walmart, in fact, announced recently that it would require that everyone entering or working in a store would be required to wear a mask. That’s a good start, although I expect the policy will not be without its glitches.
Oh, well. I guess it won’t be that simple after all.
Writing Above The Clouds 